Method and apparatus for detecting a gas

• US 20040173007A1
• Filed: 03/06/2003
• Published: 09/09/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cincinnati Test Systems, Inc. (TASI Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cincinnati Test Systems, Inc. (TASI Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Borntrager, Ryan R., McCoy, Fred Grant, Fazekas, Jonathan Mark
• Granted Patent: US 7,051,578 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 73/40.7
• CPC Class Codes: G01M 3/229 removably mounted in a test cell

Abstract

The present invention relates to a sensor apparatus configured to detect the presence of a gas, such as a tracer gas and a leak detection apparatus configured to detect the presence of a tracer gas and indicate the location of a leak. The leak detection apparatus may further be configured to quantify the leak rate at the leak location.

Claims

1. A sensor apparatus for detecting the presence of a leak in a part under test, the part under test being pressurized with a gas including a tracer gas, the sensor apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a sensor configured to detect the presence of the tracer gas and to generate a sensing signal;

at least a first portion of the sensor being contained in the housing;

an I/O interface coupled to the housing, the I/O interface being configured to provide a first connection corresponding to an analog output and a second connection corresponding to a network output; and

a sensor controller connected to the sensor and the I/O interface and configured to generate an output signal based on the sensing signal generated by the sensor, the sensor controller further configured to determine if a network is present across the second connection of the I/O interface and to generate a data packet for transmission over the network if the network is present, the sensor controller being contained in the housing.

2. The sensor apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor includes a thermal conductivity transducer.

3. The sensor apparatus of claim 2, wherein a portion of the thermal conductivity transducer is accessible from an exterior of the housing and is positioned proximate to the exterior of the housing.

4. The sensor apparatus of claim 3, wherein a first portion of the exterior of the housing is configured to be coupled to a fixture, the fixture being configured to position the sensor apparatus proximate to the part under test.

5. The sensor apparatus of claim 1, wherein the sensor controller is configured to detect the presence of a first network and the presence of at least one additional network.

6. The sensor apparatus of claim 5, wherein the sensor controller is configured to provide the analog output over the first connection when neither the first network nor the at least one additional network are present.

7. The sensor apparatus of claim 3, wherein the sensor apparatus is a stand-alone leak detection apparatus, the sensor apparatus further comprising a power supply positioned within the housing and coupled to at least the sensor controller and an indicator viewable from the exterior of the housing, the indicator being configured to provide an indication of the presence of the tracer gas.

8. A gas sensor apparatus for detecting the presence of a gas, the apparatus comprising:

a housing including a first outer surface;

a sensor configured to detect the presence of the gas and to generate a sensing signal, the sensor including a transducer portion, the transducer portion positioned proximate to the first outer surface of the housing such that the transducer portion is contactable by the gas;

a sensor controller connected to the sensor and configured to generate an output signal based on the sensing signal generated by the sensor; and

wherein at least a portion of the sensor and the sensor controller are contained within the housing.

9. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 8, further comprising an I/O interface being coupled to the housing and configured to connect the sensor controller to at least one device remote from the gas sensor apparatus.

10. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 9, wherein the output signal of the sensor controller is a scaled analog output signal representative of the amount of the gas detected by the sensor, the scaled analog output signal being made available to the at least one remote device through a first connection of the I/O interface.

11. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 9, wherein the output signal of the sensor controller is a digital signal representative of the amount of the gas detected by the sensor, the digital signal being made available to the at least one remote device through a second connection of the I/O interface.

12. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 11, wherein the I/O interface further includes at least one transceiver configured to receive the digital signal from the sensor controller and to generate and transmit a data packet containing the digital signal.

13. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 12, wherein the gas sensor apparatus is connected to a CAN network and the I/O interface includes a CAN transceiver and a CAN controller and the data packet generated by the CAN transceiver is readable by the at least one remote device through the CAN network.

14. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 12, wherein the gas sensor apparatus is connected to the at least one remote device through an RS-485 connection and the at least one transceiver is configured to generate a data packet which is readable by the at least one remote device across the RS-485 connection.

15. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 8, further comprising an indicator configured to provide a visible indication signal, the visible indication signal being representative of the presence of the gas and the visible indication signal being viewable from the exterior of the housing.

16. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sensor controller includes a threshold value and the output signal of the sensor controller including an indication of whether the amount of the gas detected by the sensor exceeds the threshold value.

17. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 8, wherein the sensor includes a thermal conductivity transducer.

18. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 8, the gas sensor apparatus further comprising an I/O interface being configured to connect the sensor controller to at least one device remote from the gas sensor apparatus and wherein the housing of the gas sensor apparatus is coupled to a component.

19. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 18, wherein the component is an automobile and the I/O interface connects the gas sensor apparatus to a component controller of the automobile.

21. The gas sensor apparatus of claim 20, wherein the sensor of the gas sensor apparatus includes a thermal conductivity transducer.

22. A sensor apparatus for use with a network, the sensor apparatus comprising:

a housing;

a sensor configured to detect the presence of a tracer gas and to generate a sensing signal, the sensor including a first sensing portion, the first sensing portion being positioned such that the first sensing portion is contactable by the tracer gas;

a sensor controller connected to the sensor and configured to generate an output signal based on the sensing signal generated by the sensor;

a network controller connected to the sensor controller and configured to generate a network data packet, the network data packet including information based on the output signal generated by the sensor controller;

a network interface connected to the network controller and adapted to connect the sensor apparatus to the network; and

wherein the housing is configured to contain at least a first portion of the sensor, the sensor controller and the network controller.

23. The sensor apparatus of claim 22, wherein the sensor includes a thermal conductivity transducer.

24. The sensor apparatus of claim 23, wherein the sensor generates the sensing signal based on the amount of the tracer gas detected by the thermal conductivity transducer.

25. The sensor apparatus of claim 22 further comprising an indicator coupled to the sensor controller, the indicator including a first indicator configured to provide status information related to the sensor apparatus and a second indicator configured to provide an indication of the presence of the tracer gas.