Response of electrochemical oxygen sensors to inert gas-air and carbon dioxide-air mixtures: measurements and mathematical modelling

Electrochemical oxygen gas sensors are widely used for monitoring the state of inertisation of flammable atmospheres and to warn of asphyxiation risks. It is well established but not widely known by users of such oxygen sensors that the response of the sensor is affected by the nature of the diluent gas responsible for the decrease in ambient oxygen concentration. The present work investigates the response of electrochemical sensors, with either acid or alkaline electrolytes, to gas mixtures comprising air with enhanced levels of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon or helium. The measurements indicate that both types of sensors over-read the oxygen concentrations when atmospheres contain high levels of helium. Sensors with alkaline electrolytes are also shown to underestimate the severity of the hazard in atmospheres containing high levels of carbon dioxide. This deviation is greater for alkaline electrolyte sensors compared to acid electrolyte sensors. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is developed to predict the response of an alkaline electrolyte, electrochemical gas sensor. Differences between predicted and measured sensor responses are less than 10% in relative terms for nearly all of the gas mixtures tested, and in many cases less than 5%. Extending the model to simulate responses of sensors with acid electrolytes would be straightforward.     

Synthesis of platinum nanostructures in zeolite mordenite using a solid-state reduction method

Platinum nanoparticles and nanowires have been synthesized inside zeolite mordenite using a solid-state reduction method. Tetrammine platinum nitrate was introduced into the pores via incipient wetness impregnation and it was reduced using powder sodium borohydride. With this method it was possible to obtain single crystal nanowires along the edges of the zeolite particle. The molar ratio of the reducing agent to platinum atoms was a critical parameter for the formation of either uniform nanoparticles or nanowires. Using a regular aqueous sodium borohydride solution reduction it was not possible to obtain nanowires in this zeolite. To the best of the author's knowledge this is the first time sodium borohydride in its solid form is used as a reducing agent to form nanostructures and this is also the first time a solid-state method is used to form nanostructures in a zeolite.     

Measurement of the quantity of liquefied petroleum gas in a tank

Measurements of the quantity of liquefied petroleum gas in a tank, based on a radio-frequency method, are considered. The results of experimental investigations are presented. A measuring system for industrial applications is described. __________ Translated from Izmeritel’naya Tekhnika, No. 2, pp. 40–42, February, 2006.     

High-sensitive transmission type of gas sensor based on guided-mode resonance in coupled gratings

A new type of high-sensitive transmission gas sensor based on the coupled gratings (CGs) and the corresponding Fabry–Pérot-like (FP-like) model for evaluating the resonance peaks are presented. The estimated locations of the FP-like resonance obtained by this theoretical model are well agreed with those of the exact results. It is shown that a narrow FP-like channel with high transmissivity occurs in the opaque background of the CGs, and its location is shifted linearly with the variation of the refractive index (RI) of the gaseous analyte. The transmission peak of the sideband can be selected as a reference, and it remains nearly fixed as the RI of the analyte is varied. Good sensing properties of the CGs sensor can be maintained, regardless of whether the two grating membranes are laterally aligned or not. The sensitivity of the CGs sensor is immune to the variation of the RI of the substrate. By selecting the higher order FP-like mode (m = 4), sensitivity as high as 748 nm/RIU with the figure of merit of 374 can be achieved.     

Effect of background gas environment on oxygen incorporation in TiN films deposited using UHV reactive magnetron sputtering

The effect of the base pressure on the incorporation of oxygen into reactively magnetron-sputtered metal-nitride films has been investigated. A UHV sputtering system with a base pressure of less than 10⁻⁶ Pa was used to examine the relationship between a deliberately introduced background pressure of oxygen and a measured oxygen content in the sputter-deposited TiN films. The results showed that with an oxygen partial pressure of 10⁻⁴ Pa, the deposited TiN was found to include 10-20 at.% of oxygen when measured by the technique of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). When no oxygen was admitted into the system, no trace of oxygen could be detected in the deposited TiN films. The incorporation mechanism is discussed in terms of the coverage-dependent sticking probabilities of O₂ and N₂ on a Ti metal surface.     

Response kinetics of a fiber-optic gas sensor using Pt/WO3 thin film to hydrogen

Response kinetics of a fiber-optic hydrogen gas sensor in air- and inert-atmosphere were characterized. The sensor is mainly based on the evanescent field interaction in hydrogen sensitive cladding which is used Platinum-supported tungsten trioxide (Pt/WO₃). When the sensor was exposed to 1 vol.% H₂/air and H₂/N₂ gas, the changes in optical power propagating through the fiber were about 30% and 50%, respectively. The detection limit was about 0.1 vol.% in air-atmosphere. The humidity dependence of the response kinetics was also evaluated. While the response speed in N₂-atmosphere was accelerated, the speed in air-atmosphere was suppressed by the humidity.     

