NIST’s Aaron Johnson holding the new NIST pitot tube, which improves measurements of smokestack flow during audits without increasing the amount of time it takes to do the audit.
Credit: Jennifer Lauren Lee/NIST
Each year, to meet requirements set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), coal-fired power plants must have their smokestack emissions audited by an independent third party. NIST researchers wanted to help auditors improve these measurements without making the audits longer or more complicated to complete.
A few years ago, a NIST team designed new probes for sensing emission flows and a new measurement method that improves accuracy while also speeding up measurements of smokestack flow by a factor of five compared to similar probes.
But though the new probes were promising, in real-world tests in actual smokestacks, NIST researchers identified two significant design problems.
Now, the team has addressed those two remaining issues, meaning the new probes are good candidates to become the new standard probe used in smokestack audits.
“These were the last major obstacles standing in the way of the new design and testing protocol being economical and practical for smokestack testing applications,” said NIST researcher Aaron Johnson. “We’re pleased by this latest development and working to support the next steps in the recommendation process.”
The NIST pitot tube (top) has a hemispherical face with five ports used to measure gas flows in three dimensions, which gives it a better ability to measure complex flows in smokestacks. In contrast, the current favorite model of pitot tube, called ..
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