Emissions spectral radiometer/fuel flow instrument

Claim 2

An emissions spectral radiometer including a source instrument located on one side of an exhaust gas duct and a detector instrument located on an opposite side of said duct from said first side, said instruments comprising: in said source instrument: a radiation source producing pure black body infrared radiation, a reflector which produces parallel radiation from said source and directs it across the exhaust gas duct, a rotating cage assembly which encloses the radiation source and said reflector, said cage assembly having at least one opening therein aligned with said reflector to allow the parallel radiation to escape from the cage assembly as it rotates to provide an alternating flow of radiation across the exhaust gas duct, and in said detector instrument: an array of optical reflectors which causes the parallel radiation to form a line image of finite length at a first focus point and then to form a spot image at the second focus point, a rotating circular variable filter disposed at said first focus point for processing said radiation, an optical slit located immediately in front of said circular variable filter to intercept stray radiation, and an infrared radiation detector disposed at the second focus point for receiving radiation which has passed through said circular variable filter and producing an electronic signal output for input to a computer.

Claim 3

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 wherein the optical array of said detector instrument includes a folding mirror which folds the infrared radiation emission received from said source instrument to permit said detector instrument to be contained in a compact enclosure.

Claim 4

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 wherein the cage assembly includes an optical switch comprised of a light emitting diode located inside the cage assembly and an optical sensor located outside the cage assembly which is actuated by rotation of the cage assembly allowing the light emitting diode to activate and deactivate the switch resulting in an on-off flow of current through the switch thereby controlling the cage assembly speed of rotation.

Claim 5

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 wherein the source instrument is cooled by a circulating flow of gas which is refrigerated by thermoelectric coolers.

Claim 6

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 including a reflector shroud for directing the infrared radiation from the cage assembly to a sapphire window in the exhaust gas duct.

Claim 7

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 including a support bench which supports the radiation source, the reflector, the cage assembly, a light emitting diode inside the case assembly, and optical sensor which is actuated by the rotation of the cage assembly allowing said diode to alternately activate and deactivate said sensor, and a reflector shroud for directing the infrared radiation, means are provided below the support bench for rotating the cage assembly, controlling the source instrument operation, and cooling the source instrument with a flow of gas which circulates above and below the support bench.

Claim 8

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 wherein the optical array in the detector instrument includes: a spherical concave mirror which is positioned to reflect in both horizontal and vertical view to a cylindrical plano-convex reflector, the infrared radiation in the vertical view being reflected parallel from the cylindrical plano-convex reflector to enter the optical slit, and a pair of cylindrical plano-concave reflectors optically opposed to each other which focus the infrared radiation on the detector by folding and converging the radiation.

Claim 9

The spectral radiometer of claim 1 wherein the infrared source is heated to between 1100 to 1700 degrees Kelvin and has an emissivity of at least 0.90, the cage assembly has two openings and is rotated at 2250 RPM, the circular variable filter operates between 1300 and 5500 nanometers and is rotated at a speed to have a natural response frequency, and the infrared detector is sensitive to radiation between 1000 and 6000 nanometers.

Claim 10

An emissions spectral radiometer including a source instrument disposed on one side of an exhaust gas duct and a detector instrument disposed on an opposite side of said duct from said first side, said instruments comprising, in said source instrument: a radiation source heated to between 1000 and 1700 degrees Kelvin and producing pure black body infrared radiation having an emissivity of at least 0.90, a reflector which produces parallel radiation from said source and directs it across the combustion exhaust gas duct, a rotating cage assembly which encloses said radiation source and said reflector, said cage assembly having at least one opening therein aligned with said reflector to allow the parallel radiation to escape from the cage assembly as it rotates to provide an alternating flow of radiation across the exhaust gas duct, an optical switch including a light emitting diode located inside the cage assembly and an optical sensor located outside of the cage assembly which is actuated by rotation of the cage assembly allowing the light emitting diode to activate and deactivate the optical sensor resulting in an on-off flow of current through the switch thereby controlling the cage assembly speed of rotation. a reflector shroud for directing the infrared radiation from the cage assembly to a sapphire window disposed in the exhaust gas duct, and cooling means for the source instrument utilizing a circulating flow of gas which is refrigerated by thermoelectric coolers, and in said detector instrument; an array of optical reflectors which causes the parallel radiation to form a line image of finite length at a first focus point and then to form a focusing image at a second focus point, said optical array including: a spherical concave mirror which is positioned to reflect in both horizontal and vertical views to a cylindrical plano-convex reflector, the infrared radiation in the vertical view being reflected parallel from the cylindrical plano-convex reflector to focus at the first focus point, and a pair of cylindrical plano-concave reflectors optically opposed to each other which focus the infrared radiation on the detector by folding and converging the radiation, a rotating circular variable filter disposed at said first focus point for allowing only specific radiation to pass therethrough and which operates between 1300 and 5500 nanometers and is rotated at a speed to have a natural response frequency, an optical slit located immediately in front of said circular variable filter to intercept stray radiation reflected by said cylindrical plano-convex reflector, and an infrared radiation detector disposed at the second focus point for receiving radiation which has passed through said circular variable filter and producing an electronic signal output for input to a computer, said detector being sensitive to radiation between 1000 and 6000 nanometers.

Claim 11

An emissions spectral radiometer including a source instrument disposed on one side of an exhaust gas duct and a detector instrument disposed on an opposite side of said duct from said first side, said instruments comprising, in said source instrument: a radiation source heated to between 1000 and 1700 degrees Kelvin and producing pure black body infrared radiation having an emissivity of at least 0.90, a reflector which produces parallel radiation from said source and directs it across the combustion exhaust gas duct, a rotating cage assembly which encloses said radiation source and said reflector, said cage assembly having at least one opening therein aligned with said reflector to allow the parallel radiation to escape from the cage assembly as it rotates to provide an alternating flow of radiation across the exhaust gas duct, an optical switch including a light emitting diode located inside the cage assembly and an optical sensor located outside of the cage assembly which is actuated by rotation of the cage assembly allowing the light emitting diode to activate and deactivate the optical sensor resulting in an on-off flow of current through the switch thereby controlling the cage assembly speed of rotation. a reflector shroud for directing the infrared radiation from the cage assembly to a sapphire window disposed in the exhaust gas duct, and cooling means for the source instrument utilizing a circulating flow of gas which is refrigerated by thermoelectric coolers, and in said detector instrument; an array of optical reflectors which causes the parallel radiation to form a line image of finite length at a first focus point and then to form a focusing image at a second focus point, said optical array including: a spherical concave mirror which is positioned to reflect in both horizontal and vertical views to a cylindrical plano-convex reflector, the infrared radiation in the vertical view being reflected parallel from the cylindrical plano-convex reflector to focus at the first focus point, and a pair of cylindrical plano-concave reflectors optically opposed to each other which focus the infrared radiation on the detector by folding and converging the radiation, a rotating circular variable filter disposed at said first focus point for allowing only specific radiation to pass therethrough and which operates between 1300 and 5500 nanometers and is rotated at a speed to have a natural response frequency, an optical slit located immediately in front of said circular variable filter to intercept stray radiation reflected by said cylindrical plano-convex reflector, and an infrared radiation detector disposed at the second focus point for receiving radiation which has passed through said circular variable filter and producing an electronic signal output for input to a computer, said detector being sensitive to radiation between 1000 and 6000 nanometers.