Development of a rapid, quantitative, and cost-effective method for measurement of nonvolatile PM emissions from military aircraft compliant with cert

ABSTRACT: The goal of this SBIR project is to demonstrate that the Cambustion DMS500 (or similar technology) can meet EPA and SAE E31 requirements for measurements of aircraft soot emissions. Combined with the software developed in this project, the DMS500 will represent a robust, cost-effective instrument package that can be rapidly adopted and deployed by the military. The proposed project directly addresses the critical need identified by the Department of Defense for new techniques for rapid, accurate measurements of particle number, size, and mass-based emission factors in order to meet existing regulations for military aircraft. We propose to use laboratory-generated flame soot, representative of aircraft exhaust, and a suite of state-of-the-art particulate instruments to quantify the uncertainties in the DMS500 measurements. The major uncertainties are the effects of particle shape and density as a function of mobility diameter and the effects of instrument counting statistics (including particle charging and transmission issues). These results will be incorporated into software that will quantify the uncertainties of the DMS500 instrument for measuring aircraft soot emissions. Existing DMS500 measurements will be analyzed with this procedure to demonstrate potential compliance with government requirements. A proposed Phase II project will demonstrate regulatory requirement compliance during field measurements. BENEFIT: The proposed project will demonstrate the application of new technology to provide a rapid, real-time method for measuring the number, size, and mass of refractory aircraft exhaust emissions in engine test facilities and under real-world operating conditions that meet current EPA and SAE requirements. The fundamental research involved will lead to a better understanding of the physical properties of aircraft soot in general and the applied, instrument-specific, research will enable the Department of Defence to meet a critical need for quantifying aircraft fleet exhaust emissions with a single, robust instrument package. Through this project, we anticipate opening a new commercial market by bundling the DMS500 instrument, including our post-processing software, with a SAE E-31 compliant sampling line we are developing under a related project for direct sale to potential customers and for obtaining service contracts for conducting the regulatory measurements at customer"s specified locations.