Emission monitoring of gases in combustion processes like CO, CO2, SO2 and NO is usually performed with the help of electro-chemical sensors. Due to their short lifetime they cause relatively high maintenance costs. Infrared sensors on the other hand have been to costly and to difficult to integrate into the application in the past. With the silarex sensor, which is based on infrared absorption (NDIR), smartGAS Mikrosensorik GmbH opens new possibilities in this field.
Besides the well-known advantages of the NDIR technique the new sensors can be integrated very easily into a measurement device with its I2C interface, which can be also used for calculation purposes. An internal monitoring of the sensor increases the overall availability of the measuring system. Gas concentrations above the measuring range will not destroy the sensor, which is a common problem of electro-chemical sensors. Applications for the silarex sensor can be found in all areas where emission monitoring is necessary or mandatory for example in power plants, waste combustion or cement plants.
NDIR gas sensors
