Signal Group is probably best known for leading innovation in industrial gas analysis using reference methods such as FID, CLD and NDIR. However, since its inception in 1979, the company has developed a fleet of ancillary equipment to ensure that the gas analysers operate as accurately and reliably as possible. This has included cooler/dryers that help to condition sample gas prior to analysis, and remarkably, the designs for these devices have changed very little in the last 30 years.
“Simplicity and reliability have always been our guiding mantra in product design,” explains Signal’s MD James Clements. “So, once we had developed models that met our needs precisely, further development was unnecessary, and we now have hundreds of cooler/dryers operating all over the world.”
Globally, regulations dictate that stack, flue or exhaust emission samples should usually be conditioned in some way before analysis, and it is important that this conditioning should be compatible with the analysis method. Cooler/dryers remove moisture from the sample gas so that it does not enter the gas analyser where it may affect the readings or even harm the analyser. However, cooler/dryers are not normally employed with acid gas samples because acidic gases may dissolve in the condensed water and therefore not form part of the measurement.
Signal Group offers two types of cooler/dryer; both with a thermoelectric cooling system and a special gas labyrinth design to eliminate the possibility of losing non-soluble sample gas with the removed water. Signal’s portable (Model 250) Cooler/dryer weighs 15kg and runs on mains power, and a 19” rack version (Model 200SM) is available as a 1, 2 or 3 channel unit. Summarising, James says: “It is incredible that there has never really been any need to update or re-design our cooler/dryers, but they do say: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
