Reference projects

The simulation laboratory of Centro Nacional del Hidrógeno (CNH2) in Spain is specialized in thermo-fluid dynamic analysis for different technologies related to hydrogen and other gases. CNH2 are a participant in the CEF 2016 RaiLNG project, that investigates the introduction of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in the railway sector.

For this, safety in case of a gas leak is of the utmost importance. The dispersion of LNG in a railway tunnel has been experimentally investigated, using a CAN-bus network containing 100 XEN-5320 sensors from Xensor.

The simulation laboratory of Centro Nacional del Hidrógeno (CNH2) in Spain is specialized in thermo-fluid dynamic analysis for different technologies related to hydrogen. In order to create a flexible sensor network for hydrogen (simulated with helium) leaks detection and characterization CHN2 asked Xensor Integration to develop a thermal conductivity sensor XEN-5320 with read-out electronics and WiFi data transmission. The developed sensors were successfully used in different experiments to validate the mathematical models about a hydrogen leakage in an enclosed space.

AeroDelft, a non-profit company led by students from the Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), is aiming to design, build and fly the world’s first liquid hydrogen-powered fuel cell aircraft. The design of an unmanned prototype was unveiled in April 2019 and will fly for the first time later this year. The full-scale aircraft is set to take off from Rotterdam The Hague Airport in 2021. Xensor Integration is proudly sponsering this project by providing hands-on experience with hydrogen monitoring and XEN-5320 gas sensors to measure and monitor the hydrogen concentration within the aircraft.

For rooms with a potential explosion hazard, it is necessary to take measures to reduce the explosion risk to an acceptable level. One of those measures is to place explosive-gas sensors inside the hazardous room. To avoid a formation of explosive gas mixtures, the sensor should activate emergency ventilation as soon as it will detect a critical gas mixture concentration. The thermal conductivity XEN-3880 sensor from Xensor Integration and acoustic sensors were used within the experimental chamber to perform the necessary hydrogen concentration measurements.

The highly combustible nature of hydrogen poses a great hazard, creating a number of problems with its safety and handling. As a part of safety studies related to the use of hydrogen in a confined environment, it is extremely important to have a good knowledge of the dispersion mechanism.

The performed tests evaluated the influence of the initial conditions at the leakage source on the dispersion and mixing characteristics in a confined environment. Throughout the test, during the release and the subsequent dispersion phase, temporal profiles of hydrogen concentration are measured using thermal conductivity sensors within the enclosure. In addition, the BOS (Background Oriented Schlieren) technique is used to visualise the cloud evolution inside the enclosure. These instruments allowed the observation and quantification of the stratification effects.

DrägerWerk in Lübeck, Germany and Xensor have together developed the sensing heart of a revolutionary oxygen sensor. The measurement is based on determination of the thermal conductivity of the gas surrounding the silicon chip, which yields a measure for the concentration of oxygen. 

Derived from the standard thermal conductivity gauge XEN-3880, a special has been developed for Dräger in which the chip is mounted on a ceramic base plate that also contains a PTC-resistance and a separate heater resistance, to allow thermostatting of the base plate, thus improving the measurement accuracy. 

Around the chip a flow channel has been created using specially formed ceramic parts, allowing the gas to be led past the sensor without actually flowing over the sensor surface. In this way, a fast response time has been achieved for refreshing the gas composition around the sensor, while avoiding that the sensor acts as a flow sensor. Thus, a true and accurate thermal conductivity measurement is carried out. 

Oxygen concentration is determined at a rate fast enough for breathing applications at a resolution of the order of 0.5 % oxygen concentration. This is achieved in the presence of anaesthetic gases.

Standard sensor (UFS1)

The UFS1 chip measures 5.0 x 3.3 mm2 and has two membranes of 1.7 x 1.7 mm2 with each a 0.5 mm ø sample area. The ceramic base plate measures 24 x 24 mm2.
The UFS1 chip allows power-compensated operation at controlled heating rates of up to 40 000 K/s (2 400 000 K/min) and controlled cooling rates of 4 000 K/s (240 000 K/min).
Masses typically between 20 ng and 2 000 ng. The temperature range is -100 to 450 °C for the standard sensor (UFS1).

High temperature sensor (UFH1)

The high temperature UFH1 chip measures 3.75 x 3.0 mm2 and has two membranes of 0.8 x 0.8 mm2 with each a 0.09 mm ø sample area.
The UFH1 chip allows power-compensated operation at controlled heating rates of up to 50 000 K/s (3 000 000 K/min) and controlled cooling rates of 40 000 K/s (2 400 000 K/min).
Masses typically between 5 ng and 5 000 ng.The temperature range is -100 to 1000 °C for the high-temperature sensor (UFH1).

Applications are foreseen in areas such as:
- polymer analysis.
- pharmaceutical analysis.
- explosives analysis.
- metal analysis.

Thin-film calorimetry is a powerful tool for the investigation of a wide variety of materials and their phase transitions for very small samples in the nanogram range. Ultrafast chip-calorimetry stimulated great progress in the study of crystallization kinetics and nucleation mechanisms in technologically important polymers, metals, and composites. Advances in ultrafast chip calorimetry provide the possibility to generate non-equilibrium states and to study phase-transition kinetics at microsecond and even faster time scales.

The performed experiments at the University of Rostock focused on the dynamics of the temperature distributions in the XEN-39472 calorimetric sensor from Xensor Integration and the theoretical background for ultrafast calorimetry.

Agilent (formerly: Varian in Middelburg, The Netherlands) is a producer of gas chromatographs: instruments used to determine the composition of volatile substances such as gases. 

To analyse these mixtures, a small sample is inserted in a column by means of an injector. Conventional non-portable gas chromatographs are based on stainless-steel injectors. 

Xensor, working in conjunction with Agilent, used micro-machined silicon 'channels' and synthetic micro-valves to create a micro-injector for the portable micro gas chromatograph (GC) CP-2003. Not only does it analyse small amounts of gas with a high degree of accuracy, it is also much smaller, faster and lighter than its stainless-steel counterpart. 

In January 2002 Agilent introduced the new portable 490 Micro GC (formerly: CP-4900). This contained an improved version of the micro-injector, developed by Xensor, which gives sharper peaks.