Protection from Hydrogen Hazards: Gas and Flames
November 10th, 2009
Under day-to-day conditions, people cannot see, smell, or taste the presence of hydrogen gas. Hydrogen, however, is very flammable and requires only a small amount of energy to ignite. In fact, if leaking from a pipe at a high enough pressure, hydrogen gas can self ignite without the aid of an external energy source.
Working together, gas detectors and optical flame detectors can quickly identify a gas leak or the resulting flame.
For example, an enclosed battery room can contain hydrogen generated from the batteries. Sitting in the control room, an operator might be alerted to a burp of hydrogen gas. If the alarm generated by the gas detector stops, will the operator think the burp was truly a short-duration small hydrogen leak? Or has the hydrogen ignited and turned into a flame? The operator will not know unless the flame is detected.
Read this re-printed article from Industrial Hygiene News for more information about partnering gas and flame detectors to protect against hydrogen hazards.
If you have questions, please contact us at rss@det-tronics.com.
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