Ge Infrastructure Sensing, Inc.

General Electric Company

John McKinley Poole

Yufeng Huang

Gene Smith Berkowitz

Anthony Kowal

Xiaoyong Liu

Hejie Li

Shawn David Wehe

John P Sanroma

Aniruddha Sudheer Weling

Gary Stephen Parece

Daniel M Stearns

Methods, devices, and systems are provided for analyzing the moisture content in natural gas. In one embodiment, a portable moisture analyzer system is provided and can include a moisture analyzer and a housing. The moisture analyzer can include a tunable diode laser absorption spectrometer (TDLAS) and a natural gas sample conditioning system. The TDLAS can be configured to detect water vapor content within a natural gas sample. The sample conditioning system can be in fluid communication with the TDLAS and can be configured to condition at least one of temperature, flow rate, and pressure of a natural gas sample. The housing can be configured to receive the moisture analyzer therein and to protect the moisture analyzer from vibration and/or shock.

Portable moisture analyzer for natural gas

A moisture provision and analyzer arrangement includes a conduit for obtaining a sample flow of natural gas, a moisture analyzer, and a bypass flow conduit. A main orifice is in fluid communication within the moisture provision and analyzer arrangement with flow proceeding to the moisture analyzer. A bypass orifice is located along the bypass flow conduit. The main orifice is sized and the flow provided to the moisture analyzer via the main orifice is at a pressure such that the flow provided to the moisture analyzer is at a critical flow condition and the bypass orifice is sized and the bypass flow is provided at a pressure such that the bypass flow is at a critical flow condition. Components in the moisture provision and analyzer arrangement are selected such that the critical flow rate through the main orifice and the critical flow rate through the bypass orifice are equal.

Critical flow in moisture generation system for natural gas

A system includes a moisture analyzer configured to detect moisture in natural gas. The moisture analyzer includes an absorption cell that encloses and conducts the natural gas. The moisture analyzer also includes a pressure control device that may reduce a pressure of the natural gas inside the absorption cell. The moisture analyzer includes a light emitting device that may transmit light through the natural gas inside the absorption cell, as well as a photodetector that may detect an intensity of the light transmitted through the natural gas and exiting the absorption cell.

Method and system for detecting moisture in natural gas

Several methods of calibrating a wavelength-modulation spectroscopy apparatus configured to measure a concentration of an analyte in a sample gas are disclosed. Each of the methods allows for calibration and recalibration using a relatively safe gas regardless of whether the sample gas for which the concentration of the analyte can be determined is a hazardous gas. In one embodiment of the invention, calibration that is sample-gas specific is accomplished by determining a first slope coefficient and calibration function for the sample gas, after which a scaling factor can be determined based on the first slope coefficient and a second slope coefficient for the same or a different sample gas and used in a subsequent calibration (or recalibration) to scale the calibration function. In other embodiments of the invention, calibration that is not sample-gas specific is accomplished to allow for the determination of the analyte concentration in variable gas compositions and constant gas compositions.

Method of calibrating a wavelength-modulation spectroscopy apparatus using a first, second, and third gas to determine temperature values to calculate concentrations of an analyte in a gas

Method of calibrating a wavelength-modulation spectroscopy apparatus using a first, second and third gas to determine temperature and pressure values to calculate concentrations of analytes in a gas

In one embodiment of the spectroscopy method, the method comprises the steps of modulating the wavelength of a monochromatic radiation at a modulation amplitude and a modulation frequency; determining a first variable representative of an absorbance of an analyte in a sample; and demodulating by phase-sensitive detection the first variable at a harmonic of the modulation frequency to produce a harmonic spectrum of the analyte. In one embodiment of the spectroscopy apparatus, the apparatus comprises a laser diode integrated with a first photodetector configured to detect an intensity of a backward emission from the laser diode and act as a reference detector; a second photodetector configured to detect an intensity of laser radiation exiting a sample; and electronic circuitry coupled to the laser diode and the photodetectors, configured to acquire and process spectra of the sample. In another embodiment, the spectroscopy apparatus comprises a beam splitter configured to split the laser radiation into a first radiation portion and a second radiation portion and a first photodetector configured to detect the intensity of the first radiation portion.

Wavelength-modulation spectroscopy method and apparatus

Method of calibrating a wavelength-modulation spectroscopy apparatus

A method of operating an aluminum oxide moisture sensor to measure moisture in a sample gas, where the sensor comprises a pair of electrodes sandwiched about a dielectric, the method comprising: a) heating the sensor to a first temperature above the sample gas temperature and holding the sensor at said first temperature for a first predetermined period of time; b) cooling down the sensor to a second lower temperature over a second predetermined period of time; c) taking plural samples of sensor conductance over a third predetermined period of time at the lower temperature; and d) determining a rate of adsorption of the moisture and using the rate of adsorption as a measure of moisture in the sample gas.

Growing community of inventors

Maynard, MA, United States of America

John McKinley Poole