Process Safety Transformed by Servomex Line Lock Technology

Servomex, the world expert in gas analysis, provides a clear advantage to safety systems with the unique line lock technology incorporated into its new generation of TDL analysers.

This innovative technology, which is included in all versions of the new SERVOTOUGH Laser 3 Plus series, is designed to avoid the possibility of drift – that is, the analyser losing its lock on the gas it is monitoring.

Existing TDL instruments are set up to measure a given gas by measuring the unique absorption wavelength of each. However, if none of the gas is present in the measurement, the risk exists that the analyser can drift to an absorption line of a different gas as it searches for a measurement. For example, a carbon monoxide analyser, in the absence of CO, could end up measuring an adjacent water line and thus give a “wrong” reading – creating a significant and potentially dangerous process error.

Servomex’s advanced line lock technology introduces a beam splitter, a cuvette with the gas of interest and a second detector. The beam splitter divides the laser light, sending a second beam towards the cuvette and second detector, and providing the analyser with a reference.

The cuvette always has a known quantity of gas to measure and, therefore, knows where the measurement peak is and how strong it should be.

This enables the main detector to be “locked” in position and give the measurement of the gas in the sample – even if it is zero.

Aside from the added reliability gained from ensuring the measurement reading is correct, this technique also gives a clear advantage to safety systems, with the reassurance that the reading being delivered is correct. This gives all combustion, process oxygen, and DeNox/ammonia slip applications covered by the new analysers a vital extra level of process safety.

In addition, the cuvette system requires no maintenance, and has self-diagnostics built in.

All Servomex’s Laser 3 Plus TDL lasers come complete with SIL (Safety Integrity Level) certification, and so can be incorporated into safety systems in a relatively straightforward manner.

Find out more about the Laser 3 Plus at servomex.com/l3plus.