40 CFR 1065.140 – Dilution for gaseous and PM constituents
(a) General. You may dilute exhaust with ambient air, purified air, or nitrogen. References in this part to “dilution air” may include any of these. For gaseous emission measurement, the dilution air must be at least 15 °C. Note that the composition of the dilution air affects some gaseous emission measurement instruments’ response to emissions. We recommend diluting exhaust at a location as close as possible to the location where ambient air dilution would occur in use. Dilution may occur in a single stage or in multiple stages. For dilution in multiple stages, the first stage is considered primary dilution and later stages are considered secondary dilution.
(b) Dilution-air conditions and background concentrations. Before dilution air is mixed with exhaust, you may precondition it by increasing or decreasing its temperature or humidity. You may also remove constituents to reduce their background concentrations. The following provisions apply to removing constituents or accounting for background concentrations:
(1) You may measure constituent concentrations in the dilution air and compensate for background effects on test results. See § 1065.650 for calculations that compensate for background concentrations (40 CFR 1066.610 for vehicle testing).
(2) Measure these background concentrations the same way you measure diluted exhaust constituents, or measure them in a way that does not affect your ability to demonstrate compliance with the applicable standards in this chapter. For example, you may use the following simplifications for background sampling:
(i) You may disregard any proportional sampling requirements.
(ii) You may use unheated gaseous sampling systems.
(iii) You may use unheated PM sampling systems.
(iv) You may use continuous sampling if you use batch sampling for diluted emissions.
(v) You may use batch sampling if you use continuous sampling for diluted emissions.
(3) For removing background PM, we recommend that you filter all dilution air, including primary full-flow dilution air, with high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters that have an initial minimum collection efficiency specification of 99.97% (see § 1065.1001 for procedures related to HEPA-filtration efficiencies). Ensure that HEPA filters are installed properly so that background PM does not leak past the HEPA filters. If you choose to correct for background PM without using HEPA filtration, demonstrate that the background PM in the dilution air contributes less than 50% to the net PM collected on the sample filter. You may correct net PM without restriction if you use HEPA filtration.
(c) Full-flow dilution; constant-volume sampling (CVS). You may dilute the full flow of raw exhaust in a dilution tunnel that maintains a nominally constant volume flow rate, molar flow rate or mass flow rate of diluted exhaust, as follows:
(1) Construction. Use a tunnel with inside surfaces of 300 series stainless steel. Electrically ground the entire dilution tunnel. We recommend a thin-walled and insulated dilution tunnel to minimize temperature differences between the wall and the exhaust gases. You may not use any flexible tubing in the dilution tunnel upstream of the PM sample probe. You may use nonconductive flexible tubing downstream of the PM sample probe and upstream of the CVS flow meter; use good engineering judgment to select a tubing material that is not prone to leaks, and configure the tubing to ensure smooth flow at the CVS flow meter.
(2) Pressure control. Maintain static pressure at the location where raw exhaust is introduced into the tunnel within ±1.2 kPa of atmospheric pressure. You may use a booster blower to control this pressure. If you test using more careful pressure control and you show by engineering analysis or by test data that you require this level of control to demonstrate compliance at the applicable standards in this chapter, we will maintain the same level of static pressure control when we test.
(3) Mixing. Introduce raw exhaust into the tunnel by directing it downstream along the centerline of the tunnel. If you dilute directly from the exhaust stack, the end of the exhaust stack is considered to be the start of the dilution tunnel. You may introduce a fraction of dilution air radially from the tunnel’s inner surface to minimize exhaust interaction with the tunnel walls. You may configure the system with turbulence generators such as orifice plates or fins to achieve good mixing. We recommend a minimum Reynolds number, Re
(4) Flow measurement preconditioning. You may condition the diluted exhaust before measuring its flow rate, as long as this conditioning takes place downstream of any heated HC or PM sample probes, as follows:
(i) You may use flow straighteners, pulsation dampeners, or both of these.
(ii) You may use a filter.
(iii) You may use a heat exchanger to control the temperature upstream of any flow meter, but you must take steps to prevent aqueous condensation as described in paragraph (c)(6) of this section.
(5) Flow measurement. Section 1065.240 describes measurement instruments for diluted exhaust flow.
(6) Aqueous condensation. You must address aqueous condensation in the CVS as described in this paragraph (c)(6). You may meet these requirements by preventing or limiting aqueous condensation in the CVS from the exhaust inlet to the last emission sample probe. See paragraph (c)(6)(2)(B) of this section for provisions related to the CVS between the last emission sample probe and the CVS flow meter. You may heat and/or insulate the dilution tunnel walls, as well as the bulk stream tubing downstream of the tunnel to prevent or limit aqueous condensation. Where we allow aqueous condensation to occur, use good engineering judgment to ensure that the condensation does not affect your ability to demonstrate that your engines comply with the applicable standards in this chapter (see § 1065.10(a)).
