Recommendation for Combustible Gas Sensor

Nowadays, combustible gas leakage is one of the most important causes of fires and explosions. In order to ensure the safety of all kinds of places, combustible Gas Sensors have become indispensable safety equipment. We would like introduce the principles of several commonly used sensors for combustible gas detection, and provide sensor selection recommendations for different areas of application needs.

Common Sensors for Combustible Gas Detection

1, Semiconductor Gas Sensors

Semiconductor sensors mainly utilize the sensitivity of semiconductor materials to gases to detect combustible gases. When combustible gas comes into contact with the semiconductor material, it causes a change in the resistance value of the material, thus realizing the measurement of the gas concentration.

Semiconductor sensors have the characters of lower detection limit and longer service life, suitable for home alarms and other occasions that require long-term stable operation and do not require high accuracy.

2, Infrared Gas Sensors

Infrared Sensors utilize the Non-Dispersive Infrared (NDIR) principle to detect the presence of hydrocarbon combustible gases in the air. Different gas molecules have different absorption characteristics in the infrared spectrum, gas concentration can be measured by detecting the degree of absorption of infrared light by the gas.

Infrared Sensors have the advantages of good selectivity, strong anti-interference ability, not easy to be poisoned, etc. They are especially suitable for industrial safety and gas detection fields, such as hydrocarbon gas detection.

3, Catalytic Gas Sensors

Catalytic combustible Gas Sensors utilize the principle of combustion of combustible gases in the presence of a catalyst to detect gas concentration. When the combustible gas comes into contact with the catalyst and reaches a certain temperature, combustion reaction occur, which changes the resistance value of the sensor and realizes the measurement of the gas concentration.

Catalytic gas sensors have the characters of fast response speed, high accuracy and good repeatability, and are widely used for quantitative detection in coal mine, petroleum, chemical industry, gas and other fields.

Sensor selection recommendations for different fields

Residential applications, such as home kitchens, the risk of combustible gas leakage is low, but stability and service life of the sensors are required to be high. Therefore, semiconductor-type sensors are recommended. These sensors are not only cost-effective, but also able to operate stably for a long time to meet the needs of home safety monitoring. With the increasing development and maturity of near-infrared, mid-infrared and semiconductor lasers, laser gas sensors are gradually entering the civilian field, becoming the new choice for high-end home gas alarms.

Commercial applications, such as restaurants and shopping malls, the risk of combustible gas leakage is relatively high, and there are certain requirements for sensor accuracy and response speed. Therefore, infrared type or catalytic combustible type sensors are recommended. Infrared Sensors can accurately identify the concentration of the target gas and are suitable for hydrocarbon gas detection, while catalytic combustion sensors are characterized by fast response speed and high accuracy and are suitable for detection of combustible gases such as methane and hydrogen.

Industrial and mining fields, such as coal mine, petroleum, chemical industry, etc., the risk of combustible gas leakage is extremely high and the environment is complex and variable. Therefore, the accuracy, stability and anti-interference ability of the sensor have very high requirements. Catalytic combustible type, NDIR infrared type and TDLAS laser type sensors are recommended. Catalytic combustible sensors can accurately measure the concentration of combustible gases with good stability, while TDLAS laser sensors are characterized by high accuracy, high stability and strong anti-interference ability, which are suitable for gas monitoring in complex environments.