I-Corps: Visible optics-enabled diagnostics for site-specific gas leak detection

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是开发一种检测有害气体泄漏的技术，除了防止人命损失和增加环境危害外，每年还可节省数十亿美元的经济开支。减少不必要的气体化学物质释放到环境中，例如天然气供应链中的泄漏，将有助于拯救暴露于有害气体中的生命，并减少碳排放。该技术可以防止发电厂、半导体制造、石油和天然气行业操作设备的工人的健康问题，并限制导致生产周期中潜在停机的气体泄漏。此外，关联（跨国）公司的数百万美元的法律责任可能被避免。这个I-Corps项目的重点是翻译技术，该技术能够通过现成的光学工具和定制的图像处理数学和软件框架来检测透明介质中的密度变化。当光穿过密度不同的透明介质时，可见光发生折射。气体介质的密度变化可由若干因素引起，例如，温度、成分和压力波动的变化。一旦在不同时间实例，即在泄漏位置视场中连续记录的视频的不同帧中明确识别流体颗粒从泄漏部位的运动，就便于使用颗粒图像测速法测量从一帧到另一帧的颗粒速度。用预定的距离测量校准结果，得到了物理尺度上的流速。利用泄漏点的面积，可以快速估计泄漏的体积流量。与使用挥发性有机化合物传感器、红外光或热成像的当代方法不同，该技术采用了可见光。拟议的诊断技术可以实时检测气体泄漏，并确定需要精确检测和维护的热点，从而触发快速缓解程序。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of a technology for detecting leakage of harmful gases, providing billions of dollars in economic savings per year in addition to preventing the loss of human lives and increasing environmental hazards. Reducing unwanted gaseous chemical releases to the environment, e.g., leaks in the natural gas supply chain, will contribute to saving lives from exposure to hazardous gases and lessen carbon emission. The technology may prevent health issues for workers operating equipment in power plants, semiconductor manufacturing, and oil and natural gas industries, as well as limit gas leakages that result in potential downtime in the production cycle. In addition, multimillion dollar legal liabilities of associated (multinational) companies may be averted.This I-Corps project is focused on the translation of technology that is able to detect density changes in transparent media with off-the-shelf optical tools and a customized mathematical and software framework for image-processing. Refraction of visible light occurs when light passes across transparent media with dissimilar densities. The changes in density for a gaseous medium can arise due to several factors, e.g., variations in temperature, composition, and pressure fluctuations. The movement of fluid particles from the site of leakage once distinctly identified at different time instances, i.e., at different frames of a video recorded continuously in the field of view of the leakage location, facilitates the measurement of particle speed from one frame to the other using particle image velocimetry. Calibrating the results with a predetermined distance measure, the velocity of flow in the physical dimension is obtained. Using the area of the leakage spot, the volume flow rate of the leak is estimated rapidly. Unlike contemporary methods that use volatile organic compound sensors, infrared light, or thermal imaging, the proposed technology employs visible optics. The proposed diagnostics technology may detect gas leaks in real time and identify hot spots that require precise detection and maintenance, triggering rapid mitigation procedures.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.