Gas Detection Equipment Accurately Measures Flammable Gases

For more than 80 years, RKI Instruments has been a leader in sensor technology, developing the most advanced detection techniques to provide solutions for specific applications. This gas detection equipment is reliable and rugged, and we are proud to offer them to you now here at Haaker. 

Accurately Measure Flammable Gases

When choosing a flammable gas monitor, it’s vital that you understand the different types of flammable conditions and the sensors that measure them. 

Remember that there are three things required to support an explosion or fire: a source of fuel, air, and a source of ignition (like a high temperature surface, open flame or spark). 

Many commonly-encountered vapors and gases, including natural gas, alcohols, hydrogen, propane and methane, are flammable within a defined range. The range is different for each gas — for example, methane’s lower explosive limit (LEL) is 5.0%, and its upper explosive limit (UEL) is 15.0% by volume in air. 

Most safety-related instruments focus on the sub-LEL range, but there are many applications where concentrations of gases must be measured above the LEL. For example, a utility company searching for a gas leak my find concentrations much higher than the LEL.

In these situations, typical LEL range detectors aren’t suitable and can give harmful low false readings. For these applications, we recommend thermal conductivity (TC) as the most effective method of detection. 

TC detectors rely on the knowledge that gases differ in their ability to conduct heat. TC detectors consist of two elements – one that is exposed to the gas sample being measured and another that is exposed to a reference gas, which is usually air. If the sample gas has a different TC compared to the air or reference gas, the temperature of the active filament will change as compared to the reference element. The temp change results in a resistance change that is measured to produce a digital reading in proportion to the gas concentration. 

The GX 2012 Five Sensor Gas Detector from RKI Instruments includes both TC and catalytic bead sensors and will automatically switch from a % LEL to a % Volume range when needed. This keeps readings accurate and makes it an ideal gas detection tool for general-purpose safety monitoring as well as the detection of high levels of flammable gases and vapors without requiring any extra procedures or precautions. 

If you’d like to learn more about the GX 2012 or our other RKI gas detection instruments, please contact the team at Haaker today!