• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.116-124
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• 2007

An optical method to measure the size and number density of soot aggregates in diesel exhaust has been proposed in this study. Two laser beams in co-axial alignment transmit a soot loaded exhaust gas flow, and the transmittance at each wavelength is detected by a photo diode simultaneously. The volume equivalent diameter and number density of soot aggregates in the optical path can be theoretically given by the transmittance values measured at two wavelengths. A test conducted by a single cylinder, 4 cycle, small and DI diesel engine shows that the temporal variations of the size and number density of soot aggregates in the diesel exhaust can be measured by the proposed method at a transient mode operation. It is found that the volume equivalent diameter varied temporally from 70 to 110 nm during the period that high soot concentration is observed. One can also conclude that the optical length longer than 1 m in the dynamic range regarding this method is preferable for measuring soot concentration at the level of $1\;mg/m^3$.