#63 - Oxygen Deficiency Monitoring in Ambient Air

The average human breathes more than 20,000 times per day. Under normal conditions most people can only survive for a few short minutes without oxygen. After this, damage to the brain will result. Breathing is therefore a serious matter.

Being without oxygen does not always imply that the person is not breathing. Respiration of oxygen deficient atmospheres is potentially even more dangerous than obvious cessation of breathing. This is because the person may continue to function while possibly advancing more deeply into an area deficient of oxygen. Without warning, the person may be over-come by asphyxia, which is a loss of consciousness caused by too little oxygen in the blood.

In industry, a common cause of oxygen deficiency is oxygen displacement. This can occur where another denser gas has leaked and settled into an area, creating a stratum of O2 deficient atmosphere. The leaked gas may not be poisonous in itself. But its displacement of oxygen makes it extremely dangerous. In some applications, gas toxicity and O2 deficiency risks are both present.

For example, I recently toured an electric arc furnace (EAF) installation at a steel plant. In the analyzer shed, there are two large gas analyzer systems which monitor the process gas for O2 / CO / CO2 / H2. These are gases of interest in the EAF application. A sample of these process gases is continuously piped into the analyzers in the shed for analysis. A feed of nitrogen (N2) is also piped into the shed for calibration and automatic filter blow-back.

If any of the piping, valves, or other components in the analyzer shed were to start leaking, this would pose a toxic gas risk or an O2 deficiency risk (depending on what was leaking). Therefore, there are two ambient air monitors in the analyzer shed. One for carbon monoxide and one for oxygen. (The carbon monoxide is monitored because it has the highest toxicity of the major gases being produced in this application.)

Nova Model 510 Continuous Oxygen Monitor and Model 580 Continuous Carbon Monoxide Monitor have been designed for this application.

These analyzers may be purchased in the following configurations:

• Without a pump for monitoring the diffuse atmosphere around the monitor.
• With a pump for pulling a sample from another area.
• With multiple remote sensors for monitoring several areas.

  

Model 510 brochure...

We make monitors for other gases such as:

• Carbon Monoxide (CO)
• Carbon Dioxide (CO2)
• Nitrogen Oxide (NO)
• Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
• Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)
• Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)
• Chlorine (Cl2)
• Ammonia (NH3)
• Hydrogen Chloride (HCL)

For some examples, please see:
http://catalog.nova-gas.com/category/ttent-hazardous-wall-mounted-ambient-air-analyzers?&plpver=10

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
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.
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#56 - Generic vs Brand-name terminology – Part 3

We have been talking lately about industry terminology. So without further ado, here are some terms that we use in our industry and what they mean to us: 

• Gas analysis system – this generally refers to the complete system of gas analysis and may include the probe, filter, sample line, gas conditioning system, analyzer, and other related components.
• Probe – this is the portion the gas analysis system that pokes into the process to take a gas sample. (Some systems have a filter and a gas sensor mounted in a probe. See ‘in-situ probes’.)
• Filter – there is frequently a filter somewhere near the probe that removes particulate from the sample while it is still close to the original temperature.
• Sample line – is the tube through which the sample flows to the analyzer.
• Gas conditioning system – are the components or systems that remove or mitigate undesirable constituents from the gas sample such as excess moisture, excess temperature, corrosive gases, analytical interferences, etc. These systems may be internal or external to the gas analyzer.
• Gas analyzer – basically the analyzer is the instrument that measures and displays a reading pertaining to the gas of interest.
• Gas analyser – same as gas analyzer, just regional difference in the spelling. Both are valid and I have enabled both spellings in the spell-check function on my computer (this is to show peaceful solidarity with all regions; hey, I’m an activist now! that was easy.).
• Detector / sensor – technically these two items are subtly different, but we basically regard both of them as the part of a gas analyzer that ‘sees’ the gas. The output of the sensor or detector is what is translated into a meaningful gas reading on the gas analyzer.
• Extractive systems – generally refer to the types of systems that extract a gas sample from the process and send (or pull) it to a gas analyser for analysis.
• In situ systems – generally refer to systems in which the analysis is done in a probe at the process. No gas is extracted.
• Process analysis – to us this refers to analyses of gas that is inside of and internal to the customer’s process.
• Ambient analysis / monitoring – analysis of gas in ambient (usually breathable) air. This condition implies different pressures, temperatures, and gas ranges than what is associated with enclosed processes.
• Portable analyzer – meaning self-explanatory, except that it also implies that the analysis will be temporary. This is because there is usually little or no sample conditioning components built-into the instrument.
• Permanent-mount analyzer – meaning self-explanatory, except that it also implies a larger and more complete system that can do continuous gas analysis indefinitely.
• Continuous analyzer – same as permanent-mount analyzer
• On-line / in-line analyzer – same as permanent-mount analyzer
• SOx – short-form that usually stands for ‘oxides of sulfur’. For many gas analysis applications, the most relevant oxide of sulfur is SO2 (sulfur dioxide).
• NOx - short-form that usually stands for ‘oxides of nitrogen’. For many gas analysis applications, the most relevant oxides of nitrogen are NO (nitrogen oxide) & NO2 (nitrogen dioxide). Of the two, NO is usually present in a much higher proportion. Therefore, NOx may sometimes be analyzed as NO only.
• NOx and SOx – no real definition here beyond what is said above; but we do receive many written and verbal inquiries for analysis of NOx & SOx where the customer does not state which oxides of sulfur and nitrogen are required. We are starting to think that the expression ‘NOx & SOx’ is over-used almost to the point of irrelevance.

