Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipeline Leak Detection Semi-Annual Report: October 2002 - April 2003 (open access)

Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipeline Leak Detection Semi-Annual Report: October 2002 - April 2003

Ophir Corporation was awarded a contract by the U. S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory under the Project Title ''Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipeline Leak Detection'' on October 14, 2002. This six-month technical report summarizes the progress for each of the proposed tasks, discusses project concerns, and outlines near-term goals. Ophir has completed a data survey of two major natural gas pipeline companies on the design requirements for an airborne, optical remote sensor. The results of this survey are disclosed in this report. A substantial amount of time was spent on modeling the expected optical signal at the receiver at different absorption wavelengths, and determining the impact of noise sources such as solar background, signal shot noise, and electronic noise on methane and ethane gas detection. Based upon the signal to noise modeling and industry input, Ophir finalized the design requirements for the airborne sensor, and released the critical sensor light source design requirements to qualified vendors. Responses from the vendors indicated that the light source was not commercially available, and will require a research and development effort to produce. Three vendors have responded positively with proposed design solutions. Ophir has …
Date: May 13, 2003
Creator: Myers, Jerry
System: The UNT Digital Library
Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipline Leak Detection Semi-Annual Report: October 2003 - April 2004 (open access)

Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipline Leak Detection Semi-Annual Report: October 2003 - April 2004

Ophir Corporation was awarded a contract by the U. S. Department of Energy, National Energy Technology Laboratory under the Project Title ''Airborne, Optical Remote Sensing of Methane and Ethane for Natural Gas Pipeline Leak Detection'' on October 14, 2002. The third six-month technical report contains a summary of the progress made towards finalizing the design and assembling the airborne, remote methane and ethane sensor. The vendor has been chosen and is on contract to develop the light source with the appropriate linewidth and spectral shape to best utilize the Ophir gas correlation software. Ophir has expanded upon the target reflectance testing begun in the previous performance period by replacing the experimental receiving optics with the proposed airborne large aperture telescope, which is theoretically capable of capturing many times more signal return. The data gathered from these tests has shown the importance of optimizing the fiber optic receiving fiber to the receiving optic and has helped Ophir to optimize the design of the gas cells and narrowband optical filters. Finally, Ophir will discuss remaining project issues that may impact the success of the project.
Date: May 12, 2004
Creator: Myers, Jerry
System: The UNT Digital Library