Aviation Emission Testing

Emission measurement systems for aviation and aerospace applications
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Aviation Testing

Since the 1980s, there have been regulations in the aviation sector aiming at environmental protection. The regulations consider keeping the air clean (emissions) and reducing noise and are issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). Initially, regulations for nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and smoke came into force in 1981. In 1996, 2004 and 2008, the NOx limits were further reduced. Since 2016, non-volatile particulate matter (PM) and the number of particles (PN) have also been limited.

The gaseous emissions are described in ICAO Annex 16 - Aircraft Engine Emissions. Typically, the LTO Takeoff Test Cycle is used for this purpose, which simulates local emissions in the vicinity of airports during takeoff and up to an altitude of 3,000 feet.

Discover how AVL supports aviation applications.  


 

Environmental Protection in the Aviation Industry

With the advancement of technology, there are new challenges in emissions measurement in the aviation industry today:

  • More stringent emission regulations
  • Testing of alternative aviation fuels
  • Taking representative samples from turbo fan engines
  • Meeting response factors for HC measurement

If you want to determine low emissions precisely, robust gas analytical solutions and the knowledge of AVL experts will help you to overcome these challenges. 
Environmental Protection Aviation

Aircraft Engine Emission Testing

Gaseous Emission Measurement

International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Annex 16 regulates the emissions certification of aircraft engines regarding gaseous emissions and smoke. Beside the fact that taking representative samples from jet engines is a challenging task, Annex 16 specifies different and hard to meet response factors for the Flame Ionization Detector (FID) than those used in automotive applications. In addition, gaseous emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide have to be determined. 

AVL offers a wide range of accurate gas analytical solutions for single and multi-component emission analysis e.g.:

  • Portable and rack-mounted FID analyzers for THC measurement
  • Portable and rack-mounted CLD analyzers for NO/NOx measurement
  • NDIR analyzers for CO and CO2 measurement
  • AMA exhaust gas measurement systems hosting multiple analyzers
  • Stationary and portable FTIR-based multi-component exhaust gas measurement systems

Furthermore, AVL offers software solutions for automation of the testing processes. 
Aviation Software Screen

Particulate Matter Measurement

In addition to gaseous emissions, the ICAO also introduced non-volatile particulate matter (nvPM) mass and number standards. AIR6241 (Aircraft Information Report) requires manufacturers of turbojet and turbofan engines with >26.7 kN thrust to report the nvPM mass and number emission indices (EI) and describes the instrumentation and the measurement protocol.

To keep testing efforts consistent with previous requirements, the standard facilitates simultaneous measurement of the nvPM number and mass with the Gas Transfer System (GTS) for the measurement of the smoke number and gaseous emissions as specified in Annex16.

An AIR6241 compliant nvPM Measurement System consists of a customer specific collection section comprising of the sample probe and a connection line and a tansfer section. The AVL Particle Measurement System (PMS) Aviation consists of:

  • AVL Particle Sampling System Aviation (PSS Aviation)
  • AVL Micro Soot Sensor Aviation (MSS-Aviation)
  • AVL Particle Counter Aviation (APC-Aviation)
  • AVL System Control Software Aviation (SCS Aviation)
PM measurement aircraft

Get Ready for Take-off with AVL’s Analytical Solutions

Flexible Analytical Solutions

  • Portable and rack-mounted versions of analyzers for THC and NOX measurements
  • Most compact AMA SL exhaust measurement systems that fit even in the smallest spaces
  • Versatile FTIR-based analyzers that may be equipped with additional analyzers 

Maximized Usability and Low Total Cost of Ownership

  • Stay connected anywhere & anytime thanks to web-interface operation.
  • Easy setup and handling of portable analyzers
  • Reduced operating cost by avoiding operation gases like synthetic air for FID analyzers, pure O2 for CLD analyzers, no liquid N2 for FTIR required
Aviation Cockpit

Portfolio
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