Health & Safety v AirChek 3000 – The New Leader in Air Sampling
The field of Industrial Hygiene has been established for many years, and a lot of the methods have been in use and much of the equipment has been in the market place for a long time. With long established equipment and materials the problem of obsolescence eventually raises its head, and this can cause significant issues for both manufacturers and end users.
The drivers for this can be legislative change, updating of technical standards, or simply the cessation of manufacture of key components and materials.
For example, the European Directive 2006/66/EC on batteries and accumulators and waste batteries and accumulators has made the sale of NiCd batteries into Europe illegal, and made it necessary for equipment manufacturers to change over to alternative battery technologies such as NiMH or Li-Ion. Another example was the removal of support for the Industrial Hygiene market by DuPont®
, the manufacturer of Tedlar® validation of alternative plastic films for this air sampling method. Although these issues are a problem for both manufacturers and end users alike, they can drive performance improvements when designing and validating suitable alternatives.
For example, changing from NiCd to NiMH or Li-Ion batteries enables higher capacity and/or lower weight battery packs, and alternative sample bag materials have been found to have superior VOC background and storage stability to the original Tedlar®
film.
To help health and safety professionals choose a suitable alternative sample bag in 2011 and beyond, SKC Inc researchers have published data showing storage stabilities for an extensive list of target compounds in bag materials.
There are now more sample bag options for users to consider for the collection of organic vapours, sulphur compounds and other gases.
The new sample bag options include SamplePro®
FlexFilm, a proprietary material that
offers lower total VOC background and good storage stability for VOCs, Kynar, a polyvinylidene fluoride film that offers low background levels for VOCs and some sulphur compounds, FlexFoil®
, a four layer bag that
provides sample stability for gases including hydrogen sulphide, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide, and FluoroFilm FEP, bags made of fluorinated ethylene polymer, which is the most chemically inert plastic.
The air sample pumps commonly used in industrial hygiene monitoring applications are subject to many international and European standards, particularly where they are intended for use in potentially explosive atmospheres, requiring certification to schemes such as ATEX or IECEx.
The technical standards relating to this are updated on a regular basis in order for them to keep pace with “state of the art”, and each update tends to make the requirements more stringent, necessitating more exacting design from manufacturers.
In response to these stringent technical standards, SKC Ltd has produced their latest product to meet the current international and European requirements.
The AirChek 3000 pump is ATEX and IECEx certified for use in the majority of potentially explosive atmosphere environments, whether of explosive gases, explosive dusts or for mining applications, whilst also providing excellent performance for air sampling applications.
A major part of the development of this product, related to the design of a new plastic moulded case to successfully meet the stringent dust and water ingress tests required for explosive dust atmospheres and mining applications.
With the AirChek 3000 pump, at SKC Ltd we believe we have a superior air sample pump design to meet the demanding requirements of today’s Industrial Hygiene marketplace.
Reader Reply Card No. 176 , the plastic film used in sample bags for many years, necessitating the design and
Reader Reply Card No. 177
IET May / June 2011
www.envirotech-online.com
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