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Natural gas leak mapper

Patent ·
OSTI ID:936711
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]
  1. Livermore, CA
  2. Dublin, CA
  3. Albany, CA
+ Show Author Affiliations

A system is described that is suitable for use in determining the location of leaks of gases having a background concentration. The system is a point-wise backscatter absorption gas measurement system that measures absorption and distance to each point of an image. The absorption measurement provides an indication of the total amount of a gas of interest, and the distance provides an estimate of the background concentration of gas. The distance is measured from the time-of-flight of laser pulse that is generated along with the absorption measurement light. The measurements are formated into an image of the presence of gas in excess of the background. Alternatively, an image of the scene is superimosed on the image of the gas to aid in locating leaks. By further modeling excess gas as a plume having a known concentration profile, the present system provides an estimate of the maximum concentration of the gas of interest.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA
Sponsoring Organization:
United States Department of Energy
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
Assignee:
Sandia Corporation (Livermore, CA)
Patent Number(s):
7375814
Application Number:
11/078,527
OSTI ID:
936711
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (13)

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conference January 2001
Mid-infrared difference-frequency generation source pumped by a 11–15-µm dual-wavelength fiber amplifier for trace-gas detection journal January 1998
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Real-time monitoring of ethane in human breath using mid-infrared cavity leak-out spectroscopy journal June 2001
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93% pump depletion, 35-W continuous-wave, singly resonant optical parametric oscillator journal January 1996
Development of a pulsed backscatter-absorption gas-imaging system and its application to the visualization of natural gas leaks journal January 1998

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