Video

Video by Dennis L Stewart

Measuring Particles In Turbine Engine Exhaust

Air Force Research Laboratory

July 20, 2017 | 5:47

Exhaust that results from operating aircraft engines is troublesome for a number of reasons. Particles existing in the exhaust plume are small and are easily trapped in your lungs, which can have a health affect. Additionally, when aircraft are flying through the atmosphere it creates contrails. Contrails are mainly water vapor that attribute to cloud formations and to the radiation balance of the earth.

With support from the Air Force Small Business Innovation Research Program two small businesses have developed technologies to measure particles in turbine engine exhausts. The International Civil Aviation Organization will be levying regulations on commercial engines to prove that they meet these regulations and all the engine manufactures will have to make turbine engine exhaust measurements to meet emerging requirements

The SAE E-31 committee identified several technologies that could potentially be used to measure turbine engine exhausts. Leaders in developing those techniques included Artium Technologies, developing the laser induced incandescence technique, and Aerodyne Research doing extension and scattering techniques with their SCOP system.