Temperature and Temperature Profile Measurements in the Combustor Flowpath Using Structured Emission Thermography

Abstract

Structured Emission Thermometry (SET) is a new optical technique for deriving temperature and species concentrations in high-temperature regions of a combustor flow-path from measurements of water and soot emission spectra in the 1 micron region. A prototype instrument has been built for gas- and liquid-fuel combustors with temperatures ranging from 1400–2500K (2100–4000F). This instrument can be used for test stand instrumentation and routine monitoring in fixed installations. With further evolution, the technique may be suitable for an aircraft engine control system. The emissions are measured along narrow lines of sight using small, simple passive fiber probes placed at a short standoff distance from the hot gas flow-path. With proper placement of multiple probes, data may be collected over overlapping lines of sight and inverted to produce a low-resolution spatial map of the temperature and emitter density in the flow-path. In this work, we describe a series of combustor measurements, including cross-validation measurements in a well-controlled laboratory flame and measurements in combustor test stands. Both line-of-sight measurements and reconstructed temperature profiles are presented and discussed.