SBIR Phase I: Fiber Optic Based Nitrogen Oxides Sensor

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will be the enhanced ability to monitor Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) optically using a novel approach that is fundamentally different from zirconia-based voltage biased diffusion technology commercially deployed today. NOx are a major pollutant and precursor to acid rain, surface ozone and smog formation. Worldwide regulatory bodies are driving NOx regulations to increasingly lower levels, presenting even greater challenges for real-world emissions. Addressing these regulations, industry will be increasing deployment of after-treatment technologies including selective catalyst reduction systems and lean NOx traps. Both of these technologies will benefit from a less expensive, more robust, and faster responding NOx sensor. If successful, the new NOx sensor has the potential to significantly reduce emissions levels through a more accurate and much faster detection mechanism than current NOx detection techniques. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will characterize and prototype an optical based Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) sensor technology that is not based on conventional techniques such as oxygen sensor derivatives. This effort will optimize the design and materials needed for a novel thermo-catalytic NOx sensing mechanism through experimentation and testing, including validation of earlier prototypes where near instantaneous NOx detection was observed. Increasing the number and type of catalytic sensing elements and integrating them into existing NOx sensor OEM packaging will accomplish this. Sensor calibration equations and response lookup-tables will help validate our new method for NOx detection with successful results serving as a model for a new category of sensors based on this architecture. Current commercially available NOx sensors do not meet response time, accuracy and price requirements as used in the automotive industry where such parameters are critical. In this program, the optical NOx sensing mechanism will be optimized, and planned designs of experiment will help refine this technology into a more optimized and robust device. Additionally, the detection mechanism simultaneously measures carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons as part of the measurement process, thus providing additional utility for any combustion application.