High resolution led-spectroscopy for sensor application in harsh environment

The usage of novel LED-light sources for spectrometric application is shown and described in this paper. The utilization of fiber optical linkage to a simple open path absorption cell and a proper control of the light sources is the key to a robust and high resolved measurement system. A novel optical sensor system based on this approach is realized to measure the concentration of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide with a resolution below 1 ppm and ozone down to 30 ppb at a 4 cm single reflection cell in a fraction of a second measurement time. In this setup the emitted light from Light Emitting Diodes in the ultraviolet to the visible wavelength range was used. The optoelectronics and the control electronics are separated from the optical sensor head where the pure optical sensor effect takes place. Therefore the sensor can be used in harsh environment for instance in an exhaust tailpipe system or close to discharge plasma in strong electromagnetic fields or at high temperature. Furthermore the sensor design is potentially low cost, quite small, long life and well suited for a large number of applications - from small battery powered hand held devices to industrial process control implementation. An LED-based sensor does not compete to laboratory chemical analytical devices but in many cases it is well suited for high resolved and fast online concentration measurements.