Moisture System

for Mission-Critical
Process Control Applications

Hazardous Area
Approved!

Proven HTF Technology advantages:

Large measurement range: -100C(dp) to +20C(dp)
High Accuracy 1.5C(dp) (2.8F(dp))
or 0.02ppm, whatever is greater
No ageing drift
No temperature sensitivity
Fast response time
No factory recalibration ever!

Model ESS-SCVP

Moisture Measurement System for Mission-Critical Applications

Taking advantage of the uniquely strong and quasi-linear response characteristics of its HTF
aluminum oxide moisture sensors, Xentaur has developed a cost effective moisture system for
demanding and mission critical moisture monitoring applications. The system is based on a fully
automatic self-calibration procedure, in which the sensor is periodically exposed to a certified calibration gas and re-calibrated. The system has proven to produce consistently accurate monitoring
results in tough applications, where conventional moisture systems have failed due to ageing drift,
sensitivity to changes in temperature or contamination of the sensor.

Mission Critical Applications

Hyper-Thin-Film vs. Conventional Al2O3 Sensor

Change of Capacitance with Dewpoint

150

100

nF

100
XTR-100
Conventional

50

Xentaur HTF MoistureTechnology

Xentaurs breakthrough HTF aluminum oxide moisture
technology has overcome the deficiencies inherent with
conventional sensors, thus providing an accurate, stable
and close to maintenance-free measurement solution,
suitable for mission critical process control applications.
HTF moisture sensors have a uniquely large and quasi
linear response to moisture. Compared to conventional
aluminum oxide sensors, HTF sensors are about two
orders of magnitude more sensitivity to moisture. (Fig. 1)

30

10

-10

-30

-50

-70

0
Dewpoint (C)

Fig. 1

Temperature Effect on XTR-100 Dewpoint Reading

20
10
0
-10

Dewpoint C

-20
-30
-40
-50

MBW Reference Standard

-60

Xentaur XTR-100 at 50C

-70

Xentaur XTR-100 at 20C

-80
-90
-90

-80

-70

-60

-50

-40

-30

-20

-10

10

Reference Dewpoint C
(MBW)

Fig.2

20

HTF sensors
have a negligible
temperature coefficient (Fig. 2) over
most of the measurement range
and provide stable
results without temperature control of
the sample. This is
of particluar importance for installations oudoors.

Additionally, Xentaur HTF sensors do not suffer from

ageing drift (Fig. 3) due to oxide layer growth or changes
in the layers crystalline structure, such as conventional
aluminum oxide sensors.

1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
-0.5
-1.0
Fig.
-1.5

Deviation in C(dp) from the

measurement at 6.5 month

In the absence of an accurate and reliable method to

measure moisture, it has become industry practice to rely
on expensive workarounds and overdesigned systems
to eliminate moisture, allowing for huge safety margins.
Needless to say, such practises are expensive while still
not providing a fail-safe protection from potential damages caused by moisture.

50

The Challenge of Moisture Measurement

Conventional methods to measure moisture have so far
proven inadequate for industrial process control. Primary
moisture standards, such as chilled mirrors or Karl
Fischer titrators are suitable for laboratory use but their
high maintenance requirements, complicated operating
procedures and sensitivity to contaminants make them
unreliable in industrial process control environments.
Secondary standards, such as conventional aluminum
oxide sensors, electrolytical sensors (P2O5), ceramic
sensors,silicon oxide sensors etc. suffer from temperature
sensitivity, ageing drift and due to unfavorable signal to
noise ratios are susceptible to interferences from extarnal
factors and sample contaminants. Consequently, conventional moisture sensors have never found their way into
process contro applications but are merely used as indicators and alarm tools.

Consequently,
HTF sensors are
much less susceptible to interferences
from external factors, such as electrical noise or sample
gas contaminants.

200

150

-90

The presence of moisture in undesirable quantities can have

detrimental effects on many industrial processes. Failure to
detect and control moisture concentrations accurately and
reliably can therefore result in huge damages from lost product, damaged process equipment or excessive downtime.
Examples for such processes, where the measurement and
control of moisture concentrations is mission critical can be
found in almost every industry, but particularly in the chemical, petrochemical, natural gas, pharmaceutical, and semiconductor industries.

200

Aging effect on dewpoint measurement of sensor s/n 15730

over a 6.5 month period, exposed to -85C(dp) at +60C(t).

Measurements

at -80C(dp)
at -60C(dp)
at -40C(dp)
at -20C(dp)
at 0C(dp)
at +20C(dp)

3
1

TIME (months after installation)

Mission-Critical, Self-Calibrating Moisture

System
Xentaur has developed configurations of its modular ESS
Sample Systems, which condition the gas sample and
remove contaminants sufficiently to protect the anyway
rugged HTF sensor from permanent damage and to
warrant continuous long term operation in tough industrial
applications.
Additionally, in order to assure highest measurement
accuracy and reliability in mission critical process control

Natural Gas On-Line Moisture Analyzer with integral bottled gas calibration system

3
4

Sensor Cable

75 Coaxial Cable
typically 12 to 20pF/ft.
Shunt-diode
Safety Barrier
in grounded
metal partition

Valve

AC Power

enclosure (IP65)

AC Ground

Regulator

valve control cable

Coalescing
Filter

Carbon Adsorber

Optional Weatherproof enclosure (IP65) w/ window

Calibration
Reference
Gas

or alarm applications, Xentaurs ESS sample systems are

available with a fully automatic self-calibration feature,
in which the sensor is periodically exposed to a certified
calibration gas. By periodically adjusting the sensors
calibration to read accurately when exposed to a certified
calibration gas, accurate measurements in the vicinity of
the calibration gass moisture content are also assured
when measuring in the sample gas, even if a sensor has
drifted as a result of exposure to gas contaminants
Xentaurs Mission-Critical Self-Calibrating Natural Gas
Sample System takes advantage of the uniquely large
and quasi linear response to moisture of Xentaur HTF
sensors. The large response to moisture of HTF sensors is an absolute requirement for adjusted moisture
computations based on a single point calibration.
Xentaurs Self-Calibrating Sample System is available in
Intrinsically Safe versions.

