Zone 2 FID Analyser
Extronics received an enquiry to provide a solution for a flame ionization detector (FID) which is a type of gas detector used in gas chromatography.
A FID is used in the detection of organic. Biochemical compounds such as proteins, nucleotides, and pharmaceuticals can be studied with flame ionization.
The analyser was to be used to detect organic compounds in stack; because of the nature of the application it was necessary to install the gas detector in a Zone 2 area.
Since the FID analyser used hydrogen fuelled internal flame to perform the analysis this presented the problem of having a source of ignition and source of release inside the purged enclosure. The finished solution used a dilution purge to dilute the hydrogen present inside the analyser.
Extronics provided a complete solution for this application, supplying the stainless steel enclosure, purge equipment, assembly and certification. In this instance the FID was free issued to Extronics.
The enclosure was constructed from 316 Stainless steel and was 1000x800x800mm with a hinged door housing a 375x375mm Window. Extronics inventive enclosure design houses the 10 door locks on the outside of the door seal, this prevents any leakage thus reducing the cost of purging such a device. Each internal face of the enclosure was stiffened using folded metal strips; this gives the enclosure rigidity allowing higher internal cabinet pressures, higher air flow and ultimately shorter purge times.
The
toughened glass windows showed four flow meters which where used to
control and mix four different sample points, allowing the user to
select which point would be sampled by the FID.
This solution utilised Extronics iPURGE200 system, this controller is the most suited to this type of application, since it has configurable purge modes. In this case the dilution purge mode was used. Although the purge controller is designed for Zone 1 applications, this application used the type px purge due to the presence of hydrogen inside the enclosure.
The finished application was shipped to Hungary and installed on site by others.
