Diagnostic Development for Advanced Power Systems
The high temperatures, pressures, and particulate densities present in coal-fired advanced power systems place severe limitations on conventional probe techniques for thermometry, velocimetry, and gas and particulate analysis. Although laser-based techniques for measuring gas temperature, velocity, and composition have been demonstrated in relatively clean flame gases, little is known regarding their applicability to measurements in the product streams from coal-fired combustors. Hence, a program has been established at Sandia to develop and assess advanced physical sampling and laser-based optical diagnostic techniques. This paper describes some of the techniques under development, including a small-angle near-forward scattering optical arrangement for particle sizing and a system for making Raman-scattering measurements of gas temperature using a pulsed laser and a gated detection system. Also described here is the atmospheric combustor exhaust simulator (ACES) facility being constructed as the test bed for the diagnostic techniques.