MEMs Chemical Sensor System for In-situ Exhaust Measurement

"This program is to develop and apply MEMs based chemical sensors packaged in an probe for analysis of exhaust gases from jet engines. The development of more efficient gas turbine engines requires real-time chemical analysis of emission gases. Thisprogram will develop MEMs chemical sensors for the species of interest including CO, CO2, SOX, NOX, O2, and total hydrocarbons. Current gas analysis instrumentation is limited by the inability to sample directly at the exhaust, high cost, and by therelatively slow response time.Phase I of this program will evaluate the use of emerging MEMS sensor technology suitable for high temperature environments (greater than 400 C) which will enables in-situ analysis of emissions. These sensors will be packaged in a probe assembly that canbe placed at multiple locations directly in the exhaust stream, enabling spatial distribution of the chemical species to be measured. MEMS sensors enable real-time monitoring, providing accurate mapping of composition variation as a function of time.This proposed project will apply several different types of MEMs based sensor using silicon carbide, silicon, and other novel thin film structures to provide measurement of key species. The proposed research will result in the development of low cost, robust, point chemical sensors capable of operating in high temperature combustion environments. There is a wide range of commericial applications for these sensors incl