Mounting Adaptions Expand Applications for Tunable Diode Laser Gas Analyzers

Tunable diode laser gas analyzer with retroflector
requires no special aiming and puts the source
and detector on the same side of the pipe.
Courtesy Mettler Toledo

Gas analysis is an important part of production, quality control, safety, efficiency, or legal compliance in many industrial operations. Reliable and accurate information about the concentration of certain gas components enables operators to properly control processes and regulate output.

A tunable diode laser gas analyzer (TDL) is essentially an application of absorption spectroscopy. The laser light source can be adjusted to the absorption wavelength of the target gas molecule. The light passes through the gas and is collected and measured by a detector. Based upon known properties of the target gas molecule, its concentration can be determined. The technology provides suitable accuracy, delivers real time measurement data, and in many cases requires little maintenance. Of course, applying technology in the field can present unique site specific challenges.

Dust, other particulates, distance related to pipe diameter, pressure, and temperature can impact the instruments ability to deliver reliable measurements. Additionally, installations using opposing emitters and detectors in a "cross pipe" configuration can have difficulty in achieving and maintaining proper alignment. Solutions are at hand for many of these previously intractable applications. Integrating the light source and detector into a single unit with lighter weight and smaller size enables a less complicated installation scenario. There are other adaptions made to the instrument that overcome many of the commonly encountered difficulties when installing a TDL into an existing or new system.

Mettler Toledo, innovator in the TDL field, authored a white paper illustrating some of the installation challenges and how they can be successfully and easily overcome using a properly adapted tunable diode laser gas analyzer. The paper is included below, taking only a few minutes to read. It's well worth the time spent.

Share your process analytical requirements and challenges with specialists in process analytical solutions, combining your own process knowledge and experience with their product application expertise to reach a successful outcome.

Folded Path Tunable Diode Laser Gas Analyzers from Alliance Technical Sales, Inc.

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Alliance Technical Sales Product and Manufacturer Line Card from Alliance Technical Sales, Inc.

Expanded Tunable Diode Laser Parameter and Installation Range

The GPro 500 Series TDL Gas Analyzers
Courtesy Mettler Toledo

Inline continuous gas analysis is a necessary tool for effectively tracking emissions of many types. A tunable diode laser (TDL) can provide accurate continuous measurement of target gas concentration. With the proper installation configuration, the instruments exhibit no drift and are not subject to interference, offering a sustainable means of delivering needed process data.

Mettler Toledo, with the expansion of their GPro 500 Series of TDL instruments, now provides continuous gas concentration measurement solutions for carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, oxygen, moisture, hydrogen sulfide, and hydrogen chloride.

Varying application conditions can present specific challenges to an effective installation of a TDL, so the GPro 500 is available in variants that accommodate a range of installation conditions.

• The standard probe is a purged configuration for general use.
• A non-purged version is suitable for reactor of other vessel installation.
• Combustion process measurements are handled by the non-purged filter probe, with a sintered filter to prevent dust from entering the measurement cell.
• High particulate combustion processes can be served by the filtered probe provided with a blow-back port. It allows high pressure instrument air to clean the filter.
• A wafer version, for tight spaces and pipes, is also available.
• Two adaptions are also available for use with existing sample conditioning equipment.
• A retroflector adapter enables a cross-pipe measurement. It is designed to forgo the need for alignment, making installation simple.

Tunable diode laser gas analyzers provide an effective means of continuous gas concentration measurement for the process industries and combustion operations. Share your process and combustion gas analysis challenges with a product application specialist, combining your own valuable process knowledge and experience with their product application expertise to develop effective solutions.