What is Refrigerant Leak Detector?

Pressurized gases are widely used in pipelines and storage tanks in industrial or commercial environments. A pipeline carries liquid or natural gas to a furnace. There are any number of refrigerant gases in a cooling system: a leak detector (often called a sniffer) is a class of equipment specially developed to detect small leaks in a closed gas system.

D corrosive or toxic gases that enter and exit production as part of an industrial process or by product.

Long, complex lines with various valves, adapters, and fittings provide many places where leaks can occur. These leaks can affect performance, cause equipment failure and release harmful gases.

Elitech infrared refrigerant leak detector

Refrigerant leak detectors' necessity is well founded. Refrigerant leakage is the main reason that reduces HVAC performance. Leaks from natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipelines may pose an immediate fire/explosion hazard to workers and facilities. Strict controls on the use of various gases in commercial or industrial processes because they are classified as harmful to the environment and leakage can result in fines. It is important for factory builders to know how to use leak detectors effectively.

HVAC Rrefrigerant Freon Leak Detector Application

Before the leak detector enters the market, it needs a lot of testing work. If the leak is large enough, technicians may hear it unless the background noise drowns out the sound. The gauge will identify leaks from time to time and use a barrier to isolate the leaking area. Sometimes technicians equipped with spray bottles filled with soap and water must work under pipes to find foam to indicate the location of leaks.

All of these refrigerant leak detecting methods are still in use today but do not provide reliable methods for identifying and identifying gas leaks in closed pipelines.

Leak detectors are closely related to personal gas detectors, but they are designed for different purposes. While the personal gas detector detects the presence of gas in the environment, the leak detector is used to detect the leak and determine its source.

In addition to sensors, leak detectors can often easily detect leaks in pipelines. For example, using flexible probes, operators can track leaks along pipeline routes. These probes are usually only a few centimeters from the measuring device and can be easily inserted into hard-to-reach areas.

Most leak detectors also have a sensitivity adjustment function. If the leak detector detects signs of a gas leak, it triggers an alarm. Many detectors do not have monitors to display concentration values. After the alarm sounds, you must reduce the sensitivity of the device and adjust the sensitivity of the device until the alarm sounds again to determine the location of the leak. This indicates the area of concentration increase and the direction of leakage.

Having the correct leak detector and checking its operating techniques can vary between discovery and omission.

HVAC Leak Detection Technique

Because the detection of gases leaving the closed system is fundamentally different from the presence of gases in the environment, the leak detector USES a different detection technique than the gas detector.

Although there are several new techniques for detecting leaking gases, most leak detectors use one of the following:

Heating Diode

The heating diode HVAC refrigerant freon leak detector works by generating a low current when a halogenated gas, usually used as a refrigerant, comes into contact with the heated ceramic diode. The current then triggers the alarm.

The heated diode sensor is very sensitive. R-134a refrigerant can detect about 0.1 ounce of leakage per year. In addition, they react only with halogenated gases and reduce the possibility of false positives caused by the presence of other gases.

Heated diode sensors are susceptible to moisture and oil contamination. Replacing the sensor is cheap but has a short life, usually 2-3 years.

Semi-conductor 

Semiconductor sensors use metal oxides (usually tin oxide or alumina) formed on pearl sensors. Use the heating element to keep the sensor at the optimum temperature to detect the gas.

The semiconductor sensor has a pair of offset electrodes embedded in the sensor to detect changes in conductivity and identify leaks and measure changes in conductivity. When the sensor comes into contact with the escaping gas, the gas will be adsorbed on the surface of the sensor, and the resistance of the sensor material will change. When the gas escapes, the sensor returns to its original state.

Semiconductor sensors are particularly useful for detecting gas leaks because they emit strong signals at high gas concentrations. This makes it easier to direct the detector to the most concentrated area, the leak.

Semiconductor sensors are very versatile. It can detect low and high concentrations of gases and can detect many different gases by changing the material, structure and operating temperature of the sensor.

The main advantage of solid-state sensors is their long service life. In clean conditions, sensors last up to 10 years, and much longer than other types of sensors. For devices that are only temporarily used (unless there are a lot of gas leaks!) This is a great advantage.

Solid-state sensors are more susceptible to background gas interference than other types of sensors. In applications where background gas is present, the solid-state sensor triggers an error alarm. In some cases, these background gases can be excluded to minimize adverse effects.

Ultrasonic

The working principle of ultrasonic leak detector is totally different from other leak detectors. When solid-state sensors and heated diode sensors search for traces of certain gases that have escaped, the ultrasonic leak detector recognizes the sound waves generated by the leaks as the gases escape.

When gas escapes from the pressure line, it emits a sound in the range of 25 kHz to 10 MHz. This is far beyond the frequency that the human ear is sensitive to, but within the range that ultrasonic sensors can easily identify. When the detector detects ultrasonic frequencies, they are separated from normal background noise, amplified and converted into frequencies that can be heard by humans.

Ultrasonic gas detectors can detect all types of gas leaks by looking for sounds that leak rather than leaks. You can't measure the concentration of the gas, but the device can determine the leakage rate of the escaping gas because the ultrasonic level depends on the gas pressure and the size of the leak.

Ultrasonic gas detectors can work in almost any environment, especially when they reach the gas quickly before reaching a stationary or heated diode sensor and need to contact the gas leak to identify the leak. Remote sensing is useful for outdoor environments that may be derived.

If you have any questions about the leak detector, please email service@elitech.uk.com.