Maintenance workers breathe easy at Dow Corning

Dow Corning uses silicone in the manufacturing process which can interfere with conventional sensors, meaning infrared sensors were required. The Triple Plus+ IR detectors, from Crowcon, meet this demand, plus Crowcon added functionality for pentane and hydrogen detection. Dow Corning's Kevin Reid says ruggedness was a key factor in the selection. "We issue the instruments to off-site contractors, which means they pass through many pairs of hands in a short space of time," he explains. "Without a sense of ownership on the part of the user, they can get some pretty rough treatment. "The Triple Plus+ units are hardwearing and require little maintenance – they also have an extremely reliable IR sensor. They performed exceptionally over the first shutdown period without a single detector exhibiting a fault or failure." The unit differs from traditional detectors because it does not require the presence of oxygen, making it ideal for use in silicone manufacturing processes or in purge monitoring of hydrocarbon storage tanks such as in petroleum processing facilities or oil and gas carriers. As well as durability, the detector can monitor up to four toxic and flammable gases at once from a list of over 15. A large backlit display shows all gas levels simultaneously and a loud audible alarm and bright visual alarm warns the operator when gas levels reach dangerous levels. One hundred hours of datalogging capacity is available as standard and a PC interface through an RS232 serial port allows all data to be downloaded for storage.