#73 - There’s no such thing as a Tricorder

One of the great things about the Star Trek series is that they at least made an attempt to explain or justify the advanced technology that was presented. From these efforts, a whole vocabulary of fascinating techno-babble was developed. Fantastic new devices were introduced into the pop-culture consciousness. One such technology was the tricorder.

The tricorder was the marvelous little analytical device used by many of the characters to scan various things such as medical patients, atmospheric mixtures, material content of surfaces, exotic electromagnetic particles, etc.

The most well-known versions of the tricorder were:

• The “classic” units used by various characters from the original show which were about the size of a medium-length hard-cover book and had a shoulder strap for carrying. The controls and displays were at the top facing the user. These were/are actually similar in form to some types of portable gas analyzers in use today.
• The “newer” units were featured on the next generation series’ (STNG, DS9, etc.) and were smaller. They could be described as hand-held and were just a bit bigger than many modern cell phones. Like some phones, they flipped open for use. (The flip phone was evidently a nod to Star Trek by the designers who were no doubt big fans of the series.)
• The medical tricorder looked similar to a standard STNG tricorder, but the functionality was different and it included a remote sensor for localized analysis of specific patient anatomy.
• Numerous other variants were developed during the successful run of various other spin-off Star Trek movies and series which escape my memory. (I’m not the Trekkie I used to be.)

The main reason that we at Nova are interested in tricorders is that we wish we had one. We make analytical instruments for atmospheric gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, hydrogen, and many others. While there were seemingly limitless functions available on the tricorder, real-life gas analysers have only a few specific functions. Some of our most popular analyzers can only provide simultaneous analysis of three to five process gases.

The small size of tricorders is also something to marvel at. In comparison, a high–range multi-gas analyzer that has separate detectors for each gas, internal active compensation, built-in pump(s), flow meters, etc., will be about the size of a small suitcase. The permanent continuous units are even bigger.

And finally, unlike the tricorder, Nova analyzers cannot determine the atmosphere of a Class M planet, or measure the structural integrity of a di-lithium crystal chamber. But we are totally working on it.

For now though, we make gas analyzers for oxygen, hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, and many other atmospheric gases. We provide gas analysers for syngas, landfill gas, purity gas, biogas, and other applications.

Give Starfleet Officers Mike or Dave at Nova a call, or send us an e-mail. Be sure to hail us on a secure channel.

1-800-295-3771
sales at nova-gas dot com
websales at nova-gas dot com
www.nova-gas.com
http://twitter.com/#!/NOVAGAS
http://www.tenovagroup.com/

If you have a LinkedIn account, search for Nova Analytical Systems under Companies and follow us if you want.

Graphics taken from:

Joseph, Franz (1975) Star Trek Star Fleet Technical Manual, Ballantine Books, New York

Okuda, Michael & Sternbach, Rick (1991) Star Trek The Next Generation Technical Manual, Pocket Books, New York

STAR TREK and all other STAR TREK elements mentioned or shown in this blog post are trademarks of Paramount Pictures © ™

-

#72 - On Set with Cold Spring

Went from shooting Murdock in Toronto prison last week to ‘Cold Spring’ in the 1950’s this week. Cold Spring is name of the current movie set. I didn’t have time to ask any of the crew what it’s about.

Some of the initial set-up crew arrived Monday morning to lay out some props and supplies. The film crew started moving in early Tuesday morning (above picture). The site was already busy when I arrived and got much busier as the day progressed.

Not sure what they did in the mid-afternoon when it rained here. This morning looks much brighter and clearer. Filming continues today and maybe tomorrow.

Oh yeah, besides living on a movie set, we actually do other work here also. We make scientific instruments for analysis of gas atmospheres such as oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen, and more.

NOVA Analytical Systems

1-800-295-3771

sales at nova-gas dot com

websales at nova-gas dot com

www.nova-gas.com

http://twitter.com/#!/NOVAGAS

http://www.tenovagroup.com/

-

#71 - Murdoch Puts Nova in Prison

Just kidding.

Murdoch Mysteries is back on set at Nova. They’re doing the place up to resemble a 19^th century prison block in old Toronto. The windows are covered with rusty iron panels and there is barbed wire in various places. The intimidating atmosphere will no doubt stimulate even more productivity among our staff. That or they will try to bust out early on good behavior.

