SPECTRAL ENERGIES LLC — Department of Defense STTR Phase I: N15A-T021

Description

The objective of the proposed Phase-I effort proposed by Spectral Energies LLC is to develop a versatile hyperspectral sensor system capable of performing >100 kHz in situ temperature and species concentration measurements of CO, CO2 and H2O in rotating detonation engines (RDEs) for gas temperatures up to 3000 K and gas pressures up to 50 bar. Development will include both the laser system as well as strategies for optical access into the RDE. The proposed laser system will consist of two main aspects. First, a broad scanning near-IR laser will used to measure high precision H2O temperatures at 100 kHz. In addition, another system consisting of several frequency-division-multiplexed fixed wavelength lasers will be used to determine CO, CO2 and H2O concentrations and temperatures at 800 kHz. Preliminary measurements using existing available hardware will be used to measure H2O, CO and CO2 concentrations and temperatures in an RDE facility located at the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH. Based on the Phase-I results, we propose to design, build and deliver a compact dedicated sensor system along with robust optical access tools for measuring temperature and species concentrations at speeds up to 800 kHz along multiple lines-of-sight during the Phase-II research effort.