2014•Unpublished venueRequires access
Leak Detection Methods
Werner Große Bley
Open publisher page 1 citations
Abstract
The leakage rate in chemical engineering is expressed as amount of substance lost in a given period of time with the unit kg h-1. This chapter discusses the common leak detection methods: pressure rise, pressure drop, bubble test with foam, ultrasonic detection, mass spectrometer, and helium leak detector in chemical engineering. The presented methods can be divided basically into two categories: 1) pressure change methods (without specific tracer gas) 2) tracer gas methods. Helium which is mostly used as a tracer gas in leak detection has excellent properties for tightness tests of chemical systems. In principle, a helium leak detector detects the partial pressure of a tracer gas in vacuum with a suitable sensor. The detection opportunities for leaks using a leak detector, which works with a mass spectrometer for the helium detection, are unmatched.