The film crew was up early today. The cameras are already set up. Filming on the roof will probably start later this morning. Hot weather was an issue on the last Murdoch shoot. Shouldn’t be a problem this time - today is perfect filming weather here. 

http://nova-gas.blogspot.com/2011/08/20-murdoch-mysteries.html

www.murdochmysteries.com/

NOVA Analytical Systems
1-800-295-3771
sales at nova-gas dot com
websales at nova-gas dot com
www.nova-gas.com
http://twitter.com/#!/NOVAGAS
http://www.tenovagroup.com/

If you have a LinkedIn account, search for us under Companies and follow us if you want.

Pictures by Nova staff.

Logo © copyright Shaftsbury Murdoch I, Inc.

_

#70 - Post #5 is our most popular blog post (Syngas and Gasification)

In April 2011, we posted an announcement about our Gas Analyzers for Syngas and Gasification applications.

That was back when we had no idea what to do with a company blog. However, we did know that gasification analyzers were something worth talking about. So we did a post about a gas analyzer that was designed for this process. That post has since become the most widely-read post in our blog to date.

Here it is:  http://nova-gas.blogspot.ca/2011/04/gas-analyzers-measure-syngas-and.html

Update note Oct 2012 - two other posts have since surpassed Post #5.
#71 - Murdoch Puts Nova in Prison
#53 - What is CONSTEEL?

Update note Nov 2012 - This post about the most widely-read post has itself now become our most widely-read post. I'm sure there's a deep lesson on feedback dynamics somewhere in there. We have certainly seen a great deal of interest in our gasification analyzers.

Update note Feb 2013 - There is now a Part 2 to this blog post. It has some additional information about the gas analyzer design that is required for the syngas / gasification application.

Very basically, gasification is a process where a fuel or feedstock is ‘cooked’ in low oxygen conditions. The feedstock, which may be anything from wood chips to palm fronds, produces gas that contains carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and some methane. The gas is often called synthesis gas or syngas for short. These gases can be carried away before they combust and used elsewhere for energy. The equipment that carries out this whole process is usually called a gasifier.

The folks at GEK Gasifiers have a nice introduction to this process.

http://gekgasifier.com/gasification-basics/

This is not a new concept. It has been around for many years. 

Gasification and vehicles have long traveled together.

One great thing about this idea is that is very scalable. You can build a small gasifier out of a soup can. There are also mid-range gasifiers that can be thought of as ‘garage-scale’. And there are large industrial plant-scale gasifiers.

Gasification can serve as an intermediate step between many types of feedstocks and many other production processes as the chart below demonstrates.

Each of the processes mentioned in the chart above require a gas input of a specific makeup. This is why an analyzer system is frequently required between the output of the gasifier plant and the input of the receiving process.

We are frequently approached by manufacturers and educational institutions also. The end-users may be researching and developing a new gasifier design. Or they may be tuning a gasifier system for optimum performance and gas production. Having a reliable gas analyzer to measure oxygen / carbon monoxide / carbon dioxide / hydrogen / methane is an important part of this process.

The Nova 970 Series Syngas and Gasification Analyzers have been specifically designed with this application in mind. The gas that comes out of a gasifier frequently has conditions and constituents that are detrimental to an analytical instrument. Because of this reality, we have produced an instrument that is industrially hardened and user-friendly.

1. Process pipe  2. Probe and Filter  3. 970 Gas Analyzer
4.  Wire Connections available to customer

The materials of construction and the straight-forward layout of this instrument gives us a great deal of confidence in recommending it to our customers. If you have a gasifier and need analysis of your produced gas, think about buying a Nova. We have bench top configurations for temporary or intermittent analysis. We have wall–mount configurations for permanent continuous analysis.

For information on these and other gas analyzer systems, give Mike or Dave at Nova a call, or send us an e-mail.
1-800-295-3771
sales at nova-gas dot com
websales at nova-gas dot com
http://www.nova-gas.com/
http://www.tenovagroup.com/

If you have a LinkedIn account, search for Nova Analytical Systems under Companies and follow us if you want.

Pictures:

4 Processes of Gasification copyright © GEK Gasification
http://gekgasifier.com/gasification-basics/

Black & white picture - origin unknown

Gasifier scales photo from left to right
http://tube.7s-b.com/Prototype+Camp/
http://gekgasifier.com/gek-imbert-gasifier/
http://www.lignite.com/?id=78

Vehicleshttp://www.build-a-gasifier.com/
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2009/03/new-x-prize-ent/
http://driveonwood.com/forum/228

Chart on chemical processes fed by gasification adapted from The American Energy Security Study (2007), a USA initiative lead by the Southern States Energy Board (SSEB).

_