Scanned-wavelength Direct Absorption Research Articles

Absorption sensor for CO in combustion gases using 2.3 µm tunable diode lasers

Tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy of CO was studied in the controlled laboratory environments of a heated cell and a combustion exhaust rig. Two absorption lines, R(10) and R(11) in the first overtone band of CO near 2.3 µm, were selected from a HITRAN simulation to minimize interference from water vapor at a representative combustion exhaust temperature (∼1200 K). The linestrengths and collision broadening coefficients for these lines were measured in a heated static cell. This database was then used in a comparative study of direct absorption and wavelength-modulation absorption. CO concentration measurements using scanned-wavelength direct absorption (DA) and wavelength modulation with the second-harmonic signal normalized by the first-harmonic signal (WMS-2f/1f) all agreed with those measured by a conventional gas sampling analyzer over the range from <10 ppm to 2.3%. As expected, water vapor was found to be the dominant source of background interference for CO detection in combustion flows at high temperatures. Water absorption was measured to a high spectral resolution within the wavelength region 4295–4301 cm−1 at 1100 K, and shown to produce <10 ppm level interference for CO detection in combustion exhausts at temperatures up to 1200 K. We found that the WMS-2f/1f strategy avoids the need for WMS calibration measurements but requires characterization of the wavelength and injection-current intensity modulation of the specific diode laser. We conclude that WMS-2f/1f using the selected R(10) or R(11) transitions in the CO overtone band holds good promise for sensitive in situ detection of ppm-level CO in combustion flows, with high resistance to interference absorption from H2O.