Enhance Safety And Dramatically Reduce Costs With 4OxLL – An Oxygen Sensor That Works As Long As Your Instrument


John Warburton, Strategic Marketing Manager at Honeywell company, City Technology, talks to IET about how advances in oxygen sensing can help plants enhance safety and leverage considerable value. John introduces City Technology’s new 4OxLL long life oxygen sensor - designed to operate for the whole instrument life - and explains how extended longevity and enhanced stability can provide attractive operational effi ciencies.


What do today’s industrial safety applications need from an oxygen sensor?


Oxygen (O2


) sensors used in safety-critical applications have a hard remit; lives and assets depend on accurate, high performance detection, fast speeds of response and stability. Sensors used in industrial gas detectors or gas analysers come up against harsh process/plant conditions and environmental extremes and transients, so reliability, stability and a quick recovery time is essential.


A best-in-class solution must offer more than benchmark regulatory compliance; it needs to add bottom line value. Optimal plant effi ciency depends on maximised instrument uptime; any fi eld failure is a potential risk to safety with associated costs and process downtime. Just one failure or nuisance alarm can result in $100/hr in lost labour at a plant and $100,000/hr in lost yield revenue at an oil and gas facility, as an example. Reduced ongoing maintenance needs are also important; limiting sensor replacements can result in considerable cost-savings.


Sensor performance must also be consistent every time; thousands of O2 plant, so repeatability is very important.


sensors may be used at a


A high performance sensor that can work as long and hard as the gas detector - in all conditions it might face - is the industry ideal.


What is the operational life of City Technology’s new O2 sensor and how does this compare to the market offering?


Our new 4OxLL long-life O2 sensor has an operational life of fi ve years. It is designed to work for


the full life of the average portable gas detector, which is 3 years longer than the average 2 year life of many current sensors.


What specifi cation elements make the 4OxLL so valuable to industrial applications?


We wanted to bring to the market a solution that not only set the standard for safety compliance but delivered on all other user values; 4OxLL is class-leading in many respects. 4OxLL offers fast speed of response and recovery and less than 5% drift over whole operational life. 4OxLL also provides unsurpassed performance in environmental extremes and transient conditions, so minimising nuisance alarms. Its intelligent, robust design dramatically reduces fi eld failure occurrence and ensures consistent performance in even the most challenging applications.


The combined effect of ultra-stable performance in an extended operational life format, provides considerable cost savings too; ongoing instrument service needs are greatly reduced. Today’s industrial plants don’t have to compromise when they use 4OxLL; it delivers on all levels, helping to maximise uptime and maintain optimal business effi ciency, while enhancing plant safety.


You mention cost saving potential – can you provide real- world examples?


4OxLL provides incremental value by reducing sensor replacement; one of the key aspects of ongoing instrument maintenance. It operates two and a half times as long as a standard O2


sensor


and in real-world terms, this translates into large savings. For example, a site operating a fl eet of 200 portable gas detectors, can save 200 hours of maintenance labour ($20,000 in total, based on $100/hr labour), over fi ve years (calculation based on a standard two year operational life sensor and an estimated 30 minutes sensor replacement time).


As previously mentioned, nuisance alarms and fi eld failures can have large associated labour and decreased yield cost. Using the same example of 200 portable gas detectors at a petrochemical


John Warburton


plant, this cost is highlighted; sensors producing just fi ve nuisance alarms and fi ve fi eld failures over the whole fl eet (2.5%), during a two year operational life, could result in over 12.5 lost labour hours over fi ve years (based on 30 minutes to replace/re-test the device). Factoring in the yield decrease impact, the total cost is over $1.2 million over a fi ve year period (based on $100/hr labour and $100,000/hr yield loss). 4OxLL’s robust design greatly limits nuisance alarms and fi eld failures, signifi cantly reducing this unnecessary cost.


How does 4OxLL achieve best-in-class stability, reliability and extended life?


“We used advanced component design and tools such as Finite Element Method Modelling (FEM) and Six Sigma, to deliver a robust design with industry leading performance. FEM was particularly valuable by simulating the distribution of O2


within the sensor under a range of environmental


conditions. It predicted key performance parameters such as sensor output, start-up characteristics and transient response to step changes in O2


concentration, allowing the creation of multiple


design concepts for comparison. The sensor design is based on “oxygen pump technology”, which unlike conventional galvanic sensors, does not have a consumable anode (the life-limiting element in an O2


sensor), providing 4OxLL’s long operating life.


Field performance depends on not only a good design but also rigorous testing and reproducible manufacture. We used advanced life test programmes and the latest Lean and Six Sigma tools, which combined with our automated manufacture processes, ensure the highest standards of reliability in the fi eld.


With over 37 years’ experience, City Technology leads the industrial gas sensing marketplace, innovating pioneering solutions that set the standard for accuracy, performance, stability and reliability. For more information, please visit www.citytech.com.


Author/Contact Details: John Warburton


City Technology Limited City Technology Centre


Walton Road,Portsmouth PO6 1SZ,UK


Tel: +44 (0)23 9228 8100


Email: sensors@citytech.com Web: www.citytech.com


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80