Method and device for remote sensing of amount of ingredients and temperature of gases

• US 9,228,938 B2
• Filed: 02/14/2014
• Issued: 01/05/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Hager Environmental and Atmospheric Technologies, LLC
• Original Assignee: Hager Environmental and Atmospheric Technologies, LLC
• Inventors: Hager, J. Stewart, Yerem, Geoffrey
• Primary Examiner(s): Punnoose, Roy M
• Application Number:
  US14/180,512
• Publication Number:
  US 20140160479A1
• Time in Patent Office: 690 Days
• Field of Search: 356/438
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/1793 Remote sensing
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/1795 Atmospheric mapping of gases
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2021/399 Diode laser
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3504 for analysing gases, e.g. multi-gas analysis

Abstract

Aspects of the invention are directed to a device and method for detecting characteristics of a gas. The gas includes an exhausted plume from a vehicle or factory plant, leaked gas from an oil well or gas resource, or unidentified gas from an unknown source. The method includes sweepingly directing a beam of light through the gas to a target surface on which the beam of light is scattered, acquiring the scattered light scattered from the target surface, and processing the acquired scattered light to determine the characteristics of the gas, where the characteristics of the gas comprise at least one of a temperature of the gas and an amount of at least one ingredient of the gas.

Claims

1. A method for detecting characteristics of a gas, comprising:

(a) sweepingly directing a beam of light through the gas to a target surface on which the beam of light is scattered;

(b) acquiring the scattered light scattered from the target surface; and

(c) processing the acquired scattered light to determine the characteristics of the gas, wherein the characteristics of the gas comprise at least one of a temperature of the gas and an amount of at least one ingredient of the gas,

wherein the gas comprises one of an exhausted plume from a vehicle or factory plant, leaked gas from an oil well or gas resource, and unidentified gas from an unknown source; and

wherein the target surface is one of a road surface of a road having at least one lane, a drill surface of oil well or gas resource and a surface having the unidentified gas; and

wherein the acquiring step comprises;

acquiring an image from the scattered light; and

wherein the processing step comprises;

obtaining a plurality of pixels from the acquired image, each pixel representing a pixel area of the road, wherein each of the at least one lane of the road correspond to a group of the pixels;

characterizing an absorption rate of light of each pixel from the acquired image;

calculating optical mass of each pixel from the characterized absorption rate of the pixel; and

for each of the at least one lane, identifying whether the gas exists on the lane based on the optical mass of the corresponding group of the pixels.

2. A method for detecting characteristics of a gas, comprising:

(a) sweepingly directing a beam of light through the gas to a target surface on which the beam of light is scattered;

(b) acquiring the scattered light scattered from the target surface; and

(c) processing the acquired scattered light to determine the characteristics of the gas, wherein the characteristics of the gas comprise at least one of a temperature of the gas and an amount of at least one ingredient of the gas,

wherein the gas comprises one of an exhausted plume from a vehicle or factory plant, leaked gas from an oil well or gas resource, and unidentified gas from an unknown source; and

wherein the target surface is one of a road surface of a road having at least one lane, a drill surface of oil well or gas resource and a surface having the unidentified gas; and

wherein the processing step comprises;

(a) characterizing an absorption line from the acquired scattered light;

(b) obtaining a half-width at half-maximum (HWHM) of the absorption line; and

(c) determining the temperature of the gas from the obtained HWHM with a relationship of;

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the HWHM is obtained from the absorption line of the exhausted plume with low ambient concentration, and wherein the exhausted plume with low ambient concentration is carbon monoxide (CO) or nitric oxide (NO).

4. A method for detecting characteristics of a gas, comprising:

(a) sweepingly directing a beam of light through the gas to a target surface on which the beam of light is scattered;

(b) acquiring the scattered light scattered from the target surface; and

(c) processing the acquired scattered light to determine the characteristics of the gas, wherein the characteristics of the gas comprise at least one of a temperature of the gas and an amount of at least one ingredient of the gas,

wherein the gas comprises one of an exhausted plume from a vehicle or factory plant, leaked gas from an oil well or gas resource, and unidentified gas from an unknown source; and

wherein the target surface is one of a road surface of a road having at least one lane, a drill surface of oil well or gas resource and a surface having the unidentified gas; and

wherein the directing step comprises;

spin-sweepingly directing the beam of light along an optical path to the target surface such that the optical path spin-forms a cone geometry covering the target surface.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the processing step comprises:

(a) processing the acquired scattered light to obtain information corresponding to the cone geometry;

(b) identifying whether the gas exists in the cone geometry based on the information corresponding to the cone geometry; and

(c) if the gas exists, determining at least one of a location of the gas on the target surface, a flow rate of the gas, at least one ingredient of the gas, and an absolute amount of the gas.

6. A device for detecting characteristics of a gas, comprising:

(a) a light source configured to emit a beam of light through the gas to a target surface on which the beam of light is scattered;

(b) a detector configured to acquire the scattered light scattered from the surface; and

(c) a processor configured to process the acquired scattered light to determine the characteristics of the gas, wherein the characteristics of the gas comprise at least one of a temperature of the gas and an amount of at least one ingredient of the gas,

(d) a positioning optics configured to sweepingly direct the beam of light emitted by the light source through the gas to the target surface,

wherein the gas comprises one of an exhausted plume from a vehicle or factory plant, leaked gas from an oil well or gas resource, and unidentified gas from an unknown source; and

wherein the target surface is one of a road surface of a road having at least one lane, a drill surface of oil well or gas resource and a surface having the unidentified gas.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the detector is configured to acquire an image from the scattered light, and the processor is configured to process the acquired image to perform functions of:

(a) obtaining a plurality of pixels from the acquired image, each pixel representing a pixel area of the road, wherein each of the at least one lane of the road correspond to a group of the pixels;

(b) characterizing an absorption rate of light of each pixel from the acquired image;

(c) calculating optical mass of each pixel from the characterized absorption rate of the pixel; and

(d) for each of the at least one lane, identifying whether the gas exists on the lane based on the optical mass of the corresponding group of the pixels.

8. The device of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured to determine the temperature of the gas by:

(a) characterizing an absorption line from the acquired scattered light;

(b) obtaining a half-width half-maximum (HWHM) of the absorption line; and

(c) determining the temperature of the gas from the obtained HWHM with a relationship of;

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the HWHM is obtained from the absorption line of the exhausted plume with low ambient concentration, and wherein the exhausted plume with low ambient concentration is carbon monoxide (CO) or nitric oxide (NO).

10. The device of claim 6, wherein the positioning optics is configured to spin-sweepingly direct the beam of light through the gas to the target surface such that an optical path between the positioning optics and the target surface spin-forms a cone geometry covering the target surface.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the positioning optics comprises an X-Y galvanometer or a spinning mirror.

12. The device of claim 10, wherein the processor is configured to perform functions of:

(a) processing the acquired scattered light to obtain information corresponding to the cone geometry;

(b) identifying whether the gas exists in the cone space based on the information corresponding to the cone geometry; and

(c) if the gas leak exists, determining at least one of a position of the gas on the target surface, a flow rate of the gas, at least one ingredient of the gas, and an absolute amount of the gas.