Infrared spectral soot emission for robust and high-fidelity flame thermometry

Spectral soot emission (SSE) in the visible spectrum is a popular technique for non-intrusive thermometry in sooting flames. However, its accuracy is restricted by uncertainties in the wavelength dependence of soot optical properties. We propose a novel infrared spectral soot emission method that successfully addresses this issue. Comprehensive light extinction experiments were firstly conducted to explore the spectral variation of soot optical property. The results indicated a wavelength independence of the soot absorption function provided the wavelength of the incident light is larger than 1000 nm, thereby indicating through the Kirchhoff law the potential of a robust thermometry using infrared (>1000 nm) spectral soot emissions. Proof-of-concept experiments were performed for sooting premixed flames of ethylene with different equivalence ratios. The results demonstrated that the new method provided more accurate temperature results compared with its visible-NIR counterpart, particularly at flame positions where nascent soot particles are present. The proposed method is, to our knowledge, the first infrared spectral soot emission-based thermometry, and is believed to offer a solution to improving the fidelity of SSE with a cost-effective optical setup.