Measurement of Water-Vapor/Ice Content of Large Industrial Air Flows

Rapid, on-line characterization of water vapor content and/or condensed-phase (liquid or ice) mass loading is required to measure the total moisture content of flows in ducts from 0.30m to 4.6m in diameter over a range of flow conditions. A successful proposal must address one or more of the flow conditions outlined in the solicitation. Measurement response times on the order of one second are necessary and the system must operate unattended for extended periods of time. The rapid response requirements motivate the use of optical, laser based instrumentation. Insitec Measurement Systems has teamed with Sandia national Laboratories/California to develop an instrument that meets the technical criteria outline in the solicitation. By combining Insitec's knowledge of particle characterization using Single Particle Counting Technology with Sandia expertise in Tunable Diode Laser spectroscopy, an instrument can be designed that is capable of measuring vapor-phase and condensed phase moisture simultaneously, in real-time, over all of the conditions posed in the solicitation and within stipulated uncertainty limits. The successful integration of these two techniques using a single illumination beam to simultaneously measure moisture concentrations in each phase is a novel concept forming the basis of this proposal.