Response of electrochemical oxygen sensors to inert gas–air and carbon dioxide–air mixtures: Measurements and mathematical modelling

Electrochemical oxygen gas sensors are widely used for monitoring the state of inertisation of flammable atmospheres and to warn of asphyxiation risks. It is well established but not widely known by users of such oxygen sensors that the response of the sensor is affected by the nature of the diluent gas responsible for the decrease in ambient oxygen concentration. The present work investigates the response of electrochemical sensors, with either acid or alkaline electrolytes, to gas mixtures comprising air with enhanced levels of nitrogen, carbon dioxide, argon or helium. The measurements indicate that both types of sensors over-read the oxygen concentrations when atmospheres contain high levels of helium. Sensors with alkaline electrolytes are also shown to underestimate the severity of the hazard in atmospheres containing high levels of carbon dioxide. This deviation is greater for alkaline electrolyte sensors compared to acid electrolyte sensors. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model is developed to predict the response of an alkaline electrolyte, electrochemical gas sensor. Differences between predicted and measured sensor responses are less than 10% in relative terms for nearly all of the gas mixtures tested, and in many cases less than 5%. Extending the model to simulate responses of sensors with acid electrolytes would be straightforward.