Automation of mine interferometric analyzer of methane and carbon digestion concentration in air

Abstract

The lack of automatic control is a drawback of mine interferometric analyzers of methane and carbon digestion concentration in air. We present the results of developing an algorithm for automating the process of measuring the concentration of methane and carbon dioxide in air with a mine interferometric analyzer. An automatic determination of the shift of the interference pattern by the gas under study is proposed using an opto-electronic device. The main automated functions, i.e., control of the radiation source and electric pump, measurement channels and movement of the movable gas-air chamber along with processing of digital images of interferograms are implemented in a device with the metrological characteristics corresponding to the parameters of the mine interferometer SHI-11. The algorithm for digital processing of the interference pattern (interferogram) is implemented in the MATLAB package. The result of using the developed algorithm for measuring methane concentration showed the effectiveness and required accuracy of the procedure. Automation of carbon dioxide measurements provided for the appropriate calibration of the scale by loading the calibration coefficients into the memory of the microcontroller. The results obtained can be used to automate the determination of the gas concentration in air at the enterprises of oil and gas, chemical and mining industries.