Within the Power Industry’s Hydrogen cooling systems, one of the niggling problems that occurs is the oil mist carry-over contamination of the Aluminium Oxide probes being used to monitor dew point within the Generators.
This is an inherent problem and can cause discrepancies of up to 8ºC between the moisture probe measurement and the chilled mirror reference. The time scale of this problem can vary from 12 weeks to around 4 weeks in the more problematic situations. Leading to increased costs from probe replacements and recalibration of probes, (usual calibration periods range from 6-12 months), so replacing a probe 3 times in that period due to contamination. The contamination was confirmed by FTIR-Microscopy analysis of the probe by Perkin Elmer at their lab in Beaconsfield. (analysis data available)
Alba Instrumentation are happy to announce a new service that has been proved to reduce oil contamination of aluminium oxide probes. The process consists of a coating which is applied after cleaning of the probes and prior to calibration. The base characteristic of the probe is altered but brought back into line by the calibration. With the new calibration curve entered and the probe fitted the results will speak for themselves, a recent trial at Drax Power Station showed that the probe did not drift from comparison with the Chilled Mirror device for the full 6 months of service.
This process has reduced probe replacement by up to 300% bringing cost savings as part of the process.
If you would like any further information on the above service for coating and re-calibrations etc then please get in touch through the contact us section of the website.