Rapidox 5100 Purge Gas Analyser

Product Information

Modern power stations use hydrogen turbogenerators which produce vast amounts of heat that is controlled using hydrogen as a cooling gas. The hydrogen has a low viscosity to reduce friction on the spinning turbine blades as well as having a cooling capacity many times greater than using air.

It is essential that the hydrogen remains pure and uncontaminated with air at all times, both in operation and during maintenance. Any leakage with air could produce a potentially explosive gas mixture. Therefore regular testing of the cooling gas for hydrogen purity as well as air ingress is required.

During maintenance when the hydrogen needs to be removed for access, an intermediary gas is used to remove the chance of any explosive mixtures being generated. First, the light hydrogen is purged using heavy carbon dioxide (CO2) and secondly the CO2 is purged using fresh air. The re-filling process follows the same sequence in reverse. The Rapidox measures all stages of this purge cycle showing analysis of Air (O2 + N2) + CO2 + H2.

The gases are simultaneously measured using a range of high precision gas sensors; each sensor is specially designed and calibrated to avoid cross interference effects with background process gas, Safety is ensured by the inclusion of flashback arrestors in the gas measuring circuit.

An optional pump enables two modes of operation. For samples that are taken from a gas source at atmospheric pressure or below, the pump is activated to draw a sample through the analyser.

Alternatively, the pump can be deactivated when sampling from a source at a greater atmospheric pressure, allowing the gas to flow naturally through the analyser. Gas flow is regulated manually via a rotary knob on the fascia and displayed electronically on the screen.