Fast and High-Resolution Gas Sensor for the Energy Industry

InfraTec offers a new development for the detection of gas concentrations by means of infrared spectroscopy. With the XFP-3137 detector, the Dresden-based company is meeting the requirements of an energy industry with its constantly changing technologies. Worldwide, there is a great need for inexpensive and high-resolution gas sensors for the measurement of the energy content of natural gas and other fuel gases. The demand for particularly efficient devices for routine leak monitoring is also increasing.

It is exactly at this point where the infrared spectrometric sensor comes in. As a result of the joint 'SIRKO' project, the XFP-3137 measures faster and more accurately than previous solutions. The core of the innovation is a tunable micromechanical Fabry-Pérot filter (μFPF). By using a higher order of interference, the spectral resolution of 60 nm could be improved to about 25 nm in wavelength range (3.1 ... 3.7) µm. An optimised electromechanical design increases the dynamics of the filter significantly and allows scanning frequencies up to 10 Hz. As an additional option in future a dual band sensor configuration will enable the measurement of hydrocarbons between (3.1 ... 3.7) µm and carbon dioxide at 4.3 µm simultaneously with a single μFPF device.

Parameters like these are important cornerstones of infrared spectroscopy as a physical sensor principle, in order to accurately and selectively determine gas concentrations with long-term stability. Detectors with integrated μFPF particularly serve in the exact and fast analysis of organic gas mixtures, such as the composition of natural gas. Their use brings tremendous benefits, not only for power plants and power supply companies, but also for the end user. Measuring instruments that are equipped with a μFPF, such as the XFP-3137, will be well suited in future for process control in cogeneration, natural gas fuel cell and industrial furnaces.

The starting point for the development of infrared spectrophotometric sensors was the joint SIRKO project, in which InfraTec participated and that was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, under the 'Innovative SMEs: Optical Technologies'. The acronym stands for 'fast infrared spectrometer for the analysis of hydrocarbons'. Started in early Marc 2012, the SIRKO project reached its successful conclusion in February 2015.

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