Method for characterizing flame and spray structures in windowless chambers

A method comprising:

• positioning a plurality of sources of x-rays at a selected location outside a closed, windowless metal wall surrounding a flow of gas,
• positioning a plurality of detectors outside the closed metal wall at locations suitable to detect x-rays passing entirely through the closed metal wall and a portion of a volume surrounded by the closed metal wall, each of the detectors having a plurality of sensors arranged in at least one row,
• adding a dopant to the flow of gas, wherein the dopant consists essentially of one or more noble gases having an atomic number of 86 or less;
• capturing a plurality of respective view angles from the respective detectors to represent a dimensionally distributed view of gas density,
• outputting data from the detectors reflecting the distributed view,
• coupling a processor to the output of the detectors to analyze the data,
• detecting, with the processor, variations in gas density within the volume surrounded by the closed metal wall based on deconvolution of the data by the processor, and
• providing a display to show results of the processor analysis.

A method for detecting variations in gas density within a volume surrounded by a closed metal wall, comprising:

• positioning a plurality of sources of x-rays at a selected location outside the closed metal wall surrounding a flow of gas,
• positioning a detector outside the closed metal wall at a location suitable to detect x-rays passing entirely through a portion of the volume surrounded by the closed metal wall, the detector having a plurality of sensors arranged in at least one row to capture a dimensionally distributed view of detected x-rays and an output providing data reflecting the distributed view,
• coupling a processor to the output of the detector to analyze the data, and providing a display to show results of the processor analysis, and
• processing the data to correct for any beam hardening of the x-rays as they pass through the closed metal wall, the processing comprising:
• filling the volume surrounded by the closed metal wall with a calibration gas having a known absorption coefficient,
• subjecting the volume surrounded by the closed metal wall and calibration gas to x-rays from the plurality of x-ray sources,
• detecting with the detector x-rays that pass through the volume surrounded by the closed metal wall and calibration gas, and
• computing a specific absorption coefficient for the closed metal wall.

A method of detecting conditions in a chamber comprising:

• arranging a plurality of x-ray sources and a plurality of two-dimensional sensor arrays around a closed, windowless metal chamber having a windowless metal wall with no optical access,
• supplying the closed metal chamber with a flow of fuel and oxidizer or with a flow of fuel and air, at least one of the fuel, oxidizer or air being doped with an x-ray detectable dopant,
• receiving, with a processor, data output by the two-dimensional sensor arrays, the data representative of a plurality of view angles from respective sensors included in each of the two-dimensional sensor arrays;
• creating, with the processor, a dimensionally distributed map of density of the flow of fuel and oxidizer or the flow of fuel and air by deconvolution of the data received from the two-dimensional sensor arrays, and
• providing a display to show results of analysis by the processor.

A method of detecting conditions in a windowless closed chamber comprising:

• arranging a plurality of x-ray sources and a plurality of sensor arrays around a windowless metal wall forming an outside of the closed chamber, the closed chamber having no optical access,
• supplying the closed chamber with an aerosol of a liquid comprising hydrocarbons,
• receiving, with a processor, data output by the sensor arrays, the data representative of a plurality of view angles from respective sensors included in each of the sensor arrays;
• creating, with the processor, a dimensionally distributed map of density of the aerosol of the liquid by deconvolution of the data received from the sensor arrays;
• and
• providing a display to show results of analysis by the processor.