Highly sensitive gas leak detector based on a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic SF6 sensor

Abstract

The implementation, performance validation, and testing of a gas-leak optical sensor based on mid-IR quartz-enhanced photoacoustic (QEPAS) spectroscopic technique is reported. A QEPAS sensor was integrated in a vacuum-sealed test station for mechatronic components. The laser source for the sensor is a quantum cascade laser emitting at 10.56 µm, resonant with a strong absorption band of sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), which was selected as a leak tracer. The minimum detectable concentration of the QEPAS sensor is 2.7 parts per billion with an integration time of 1 s, corresponding to a sensitivity of leak flows in the 10−9 mbar∙l/s range, comparable with state-of-the-art leak detection techniques.

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Sampaolo, Angelo, Patimisco, Pietro, Giglio, Marilena, et al.. "Highly sensitive gas leak detector based on a quartz-enhanced photoacoustic SF6 sensor." Optics Express, 24, no. 14 (2016) The Optical Society: 15872-15881. http://dx.doi.org/10.1364/OE.24.015872.

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