Video: RAPIDOX 2100Z
RAPIDOX 2100Z: a zirconia oxygen analyser from ppb to 30 %. How the sensor works, how it is installed, the filters it needs, calibration and integration with the plant.
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See the product page: Rapidox 2100: oxygen analyser
Video transcript
What the analyser measures, why a zirconia sensor survives where others do not, and how to install, calibrate and drive it. In an inert atmosphere, oxygen is the contaminant that ruins the work. A few parts per 1000000 oxidise a weld, spoil a heat treatment, or colour a printed metal part. The trouble is measuring it where the process actually happens: hot, dirty and aggressive. The answer is a zirconia sensor.
It works hot, on purpose, which is why it tolerates the environments that finish other sensors, and why it lasts. And it covers a range that very few instruments reach in one box: from parts per 1000000000 all the way up to 30%. Oxygen is rarely the only thing worth knowing. Auxiliary sensors turn it into a multi-measurement instrument without adding a second box. And it was built to be wired into something bigger.
Two analogue outputs, two alarm relays, and a serial link that speaks Modbus. It fits where the process is: on a bench, in a panel, or on a wall in a weatherproof housing. The front is deliberately small: a display, 4 keys and two connectors. Everything is reached by scrolling and pressing enter. Getting it running is 4 connections, and the order matters less than the care: gas, sensor, outputs, power.
Between the process and the sensor there is usually a conditioning train, and it is worth building it properly: particles, then water, then aggressive gases, then solvents. Each filter exists for a specific enemy, and fitting the wrong one is as bad as fitting none. Calibration is where most of the accuracy is won or lost. The analyser holds up to 5 calibration points; 3 are set at the factory and should be left alone.
The other two are yours, and ordinary room air, at 20.95%, is usually one of them. Then the outputs, which is how the rest of the plant sees the measurement. Both analogue outputs are configurable, and so are the two alarms. And the software, which is where the instrument becomes useful over time rather than at a moment. It installs from the supplied memory stick, connects over the serial link, and from then on the whole configuration is on screen instead of behind 4 keys. And the part that earns its keep:
data logging, with live graphing while the run is happening. Tick save to file before you start, and the run ends as a spreadsheet you can plot from. Finally, the maintenance, which is mostly about the sensor and about not letting the sample carry things it should not. Gas analysis, from Amperis.