Gas sampling and management system

摘要

A gas monitoring and control system including a gas sampling chamber, sampling inlet and outlet valves, a pump and a controller. Sensors are disposed within the interior chamber that sense characteristics of a gas from a gas source and generate representative signals. The sampling inlet and outlet valves i) allow the gas into the gas sampling chamber while operating in a gas sampling state, and ii) allow ambient air into the gas sampling chamber while operating in a purge state. The pump i) causes the gas to flow through the gas sampling chamber while operating in the gas sampling state or ii) causes ambient air to flow through the gas sampling chamber while operating in the purge state. The controller causes the sampling inlet and outlet valves, and the pump to alternate operating in the gas sampling or purge state to selectively expose the sensors to the gas.

主权项

1. A gas monitoring and control system comprising:
a gas sampling chamber having a chamber inlet, a chamber outlet and an interior chamber; one or more sensors disposed within the interior chamber, the sensors being operable to sense one or more characteristics of a gas from a gas source and generate one or more sensor signals representative of the one or more characteristics of the gas; a sampling inlet valve in operable communication with an outlet of the gas source and the chamber inlet; a sampling outlet valve in operable communication with the chamber outlet and an inlet of the gas source, the sampling inlet valve and the sampling outlet valve operable to i) allow the gas from the gas source to enter the gas sampling chamber while operating in a gas sampling state, and ii) allow ambient air to enter the gas sampling chamber while operating in a purge state, a pump in operable communication with the sampling inlet valve and the sampling outlet valve, the pump operable to i) cause the gas to flow through the gas sampling chamber while operating in the gas sampling state and ii) cause ambient air to flow through the gas sampling chamber while operating in the purge state; a controller in operable communication with the one or more sensors, the sampling inlet valve, the sampling outlet valve and the pump, the controller operable to cause the sampling inlet valve, the sampling outlet valve and the pump to alternate operating in the gas sampling state during a sampling time period and the purge state during a purge time period to selectively expose the one or more sensors to the gas; and a valve actuator in operable communication with a gas source valve in the gas source; and wherein the controller is in operable communication with the valve actuator and operable to cause the valve actuator to transition the gas source valve towards an open position or a closed position when the one or more sensor signals meets valve actuation criteria to regulate the flow of the gas in the gas source, wherein the one or more sensor signals meets valve actuation criteria when a positive rate of change of the one or more sensor signals exceeds a concentration change rate threshold; and wherein the controller causes the valve actuator to transition the gas source valve towards the closed position when the positive rate of change of the one or more sensor signals exceeds the concentration change rate threshold.