There are many other words in the Nova lexicon of course. But these are frequently-used terms that sometimes require clarification with our customers. Notice that I didn’t say ‘misunderstood by our customers’. The terms defined above are how we at Nova use and understand them. Our customers may have their own usages. It matters not who is ‘right’. We simply need to take the time to come to a common understanding of terminology and proceed from there.

Use whatever terms you like – just explain them and be clear on what you are talking about. We will try to do the same.

We’re Nova. We make gas analyzers for oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen, and other gases.
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
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.

Photo modified from © 2008 Tack-O-Rama Collection
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#52 - Generic vs Brand-name terminology – Part 2

In an earlier post, we talked about the exciting topic of industry brand names and terminology. We would now like to shine the light of clarity and honesty upon ourselves.

Some years ago, we regarded our analytical lingo as something to be guarded jealously. And if inquirers did not state their requests in the exact manner or terminology that we expected, we would reward them with hostility and rock-throwing. Well, that’s an exaggeration, but there is a tiny grain of truth in there. Now we jokingly refer to our past tendencies as the ‘exclusive Nova club’.

As with any industry, we eventually realized that we had to make sure that our internal company terminology wasn’t becoming a barrier to effective communication with our customers. But we also needed to balance this with due diligence in qualifying leads and obtaining accurate application data. It can only be said that we are continuing to work hard to ensure this balance is sustained while providing maximum approachability for our customers. I cannot conclude this paragraph by triumphantly describing how we implemented a ‘magic bullet’ solution. Much of this kind of thing has to do with personal attitude combined with company culture.

We have simply relaxed a little and have become a little less obsessed with making people use our terminology. We have also become a little less obsessed with covering our hindquarters. Of course, the need for clear data has not gone away – we are just a little more creative now in how we get it. We now try to be a little sharper when it comes to spotting important details in the application data that we do receive. Our analyzer designs have also improved to become less vulnerable to unexpected process conditions.

We get the feeling that some people assume that they will get a better deal if they omit important information. From the customer perspective, it should be noted that greater clarity of application data allows us to deliver better equipment at a better price.

In Part 3 of this discussion, we will define some exciting gas analyzer terms.

We’re Nova. We make gas analyzers for oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen, and other gases.

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
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.

Photo © 2008 Tack-O-Rama Collection
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#50 - Generic vs Brand-name terminology – Part 1

Every industry and company has its own beloved terminology. This inside lexicon may in time develop into a company language. There are many intentions and reasons for brand-name terminology. A few of them are: 

1. The intent is sometimes to economize communication. A single industry term may be understood by its users to encompass a general set of conditions or product characteristics.
2. Another intent of specific terminology may be related to marketing tactics. A brand name may be selected because of the images that it conjures up in the mind of the buyer. These terms may be catchy but have little reference to the type or design of the product.
3. Company brands or terminology may also simply be a legacy left over from an earlier time. Perhaps the current product bears no resemblance to the original, but the name is well-known and is best left as is. 

I used to work in the coatings industry. That industry is somewhat over-populated by brands and types. The age of the industry combined with the sheer number of applications has produced a long rich vocabulary. Our company felt that this impeded the clear communication of ideas especially in the industrial maintenance market where the applications were more demanding. Too many brand names were completely cryptic regarding the actual chemistry of the product. We found some that even suggested characteristics and chemistries that were not completely accurate.

So we elected to call our products by their generic coating types and basic chemistries instead of by marketing-derived or legacy names. For example, we had Polyamide-Cured Epoxy instead of something like ‘Durapox’. We had Aliphatic Urethane instead of a brand name like ‘Superthane’ or something.

The intent was to convey clear information about the product chemistry. To an experienced user, this would in turn communicate information about the intended uses and applications. This approach was partially adopted for the retail side of our business also. (We had to be careful not to get too technical in retail situations.)

As a suggestion to any technical salesperson – we at Nova believe in cutting through the industry jargon when talking to customers. If there is a helpful piece of information hiding behind a brand name or industry term, then say so. Company reputations aside, most customers just want a product that works. In our industry, that means reliable gas analysis data. The marketing has only temporary value and is often slanted in favor of the seller rather than the buyer.

Speaking of marketing, we’re Nova. We make gas analyzers for oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, hydrogen, and other gases. We are part of the Iron & Steel Division of the Tenova Group.

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.
 
Photo © 2008 Tack-O-Rama Collection
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