US 5,225,679 AGranted

Methods and apparatus for determining hydrocarbon fuel properties

AssigneeBoston Advanced Technologies, Inc.

InventorsRichard H. Clarke, Deming Tang

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Abstract

Method and apparatus for monitoring hydrocarbon-based fuel properties by measuring the presence and amount of fuel component molecules in the fuel solution. Detection is made of absorption related to signature vibrational modes associated with the fuel component molecules when excited in the mid-IR. In one embodiment, a mid-IR light source illuminates the fuel in-situ and a narrow bandwidth detector associated with a vibrational mode signature detects absorbance as an indication of the presence and quantity of the fuel component in solution. From the determined fuel component quantity and known characteristics, the fuel solution properties are predicted. In one embodiment, octane rating and vapor pressure for a fuel solution is determined in-situ and in real time.

Claims10

Dependent claims

Apparatus for determining the properties of a hydrocarbon-based fuel based on analysis of the components of the fuel, the apparatus comprising:

an examination vessel for receiving a hydrocarbon-based fuel sample;
a mid-IR light source which illuminates the fuel sample;
detection means for detecting a plurality of fuel components, each fuel component having known characteristics including at least one known absorbance value associated with a known quantity of that fuel component, the detection means comprising, for each one of the plurality of fuel components, at least one light absorption detector assigned to a narrow spectral band centered about a wavelength associated with a signature vibrational mode of the respective fuel component and selected from the group consisting of:
700 wavenumbers, for the measurement of aromatic-based fuel components,
1100 wavenumbers, for the measurement of ethanol fuel components,
1200 wavenumbers, for the measurement of MTBE fuel components, and
3300 wavenumbers, for the measurement of alcohol-based fuel components;
each detector output expressing a detected absorbance value indicative of the quantity of the detected fuel component;
and
correlation means for predicting the properties of the fuel based upon correlation of the known characteristics of the fuel components with the output of the detectors.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.