Monday, September 8, 2014

Challenges Of Using Toxic Gas Detector In Ducts

By Kerri Stout


Gases harmful to the health of human beings are referred to as a toxic gas and their exposure should be avoided. Most of these gases do not smell and are colorless making their detection impossible without the use of toxic gas detector. Many lives can be saved if these gases are detected early before they mix with atmospheric air. The correct medical attention can be administered immediately in the case a person inhaled those gases.

Industrial areas have gas ducts to enhance the flow of gases in the area. Release of harmful gases in to the atmospheric air may happen whenever there are chemical reactions in the gas ducts. The gas ducts are also a common feature in some homes and the presence of toxic gases in these ducts is possible. Carbon (II) monoxide, a gas that has claimed lives of many people, may accumulate due to poor ventilation in homes that make use of charcoal. All these harmful gaseous substances may be detected early in the presence of these gas detectors.

The effectiveness of the detectors however may be subject to several factors and they may not warn you in advance at all times. This means that the systems set up to prevent high prevalence of the gases may not respond positively leading to diffusion of the gases to the areas with human presence. The failure to automatically shut down the ducts may lead to loss of lives and thus gaining an understanding as to why the systems may fail will help avert future recurrence of loss of lives.

Atmospheric air mixes with gases in the ducts reducing their concentration levels. If it dilutes the gas too much then the detectors will not be able to detect it. Highly diluted fluids will just show traces of a substance even if it is more than should be when not diluted. The level of the toxics could be high but only traces of it sensed due to high dilution

As a solution to dilution, the sensors should be very sensitive to be able to detect. Any detection no matter how low it is should be taken as a warning because it can be very high and dangerous. Warnings and alarm should be set for any level of detection.

The stratification of the ducts that allows for differences in the speed of flow of air is another problem. The wide areas have very low speed and an accumulation of air. The narrower areas have supersonic speeds and less air accumulation. Measurements of the levels of toxicity in the two regions will have two contradicting results that may prevent the right measures from being taken.

Velocity of gases in the ducts sometimes is as high as 68 mph. The gas at this speed is moving very turbulently and can destroy anything on its way. Sensors in the ducts should be made using materials that can withstand the pressure the gas will have on them. They should be able to trigger alarms and control the optimum temperatures for a reaction without the sensors being directly hit.

Professionals in the plant safety sector call for installation of toxic gas detectors in the plant's main supply pipe or duct. Automatic shutdown of the fan systems that supply air to the plant by the detector will be possible if the fans are strategically installed near the filters. This solves the aforementioned challenges.




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