Award Abstract # 1445031
PFI:AIR - TT: Prototype mid-infrared, methane sensor for natural gas leak detection on small unmanned aerial systems
| NSF Org: | TI Translational Impacts |
| Recipient: | |
| Initial Amendment Date: | September 3, 2014 |
| Latest Amendment Date: | July 6, 2016 |
| Award Number: | 1445031 |
| Award Instrument: | Standard Grant |
| Program Manager: | Jesus Soriano Molla jsoriano@nsf.gov (703)292-7795 TI Translational Impacts TIP Dir for Tech, Innovation, & Partnerships |
| Start Date: | September 15, 2014 |
| End Date: | February 28, 2017(Estimated) |
| Total Intended Award Amount: | $193,147.00 |
| Total Awarded Amount to Date: | $199,627.00 |
| Funds Obligated to Date: | FY 2016 = $6,480.00 |
| History of Investigator: |
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| Recipient Sponsored Research Office: | 1 NASSAU HALL PRINCETON NJ US 08544-2001 (609)258-3090 |
| Sponsor Congressional District: | |
| Primary Place of Performance: | Princeton NJ US 08544-2020 |
| Primary Place of Performance Congressional District: | |
| Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): | |
| Parent UEI: | |
| NSF Program(s): | Accelerating Innovation Rsrch |
| Primary Program Source: | 01001617DBNSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT |
| Program Reference Code(s): | |
| Program Element Code(s): | |
| Award Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Fund Agency Code: | 4900 |
| Assistance Listing Number(s): | 47.041 |
ABSTRACT This project addresses the following technology gaps as it translates from research discovery toward commercial application. The project synthesizes two rapidly developing technologies, mid-infrared laser spectroscopy and small unmanned aerial systems, and capitalizes upon their desirable attributes of high sensitivity detection and high-dexterity sampling, respectively. A newly-developed, interband cascade laser (ICL) operating at a wavelength of 3.3 microns will be used to probe the strongest (fundamental) absorption band of methane to achieve the necessary sensitivity. The ICL will be coupled into an optical cavity and integrated onto a small unmanned aerial system. The sensor will be exposed directly to the free airstream and not require any sample cells, inlets, or manifolds, thereby reducing size and mass. Sensor accuracy, particularly critical during the wide range of atmospheric conditions and vibrations experienced in-flight, will be maintained through the use of an in-line reference cell with multiharmonic wavelength modulation spectroscopy. Sensor flight performance will be verified with controlled releases of methane, and flight demonstrations over pipelines will be conducted. In addition, key personnel involved in this project, a graduate student, will receive entrepreneurial experiences and see how laboratory discoveries are translated into commercial products through working with operators in the drone and gas/oil industries. The project engages a leading small unmanned aerial systems service provider to test and demonstrate the new sensors to its clients in the gas/oil industry at FAA-approved locations and operations. The technology will improve pipeline monitoring in specific and other trace gas detection in general in this technology translation effort from research discovery toward commercial reality.
This PFI: AIR Technology Translation project focuses on translating new advances in laser-based, trace gas detection to identify methane leaks in the natural gas supply chain by using small unmanned aerial systems. The laser-based methane sensor for small unmanned aerial systems is important because it will result in increased safety by preventing explosions, improve the environment through reduced emissions of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, and increase profits in the gas/oil sector through more product reaching their customers. The project will result in a prototype methane sensor for small unmanned aerial vehicles, which are rapidly increasing in their use and applications. No existing commercial methane sensors are sufficiently small, lightweight, and sensitive to be deployed on small unmanned aerial systems (those with wing spans of about a meter) for natural gas leak detection. The laser-based methane sensor has the following unique features: low mass (1 kg), small volume (1 L volume), fast response (10 measurements per second) and high-precision (2 parts per billion methane). These features will allow for efficient natural gas leak detection through decreased operating costs, increased safety of operation in populated areas, and more accurate leak identification when compared to the current method of visual, manned-aircraft patrols.
PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH
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L.M. Golston L. Tao C. Brosy K. Schafer B. Wolf J. McSpiritt B. Buchholz D.R. Caulton D. Pan M.A. Zondlo D. Yoel H. Kuntsmann M. McGregor "Lightweight mid-infrared methane sensor for unmanned aerial vehicles" Applied Physics B , v.123 , 2017 , p.170 10.1007/s00340-017-6735-6
PROJECT OUTCOMES REPORT
Disclaimer
This Project Outcomes Report for the General Public is displayed verbatim as submitted by the Principal Investigator (PI) for this award. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the PI and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation; NSF has not approved or endorsed its content.
For the overall grant project, the goal of this project was to demonstrate how mid-infrared technologies on small unmanned aerial vehicles (sUAS) can be used to detect methane (CH4) leaks in the natural gas industry in a cost-effective manner. We used newly-developed lasers in the mid-infrared spectral region. The mid-infrared spectral region access the fundamental absorption lines of most trace gas species in the atmosphere. Therefore, lasers in this spectral region can create sensors with high sensitivity, selectivity, and fast response and have desirable performance characteristics of low power consumption (a few Watts), small size (~ one liter), and low mass (1 kg). All of these physical attributes are needed to place sensors in small sUAS, a commercial market that is rapidly growing. Existing commercial, laser-grade sensors are simply too heavy, too large, or too power hungry to be deployed on commercial-grade drones. While low cost sensors have also rapidly developed using technologies such as capacitive sensors and electrochemical surface sensors, these low cost sensors are not terribly sensitive, nor are they fast-response, for drone-based flights.
We developed an open-path methane sensor with a 3.3 micron laser to probe the fundamental (most sensitive) band of methane. An open-path configuration means that the air flows directly through the sample cell without the need for pumps or inlets. The figures attached show the drone-based sensor flying on a hexacopter and a closeup of the sensor hanging below the body of the hexacopter. This sensor was flown downwind at distances of 50-100 m from a controlled release of methane at 2 grams per second, a level well below typical leaks in the petrochemical sensor. This controlled release simulated a "leak" from petrochemical infrastructure and provided proof-of-concept to detect such leaks at a range of altitudes and distances. The methane sensor measured amounts well above the background level at altitudes at least 10 m above the ground. For reference, the sensor precision is 0.01 parts per million by volume for a one-second integrated measurement, and the enhancements were typically 10-100 times larger than this value.
One Ph.D. student was supported on this project, and the student won first prize at the NSF PFI:AIR-TT grantees workshop in June 2016 for the best elevator pitch to a panel of venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and NSF program officials. Entrepreneurial training is an unusual but very important part of graduate education as most Ph.D. students do not enter academia, and therefore this grant helped to support the training for future innovation and growing high-technology startups.
One patent was filed and granted as part of this project. We are currently licensing the intellectual property to companies in the petrochemical sector, environmental sensing market, and drone operators. This project demonstrated the potential for laser-based sensors to capitalize on the rapidly growing market and applications of drone-based flights.
Last Modified: 12/30/2020
Modified by: MarkAZondlo
Images (1 of )
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Princeton methane sensor flying on a hexacopter drone operated by commercial partner American Aerospace Technologies, Inc.
Levi Golston
Copyrighted
MarkAZondlo
Methane sensor flying on a commercial drone.
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Close-up of the methane-based laser sensor hanging below the center of the drone body, composed of a pair of 2" diameter mirrors held apart by carbon fiber rods. The laser and detector are located behind the mirrors and not visible.
Levi Golston
Copyrighted
MarkAZondlo
Close up of laser methane sensor below the donre.
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