(i) Preventing aqueous condensation. To prevent condensation, you must keep the temperature of internal surfaces, excluding any sample probes, above the dewpoint of the dilute exhaust passing through the CVS tunnel. Use good engineering judgment to monitor temperatures in the CVS. For the purposes of this paragraph (c)(6), assume that aqueous condensation is pure water condensate only, even though the definition of “aqueous condensation” in § 1065.1001 includes condensation of any constituents that contain water. No specific verification check is required under this paragraph (c)(6)(i), but we may ask you to show how you comply with this requirement. You may use engineering analysis, CVS tunnel design, alarm systems, measurements of wall temperatures, and calculation of water dewpoint to demonstrate compliance with this requirement. For optional CVS heat exchangers, you may use the lowest water temperature at the inlet(s) and outlet(s) to determine the minimum internal surface temperature.
(ii) Limiting aqueous condensation. This paragraph (c)(6)(ii) specifies limits of allowable condensation and requires you to verify that the amount of condensation that occurs during each test interval does not exceed the specified limits.
(A) Use chemical balance equations in § 1065.655 to calculate the mole fraction of water in the dilute exhaust continuously during testing. Alternatively, you may continuously measure the mole fraction of water in the dilute exhaust prior to any condensation during testing. Use good engineering judgment to select, calibrate and verify water analyzers/detectors. The linearity verification requirements of § 1065.307 do not apply to water analyzers/detectors used to correct for the water content in exhaust samples.
(B) Use good engineering judgment to select and monitor locations on the CVS tunnel walls prior to the last emission sample probe. If you are also verifying limited condensation from the last emission sample probe to the CVS flow meter, use good engineering judgment to select and monitor locations on the CVS tunnel walls, optional CVS heat exchanger, and CVS flow meter. For optional CVS heat exchangers, you may use the lowest water temperature at the inlet(s) and outlet(s) to determine the minimum internal surface temperature. Identify the minimum surface temperature on a continuous basis.
(C) Identify the maximum potential mole fraction of dilute exhaust lost on a continuous basis during the entire test interval. This value must be less than or equal to 0.02. Calculate on a continuous basis the mole fraction of water that would be in equilibrium with liquid water at the measured minimum surface temperature. Subtract this mole fraction from the mole fraction of water that would be in the exhaust without condensation (either measured or from the chemical balance), and set any negative values to zero. This difference is the potential mole fraction of the dilute exhaust that would be lost due to water condensation on a continuous basis.
(D) Integrate the product of the molar flow rate of the dilute exhaust and the potential mole fraction of dilute exhaust lost, and divide by the totalized dilute exhaust molar flow over the test interval. This is the potential mole fraction of the dilute exhaust that would be lost due to water condensation over the entire test interval. Note that this assumes no re-evaporation. This value must be less than or equal to 0.005.
(7) Flow compensation. Maintain nominally constant molar, volumetric or mass flow of diluted exhaust. You may maintain nominally constant flow by either maintaining the temperature and pressure at the flow meter or by directly controlling the flow of diluted exhaust. You may also directly control the flow of proportional samplers to maintain proportional sampling. For an individual test, verify proportional sampling as described in § 1065.545.
(d) Partial-flow dilution (PFD). You may dilute a partial flow of raw or previously diluted exhaust before measuring emissions. Section 1065.240 describes PFD-related flow measurement instruments. PFD may consist of constant or varying dilution ratios as described in paragraphs (d)(2) and (3) of this section. An example of a constant dilution ratio PFD is a “secondary dilution PM” measurement system.
(1) Applicability. (i) You may use PFD to extract a proportional raw exhaust sample for any batch or continuous PM emission sampling over any transient duty cycle, any steady-state duty cycle, or any ramped-modal cycle.
(ii) You may use PFD to extract a proportional raw exhaust sample for any batch or continuous gaseous emission sampling over any transient duty cycle, any steady-state duty cycle, or any ramped-modal cycle.
(iii) You may use PFD to extract a proportional raw exhaust sample for any batch or continuous field-testing.
(iv) You may use PFD to extract a proportional diluted exhaust sample from a CVS for any batch or continuous emission sampling.
(v) You may use PFD to extract a constant raw or diluted exhaust sample for any continuous emission sampling.
(vi) You may use PFD to extract a constant raw or diluted exhaust sample for any steady-state emission sampling.
