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Refrigerant gas leak detector (Patreon)

Published:
2023-07-03 15:59:43
Imported:
2023-07

Content

This is an older style detector used to sniff out leaks in refrigeration systems.

There are a few different technologies used for leak detection, including ionisation, ultrasonic hiss and the mysterious heated diode detector that breaks gases down with heat for their test.

While working with Hussmann in the UK I could actually detect leaks by nose, not because of the smell of the refrigerant itself, but the fine haze of oil it emitted.  It had a faint coconut type of smell.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLaGwCR8LNw

Files

Refrigeration gas leak tracer teardown

This unit uses the variable ionisation of the air to detect specific refrigeration gasses. It uses fairly complex linear circuitry to create a two speed pulsed tone that can be tuned to increase and decrease sensitivity as needed. This unit is only intended for specific refrigerants like CFCs and HFCs. For other gases a more sophisticated sensor like a heated diode sensor may be required. This application is where a microcontroller could have been used to provide a much more useful rising and falling tone or click speed with minimal component count. Literally just a classic 8 pin MCU. The channel I mentioned - HVACR videos is here:- https://www.youtube.com/@HVACRVIDEOS Chris videos service calls and gives a lot of detail while he's working. If you enjoy these videos you can help support the channel with a dollar for coffee, cookies and random gadgets for disassembly at:- https://www.bigclive.com/coffee.htm This also keeps the channel independent of YouTube's algorithm quirks, allowing it to be a bit more dangerous and naughty. #ElectronicsCreators

Comments

Anonymous

It would be interesting if you could point the detector at an alpha source to see if it is detected. The device is, after all, a geiger counter that uses air at atmospheric pressure as the ioniseable (is that a word?) gas.

Curtis Hoffmann

Detecting coconut smells might be more challenging if any of your coworkers were fans of pina coladas...

Lostngone

Isn’t isobutane flammable/explosive? Why doesn’t the corona discharge make things go boom?

Mike Page

That is so 90s.

Loscha
>>112097157

We have Bounty bars in Australia/NZ too. And Cherry Ripe bars, which mostly coconut, too.

Loscha

I do enjoy when I see exploration of clever use use of analogue circuit coupled with elegant digital circuitry as opposed to just slapping a microcontroller onto everything. I do agree, a Geiger type effect would have been much better, and seems like it would have been easily executable with the available board real estate. Perhaps changing the 556 to something like a 40106 that could have had different stages being loaded up by the 324 being used in comparator mode.

Vicky FU

It's worth noting that there are other leak detection methods available, such as electronic leak detectors, dye-based detection, and infrared imaging, each with its own specific uses and benefits. The choice of the leak detection method depends on the specific requirements, the type of refrigerant used, the size of the system, and the location of potential leaks.