What is a refrigeration system?
When we talk about a refrigeration system, we mean an operation that involves the cooling of a fluid, usually air or water, thanks to the phase transition of another fluid called refrigerant.
These systems mainly consist of four different parts: an expansion valve, an evaporator, a compressor and a condenser; however they can differentiate themselves accordingly to the final application of the product (industrial or domestic market),the production method or the gas and materials used.
The main applications for a refrigerant system are: industrial refrigerators, blast chilling, cold rooms, supermarkets display stands (but also pastry shop etc.), medical refrigerators and so on.
How and why gas sensors are used in refrigeration systems?
The use of refrigerant gases (also called F-Gas) is strictly controlled by regulations in order to avoid the dispersion of such gases in the atmosphere, one of the latest European norms is the DPR 146/2018.
The cooling technicians are always challenged to improve the containment of F-Gases in the atmosphere and to look for new gases with a lower impact on the environment. Such impact is measured via a parameter called GWP-Global Warming Potential.
A recent Italian study claimed that 100 k tonnes of F-Gases are present in the country, with a GWP equivalent to 250 million tonnes of CO2eq, which equals to 50% of the entire Italian greenhouse gas production per year.
It is therefore evident the necessity to produce systems and sensors able to measure and quantify these kinds of refrigerant gases.
Tecnosens sensors’ solutions
Tecnosens has been an official partner of Figaro for 26 years ( https://www.figaro.co.jp/en/ ), counting among their top selection sensors F-Gas sensing elements as well.
TGS2630 and TGS832-F01 are semiconductor-based technology sensors (SnO2), which show a low conductivity in clean air, but in the presence of their gas target, the conductivity increases proportionally to the concentration of F-Gases. A simple electronics circuit can convert this increment to an analogic and/or digital signal that represents the actual gas concentration.
TGS2630 and TGS832-F01 have a high sensitivity to gases with low GWP and low explosive levels (like R32, R1234yf, R404a etc.), this feature makes them the perfect sensing solution to measure and reveal even the newest F-Gas present on the market.
Both sensors are made with a dedicated filter, which makes them immune to alcohol gases, for this reason they are heavily used in stationary gas leak detectors, where durability and resistance to interference gases are mandatory features