(2) Constant dilution-ratio PFD. Do one of the following for constant dilution-ratio PFD:
(i) Dilute an already proportional flow. For example, you may do this as a way of performing secondary dilution from a CVS tunnel to achieve overall dilution ratio for PM sampling.
(ii) Continuously measure constituent concentrations. For example, you might dilute to precondition a sample of raw exhaust to control its temperature, humidity, or constituent concentrations upstream of continuous analyzers. In this case, you must take into account the dilution ratio before multiplying the continuous concentration by the sampled exhaust flow rate.
(iii) Extract a proportional sample from a separate constant dilution ratio PFD system. For example, you might use a variable-flow pump to proportionally fill a gaseous storage medium such as a bag from a PFD system. In this case, the proportional sampling must meet the same specifications as varying dilution ratio PFD in paragraph (d)(3) of this section.
(iv) For each mode of a discrete-mode test (such as a locomotive notch setting or a specific setting for speed and torque), use a constant dilution ratio for any PM sampling. You must change the overall PM sampling system dilution ratio between modes so that the dilution ratio on the mode with the highest exhaust flow rate meets § 1065.140(e)(2) and the dilution ratios on all other modes is higher than this (minimum) dilution ratio by the ratio of the maximum exhaust flow rate to the exhaust flow rate of the corresponding other mode. This is the same dilution ratio requirement for RMC or field transient testing. You must account for this change in dilution ratio in your emission calculations.
(3) Varying dilution-ratio PFD. All the following provisions apply for varying dilution-ratio PFD:
(i) Use a control system with sensors and actuators that can maintain proportional sampling over intervals as short as 200 ms (i.e., 5 Hz control).
(ii) For control input, you may use any sensor output from one or more measurements; for example, intake-air flow, fuel flow, exhaust flow, engine speed, and intake manifold temperature and pressure.
(iii) Account for any emission transit time in the PFD system, as necessary.
(iv) You may use preprogrammed data if they have been determined for the specific test site, duty cycle, and test engine from which you dilute emissions.
(v) We recommend that you run practice cycles to meet the verification criteria in § 1065.545. Note that you must verify every emission test by meeting the verification criteria with the data from that specific test. Data from previously verified practice cycles or other tests may not be used to verify a different emission test.
(vi) You may not use a PFD system that requires preparatory tuning or calibration with a CVS or with the emission results from a CVS. Rather, you must be able to independently calibrate the PFD.
(e) Dilution air temperature, dilution ratio, residence time, and temperature control of PM samples. Dilute PM samples at least once upstream of transfer lines. You may dilute PM samples upstream of a transfer line using full-flow dilution, or partial-flow dilution immediately downstream of a PM probe. In the case of partial-flow dilution, you may have up to 26 cm of insulated length between the end of the probe and the dilution stage, but we recommend that the length be as short as practical. The intent of these specifications is to minimize heat transfer to or from the emission sample before the final stage of dilution, other than the heat you may need to add to prevent aqueous condensation. This is accomplished by initially cooling the sample through dilution. Configure dilution systems as follows:
(1) Set the dilution air temperature to (25 ±5) °C. Use good engineering judgment to select a location to measure this temperature that is as close as practical upstream of the point where dilution air mixes with raw exhaust.
(2) For any PM dilution system (i.e., CVS or PFD), add dilution air to the raw exhaust such that the minimum overall ratio of diluted exhaust to raw exhaust is within the range of (5:1 to 7:1) and is at least 2:1 for any primary dilution stage. Base this minimum value on the maximum engine exhaust flow rate during a given duty cycle for discrete-mode testing and on the maximum engine exhaust flow rate during a given test interval for other testing. Either measure the maximum exhaust flow during a practice run of the test interval or estimate it based on good engineering judgment (for example, you might rely on manufacturer-published literature).
(3) Configure any PM dilution system to have an overall residence time of (1.0 to 5.5) s, as measured from the location of initial dilution air introduction to the location where PM is collected on the sample media. Also configure the system to have a residence time of at least 0.50 s, as measured from the location of final dilution air introduction to the location where PM is collected on the sample media. When determining residence times within sampling system volumes, use an assumed flow temperature of 25 °C and pressure of 101.325 kPa.
(4) Control sample temperature to a (47 ±5) °C tolerance, as measured anywhere within 20 cm upstream or downstream of the PM storage media (such as a filter). You may instead measure sample temperature up to 30 cm upstream of the filter or other PM storage media if it is housed within a chamber with temperature controlled to stay within the specified temperature range. Measure sample temperature with a bare-wire junction thermocouple with wires that are (0.500 ±0.025) mm diameter, or with another suitable instrument that has equivalent performance.