Exhaust gas analysis is not just required for automotive applications, it is also essential for many industrial processes, such as power generation, oil and gas refining and chemical manufacturing.
Protea is a manufacturer of FTIR gas analysers and bespoke sampling and analysis systems for process, emission and environmental monitoring. As part of a recent project, the company developed a heated multi-stream selection unit to enable a range of heated sample streams to be fed to a single analyser.
To keep response times fast, sample gas streams are channelled to a control valve unit. For the majority of the time, the sample gas goes to a bypass vent without passing through the analyser. When a sample is required the respective valve directs the gas stream for analysis. In any other application, the control task could be easily performed by a standard, 3-way solenoid valve, but in this case the whole process, and hence the valves, needs to be maintained at 180°C.
Having agreed on the specification of the solenoid valve, the Protea engineers designed a mounting block that would allow four solenoid valves to be positioned together and helps to maintain the temperature within the analysis pipework at 180°C.
