SBIR Phase I: Real-time Oxygen Monitoring Instrument for Aircraft Fuel Tanks

该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将是一个安全和强大的飞机燃料箱实时氧气监测仪器。这种仪器将极大地降低飞机上油箱爆炸的可能性，并有可能挽救生命，从而使商用飞机行业受益。这项技术还可以用来确保军用飞机和直升机的燃料箱在被弹道击穿后得到充分的清洗，从而保护飞机和机上的军事人员。此外，该项目开发的技术还可用于监测油轮和储油罐的油耗，防止爆炸，极大地有利于石油工业和防止溢油。最后，由于这项技术使在恶劣的化学环境中测量氧气成为可能，它可能被应用于监测制药和特种化学品制造过程中的氧气，在这些过程中，减少氧气往往是保护昂贵催化剂免受结垢的关键。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在开发一种安全可靠的飞机燃料箱实时氧气监测仪器。需要这样的工具来满足联邦运输安全机构的要求，这些机构要求商用飞机消除燃料箱爆炸的可能性。该仪器采用了一种基于光学氧气、温度和压力传感器融合的多分量光学传感器，从而提高了仪器的技术水平。这三个坚固、稳定和灵敏的传感器相结合，使我们能够在飞机燃料箱中发现的温度、压力和浓度范围内准确和精确地测量氧气浓度，而不会有火花危险的风险。第一阶段的目标是开发用于飞机燃料箱的氧气监测仪器原型，并证明我们的技术可以在较长一段时间内安全、准确和准确地测量喷气燃料蒸气中的氧气。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be a safe and robust real-time O2 monitoring instrument for aircraft fuel tanks. This instrument will benefit the commercial aircraft industry by dramatically decreasing the probability of fuel tank explosions on planes and potentially save lives. This technology could also be used to insure that military plane and helicopter fuel tanks are adequately purged after they are pierced by ballistics, protecting both the aircraft and military personnel onboard. In addition, the technology developed by this project might be used to monitor the ullage in oil tankers and reservoir to prevent explosions, greatly benefiting oil industry and preventing oil spills. Finally, because this technology makes measuring O2 in harsh chemical environments possible, it might be applied to monitor O2 in the pharmaceutical and specialty chemical manufacturing process, where reduced O2 is often critical to protect expensive catalyst from fouling. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a safe and robust real-time O2 monitoring instrument for aircraft fuel tanks. Such an instrument is needed to address mandates from federal transportation safety agencies, which require commercial aircraft to eliminate the possibility of fuel tank explosions. The proposed instrument advances the state-of-the-art by employing a multi-component optical sensor based on the fusion of optical oxygen, temperature, and pressure sensors. The combination of these three robust, stable and sensitive sensors allows us to accurately and precisely measure O2 concentration in the range of temperatures, pressures and concentrations found in aircraft fuel tanks without the risk of spark hazards. The goal of Phase I will be to develop a prototype O2 monitoring instrument for aircraft fuel tanks and demonstrate that our technology can make safe, precise, and accurate O2 measurements in jet fuel vapors over an extend period of time.