ON-LINE MICRO-SENSORS FOR ANALYTICAL CHEMICAL MEASUREMENT

THIS PHASE I PROJECT OFFERS AN INNOVATIVE APPROACH TO MICROSENSING WHICH IS EXPECTED TO RESULT IN COMPACT, RUGGED, VERSATILE, HIGHLY SENSITIVE SENSOR SYSTEMS CAPABLE OF SOPHISTICATED ON-LINE SPECTRAL ANALYSIS IN A ROAD CLASS OF CHEMICAL PROCESSES. THESE SENSORS WOULD OPERATE IN REAL WORLD FACTORY ENVIRONMENTS AND BE CAPABLE OF SENSING MICRON-SCALE PHENOMENA. THEY ARE TRUE ON-LINE SENSORS, NOT AUTOMATED "GRAB SAMPLE" TECHNIQUES. THE KEY INNOVATIONS INCLUDE (1) THE USE OF LASER INDUCED FLUORESCENCE TO PROVIDE HIGH SENSITIVITY AND HIGH SPECIFICITY IN COMPLEX MIXTURES OF SIMILAR COMPOUNDS, (2) THE USE OF A ACOUSTO-OPTICALLY TUNED FILTERS TO REPLACE THE CONVENTIONAL SCANNING GRATING MONOCHROMATORS IN CURRENT USE IN THE LABORATORY TO MAKE RUGGED FACTORY-COMPATIBLE DEVICES, (3) OPTICAL ACCESS THAT ALLOWS APPLICATION TO OPTICALLY DENSE MEDIA, (4) IMAGING, FIBER OPTIC, AND MICROSCOPIC TECHNIQUES TO ADDRESS VERY SMALL SAMPLE SIZES AND TO QUANTIFY INHOMOGENEITY WITHIN A SAMPLE, AND (5) HIGH SPEED ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES TO PERMIT REAL TIME OPERATION. THE PLANNED SENSORS WOULD BE USED IN ON-LINE REAL-TIME ANALYTICAL CHEMICAL MEASUREMENT FOR INDUSTRIAL PROCESS CONTROL.