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ON-LINE PROCESS CONTROL SENSOR FOR PARTICLE SIZE

Award Information

Agency:
Department of Commerce 		Branch:
N/A 		Award ID:
7684 		Program Year/Program:
1988 / SBIR
Agency Tracking Number:
7684 		Solicitation Year:
N/A 		Solicitation Topic Code:
N/A 		Solicitation Number:
N/A
Small Business Information
Advanced Fuel Research, Inc.
87 Church Street East Hartford, CT -
View profile »
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No
 
Phase 1
Fiscal Year: 1988
Title: ON-LINE PROCESS CONTROL SENSOR FOR PARTICLE SIZE
Agency: DOC
Contract: N/A
Award Amount: $30,000.00
 

Abstract:

A PARTICLE SIZE SENSOR IS REQUIRED FOR ON-LINE PROCESS CON- TROL IN A METAL POWDER FORMING FACILITY. INSTRUMENTS AVAILABLE COMMERCIALLY FOR THIS SENSING RELY ON MEASUREMENTS OF LIGHT SCATTERING AT VERY SMALL ANGULAR INCREMENTS. IT IS PROBABLE THAT THE HIGHLY TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT IN WHICH THE METAL POWDERS ARE FORMED WILL PRODUCE SUFFICIENT ANGULAR DE-VIATION OF THE PROBING LIGHT BEAM TO INVALIDATE SCATTERING MEASUREMENTS. THE METHOD WE PROPOSE DETERMINES THE PARTICLESIZE DISTRIBUTIONS BY THE SPECTRAL SHAPE OF TRANSMITTED IR RADIATION, AND IS RELATIVELY INSENSITIVE TO THE EFFECTS OF TURBULENCE. PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS FOR A NUMBER OF SAMPLES HAVE BEEN DETERMINED BY THE SPECTRAL METHOD. THE METHOD UTILIZES A FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED (FT-IR) SPECTROMETER FOR THE MEASUREMENTS, AND CAN MEASUREMENTS, AND CAN MEASURE A MEDIUMRESOLUTION SPECTRUM IN UNDER A SECOND. IN THE PHASE- I WORKWE WOULD EXTEND THE SPECTRAL METHOD FOR DETERMINING THE SIZEDISTRIBUTION TO METALLIC PARTICLES IN THE 1-200 UM RANGE. IN ADDITION, WE WOULD DETERMINE THE EFFECT, IF ANY, THAT A HIGHLY TURBULENT ENVIRONMENT HAS ON THE RESULTS OF THE METHOD. IN PHASE-II, THE METHOD WOULD BE AUTOMATED, AND A PROTOTYPE ON-LINE SIZE SENSOR FOR METALLIC PARTICLES WOULD BE BUILT. FUTURE POSSIBLE EXPANSIONS OF THE INSTRUMENT'S CABABILITIES INCLUDE TOMOGRAPHY FOR SPATIALLY RESOLVED PAR- TICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS, ANALYSIS OF TRANSIT-TIME "NOISE SPECTRA TO OBTAIN PARTICLE VELOCITIES, AND THE ADDITION

Principal Investigator:

Peter r. solomon
0

Business Contact:

Small Business Information at Submission:

Advanced Fuel Research, Inc.
P.o. Box 18343 87 Church Street East Hartford, CT 06118

EIN/Tax ID:
DUNS: N/A
Number of Employees: N/A
Woman-Owned: No
Minority-Owned: No
HUBZone-Owned: No