Validation of Emission Spectroscopy Gas Temperature Measurements Using a Standard Flame Traceable to the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90)

Accurate measurement of post-flame temperatures can significantly improve combustion efficiency and reduce harmful emissions, for example, during the development phase of new internal combustion engines and gas turbine combustors. Non-perturbing optical diagnostic techniques are capable of measuring temperatures in such environments but are often technically complex and validation is challenging, with correspondingly large uncertainties, often as large as 2 % to 5 % of temperature. This work aims to reduce these uncertainties by developing a portable flame temperature standard, calibrated via the Rayleigh scattering thermometry technique, traceable to ITS-90, with an uncertainty of 0.5 % of temperature (k = 1). By suitable burner selection and accurate gas flow control, a stable, square, flat flame with uniform post-flame species and temperature is realised. Following development, the standard flame is used to validate two IR emission spectroscopy systems, both measuring the line-integrated emission spectra in the post-flame region. The first utilises a Hyperspectral imaging FTIR spectrometer capable of measuring 2D species and temperature maps and the second, a high-precision single line-of-sight FTIR spectrometer. In the central post-flame region, the agreement between the Rayleigh and FTIR temperatures is within the combined measurement uncertainties and amounts to 1 % (k = 1) of temperature.