Near-infrared H2S telemetry system under non-cooperative target with a novel mixed heterodyne optical structure scheme for high efficiency

Abstract

A gas leakage telemetry system under non-cooperative target was designed and developed based on laser absorption spectroscopy technology, targeting the combination frequency absorption band of Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas molecules. A distributed feedback (DFB) laser centered at 1578 nm was adopt, with mature packaging process and high market maturity. The returned signal of diffuse reflection is extremely weak, decreasing exponentially with the increase of telemetry distance, and direct detection technology is difficult to achieve ideal performance at telemetry distance and lower detection limit. Thus, heterodyne detection technology was introduced to significantly amplify diffuse reflection signal and improve the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of telemetry system. For further detection sensitivity, wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) technology was combined to suppress background noise through the electrical modulation of DFB laser. Alternating signal was applied to the laser to alter its output characteristics during the process of laser oscillation. Compared with exterior modulation methods, this interior modulation method does not require additional modulator, which avoids optical loss and is more economical. Combining the advantages of fiber structure and space optical path structure, a novel mixed heterodyne optical structure which was more applicable to this system was independently designed after the specific analysis of main noise sources. Then, the effect of heterodyne detection technology was verified in contrast of direct detection technology. Sensor performance was validated through calibration and stability experiments. The limit of detection (LoD) reached a minimum of 3.44 parts-per-million (ppm·m) with a 98 s averaging time. And the packaged system was fully capable of detecting the hazardous critical concentration of H2S and acting as an alarm mechanism.