On-Line Self-Calibrating Single Crystal Sapphire Optical Sensor Instrumentation for Accurate and Reliable Coal Gasifier Temperature Measurement. (Semi-Annual Technical Progress Report, April 1, 2005-September 30, 2005).
This report summarizes technical progress April September 2005 on the Phase II program On-Line Self-Calibrating Single Crystal Sapphire Optical Sensor Instrumentation for Accurate and Reliable Coal Gasifier Temperature Measurement, funded by the Federal Energy Technology Center of the U.S. Department of Energy, and performed by the Center for Photonics Technology of the Bradley Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Virginia Tech. The outcome of the first phase of this program was the selection of broadband polarimetric differential interferometry (BPDI) for further prototype instrumentation development. This approach is based on the measurement of the optical path difference (OPD) between two orthogonally polarized light beams in a single-crystal sapphire disk. The objective of this program is to bring the sensor technology, which has already been demonstrated in the laboratory, to a level where the sensor can be deployed in the harsh industrial environments and will become commercially viable. Due to the difficulties described on the last report, field testing of the BPDI system has not continued to date. However, we have developed an alternative high temperature sensing solution, which is described in this report. The sensing system will be installed and tested at TECOs Polk Power Station. Following a site visit in June 2005, our efforts have been focused on preparing for that field test, including he design of the sensor mechanical packaging, sensor electronics, the data transfer module, and the necessary software codes to accommodate this application. We are currently ready to start sensor fabrication.
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