Determination of Binary Diffusion Coefficients of Gases Using Holographic Interferometry in a Loschmidt Cell

A measuring system for the determination of binary diffusion coefficients of gases has been developed. The lower and upper half cells of the Loschmidt diffusion cell are fixed, one upon the other, contrary to the usual shearing cells. A sliding component between the half cells is moved to connect them and to start the diffusion. The concentration changes due to diffusion are determined by the optical method of real-time holographic interferometry. In this way the concentration is obtained as a function of time and location resulting from the analysis of the interference pattern. The data are evaluated by using the integrated diffusion equation for the closed-tube technique. First, measurements on the system argon-propane have been successfully performed at 1 bar and at room temperature. The results show an uncertainty of 1 per cent and are in good agreement with data by Wakeham and Slater (1974). Furthermore, refractive index measurements on the pure gases, argon and propane, as a function of gas density have been performed and evaluated to derive values of the first refractivity virial coefficient.     

Refrigerant desorption and foaming in mixtures of HFC-134a and HFO-1234yf and a polyol ester lubricating oil

This paper presents a study of refrigerant desorption leading to foam formation in refrigerant-oil mixtures undergoing controlled depressurization. An experimental apparatus was designed and constructed to allow measurements of the depressurization rate, foam height and refrigerant gas mass flux resulting from expansion and desorption from a saturated liquid mixture. Quantitative data and high-speed video analyses were used to identify the main physical mechanisms in the foaming process, namely, bubble cavitation and growth, foam growth and foam decay. The experimental results for the maximum foam height, foam lifetime and liquid supersaturation during desorption were explored as a function of the overall initial refrigerant mass fraction and system temperature. A mathematical model based on integral mass balances was proposed and compared with the experimental data with deviations smaller than 20%.     

A one-dimensional model of a jet-ejector in critical double choking operation with R134a as a refrigerant including real gas effects

The geometrical simplicity of a jet-ejector is in stark contrast to the complexity of the flow phenomena occurring in ejector operation. The available flow models range from empirical models to models based on computational fluid dynamics, differing considerably in complexity and thus explanatory power. The one-dimensional flow models of semi-empirical nature are based on experiments at comparatively low motive pressures and thus on ideal gas equations. In contrast, a one-dimensional, experimentally validated model of a jet-ejector in critical double choking operation which includes real gas effects and relies on a single physically interpretable loss coefficient is introduced in the present paper. Real gas effects impact on the state quantities and the critical mass flow of the expansion in the supersonic nozzle in particular which should be considered in the determination of the entrainment ratio or the absolute motive and suction mass flows of the ejector and in ejector design.     

Spatial distributions of gas composition in rf glow discharge plasmas measured using a quartz sensor

A quartz sensor can detect changes in gas composition caused by plasma because the quartz sensor output depends on the total pressure, viscosity, and molecular weight of the gas. This simple mode of quartz sensor measurement was used to obtain spatial distributions of the gas composition changes in the plasmas between a chamber inner wall and a plasma electrode. These spatial distributions reflect gas phase reactions in the plasmas. For that reason, they are helpful to elucidate the reaction mechanisms occurring in the plasmas. Applying such quartz sensor measurements for hydrogen and argon-hydrogen plasmas, we found that the spatial distributions of the gas composition change, as measured using a quartz sensor, depend on source gases. The positions at which the quartz sensor output show the maximum gas composition change for hydrogen and argon-hydrogen plasmas were at the chamber inner wall and near the edge of the plasma electrodes that are the closest positions to the plasma glow. These results show that the gas composition change detected using the quartz sensor resulted from degassing from the chamber inner wall and the plasma electrodes.     

Non‐weak/strong solutions in gas dynamics: a C11 p‐version STLSFEF in Eulerian frame of reference using ρ, u,p primitive variables

This paper presents a space–time least squares finite element formulation of one‐dimensional transient Navier–Stokes equations (governing differential equations: GDE) for compressible flow in Eulerian frame of reference using ρ, u, p as primitive variables with C¹¹ type p‐version hierarchical interpolations in space and time. Time marching procedure is utilized to compute time evolutions for all values of time. For high speed gas dynamics the C¹¹ type interpolations in space and time possess the same orders of continuity in space and time as the GDE. It is demonstrated that with this approach accurate numerical solutions of Navier–Stokes equations are possible without any assumptions or approximations. In the approach presented here SUPG, SUPG/DC, SUPG/DC/LS operators are neither used nor needed. Time accurate numerical simulations show resolution of shock structure (i.e. shock speed, shock relations and shock width) to be in excellent agreement with the analytical solutions. The role of diffusion i.e. viscosity (physical or artificial) and thermal conductivity on shock structure is demonstrated. Riemann shock tube is used as a model problem. True time evolutions are reported beginning with the first time step until steady shock conditions are achieved. In this approach, when the computed error functionals become zero (computationally), the computed non‐weak solutions have characteristics as those of the strong solutions of the gas dynamics equations. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.