Ion Optics' wins DOT SBIR Award to Develop Advanced Emissions Sensor
13 January 2000
Ion Optics' wins DOT SBIR Award to Develop Advanced Emissions Sensor
WALTHAM, Mass.--Jan. 13, 2000--Ion Optics has won a Phase 1 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Award from the Department of Transportation (DOT) to develop protocols and instrumentation for internal combustion engine exhaust emissions measurement. The DOT's objective is to develop an inexpensive, lightweight, portable sensor and data collection system for shipboard or dockside monitoring of the exhaust emissions of marine vessels using diesel or alternative fuels. Ion Optics will modify the MicroSpe(TM), a handheld Infrared Spectrometer, for exhaust emissions testing and validate the modifications at Cooper Energy Services' large internal combustion engine laboratory. Cooper Energy Services, a division of Cooper Cameron Corporation of Houston, Texas, is a major manufacturer of large internal combustion engines that operate on a range of fuels. Cooper Energy Services' interest is in developing an on-board engine monitor for real-time feedback control.The MicroSpec(TM) is an ideal choice for both the DOT and Cooper Energy Services, as well as, many other applications in material analysis and industrial process monitoring. Originally designed to measure space shuttle main engine emissions during testing, the MicroSpec(TM) is a small, low cost, light weight, rugged design immune to the vibration, shock, and temperature variations commonly found in an engine's operating environment. This is made possible with the active optical components - grating, mirror, apertures, and beam dump - micro-machined directly onto the waveguide. The waveguide provides high optical throughput comparable to Fourier transform IR (FTIR) spectrometers for wavelength ranges of 3 to 5.5 um or 7 to 14 um. A 64-channel micro-thermopile detector provides the output signal. For the Phase 1 development, a laptop will be used for real-time data acquisition, display, and data reduction. The data reduction algorithms enable absolute species concentration measurements even for mixed gas streams with strong water interference. Using the MicroSpec(TM), Ion Optics expects to measure the concentrations of NOX, SOX, CO, CO2, and Hydrocarbons.
Five-year old Ion Optics manufactures proprietary, highly integrated, infrared (IR) sensor components. OEMs in the automotive, air quality, process control and medical instrument markets use our components. Ion Optics' mission is to employ its technologies to develop and manufacture compact, low power, infrared sensors.