Self-Calibration Procedure
To perform the calibration procedure, an electrically or
pneumatically actuated 2-way valve is activated to feed
calibration gas supplied from a certified bottle to the sensor. The sensor output is monitored and after equilibrium
with the calibration gas is detected, the calibration curve
is linearly adjusted over the full range to provide measurement computations which correspond to the known
dewpoint. The 2-way valve switch deactivates, exposing
the sensor again to the sample stream.
The interval at which the sensor needs to be re-calibrated
is user programmable and application dependant. A biweekly calibration schedule has proven successful in
tough industrial applications after glycol drying.

Certified Calibration Gas

The calibration gas is supplied in specially manufactured
passivated aluminium bottles, which are certified to discharge gas with a constant moisture content. The moisture standards can be custom ordered in different bottle

d
sB
len
Ga

Pressure
Gauge
0-20psig.

ed

Electrically actuated
2-way
switch-over valve

Outlet

rtif
i

Regulator

Sample Cell

Shut-off
Valve

BNC
connector

Ce

Glysorb

Flow meter 1-5 LPM

max
3000 psig

AC Power
distribution

sizes with moisture contents ranging from 1-140ppm.

The life of a calibration bottle is typically in excess of one
year, based on a bi-weekly calibration interval.
The use of certified calibration gases is well accepted in
most industries, and used for most process analyzers,
such as chromatographs and spectrophotometers.
Manufacturers of conventional aluminum oxide sensors
recommend to send in sensors twice a year for recalibration at a considerable cost. The Xentaur mission-critical
sample system provides 26 calibrations per year at a total
cost of $300 (Cost of calibration gas based on by-weekly
calibrations.)

Field Proven in Challenging Applications

Xentaurs Mission-Critical Sample system is field proven
to work in challenging applications. The graph on the right
shows 90 days of dewpoint monitoring data with calibration adjustment in an application where glycol carry-overs
have prevented conventional systems from producing
reliable results. After a settling period of two weeks, the
system has reliably provided accurate results.
-36

Self Calibrating System Test in Natural Gas, at DOW Sep- 27- 99 to Jan- 6- 00

-38

9.7

7.8

7 lbs H2O / MM scft.

-40

Dewpoint C

Inlet

Intrinsically Safe
(Simple) Apparatus
Div 1

6.2
Dewpoint measurements of reference gas,
immediately before a calibration, when
calibration adjustments are made.

-42

-44

5.0

3.9

Dewpoint measurements of reference gas,

immediately before a calibration, when no
calibration adjustments are made. These are
indicative of the drift that occured over time.

-46

3.1

-48

2.5
with correction
no correction

-50

14

21

28

35

42

49
DAY

56

63

70

77

84

91

98

1.9

lbs H2O / MM scft.

4/20mA output
AC Power
distribution

1
2

Intrinsic
Safety
Wiring

Bottle Warmer

Xentaur Dewpoint
Transmitter XDT 5
with Hermetically 6
Sealed Alarm
Relays and
Real Time Clock

Grounding
Bus bar

Associated Apparatus
Protective Component

Specifications of Transmitter:
Sensor type . . . . . . . . . . High capacitance HTF Al2O3
Input Resolution . . . . . . 0.1C(dp)
Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . LCD with backlight, 3.5 digits and custom legends for units and mode, audio alert
Engineering units . . . . . C(dp), F(dp), ppmv, g H2O/m3, lbs H2O/mm scf
Controls . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 push buttons, all settings stored in EPROM
Output options . . . . . . . . 4-20 mA or 0-24mA outputs, linear to selected engineering units, programmable span and range, 0.1C(dp) resolution
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . RS-232, baud rate 9600, resolution 0.1C(dp)
Isolation . . . . . . . . . . . . . Sensor is isolated from the power supply, analog output and RS-232
Alarm relays option: . . . Two programmable alarm relays with programmable variable hysteresis, rated at 10A@240V Failure indication
programmable to trigger alarm relays.
Power requirements: . . . 100-250 VAC, 50 or 60 Hz, autoranging
Connections . . . . . . . . . pluggable screw terminal
Enclosure . . . . . . . . . . . Polycarbonate, Nema 4/4x 4.7x6.3x3.5
Temperature range
of electronics: . . . . . . . . 14 to 122F (-10 to 50C)

Specifications of Sensor Element:

Type: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . High capacitance HTF Al2O3
Dew point range:

Dimensions:

XTR-100 . . . . . . . . . . . . -148F(dp) to +68F(dp) (-100C(dp) to

+20C(dp))
XTR-65 . . . . . . . . . . . . . -85F(dp) to +68F(dp) (-65C(dp) to
+20C(dp))
Capacitance . . . . . . . . . 15nf to 200 n
Accuracy: . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8F(dp) (1.5C(dp)) or 0.02ppm,
whichever is greater

Specifications of Sample System:

Mounting plate
and hardware............ 300 series stainless steel
Wetted parts ................... 316 or 316L stainless steel
Bulkheads, Fittings......... 1/4 Swagelok
Valves............................. Integral bonnet needle valve with regulating stem

Coalescing
or Particulate
Filter (optional)

Coalescing filter:............. borosilicate glass microfiber and

fluorocarbon binder, efficiency rating of
99.99% against 0.1 micron particles and
aerosols.

Carbon
Filter
(optional)

Glysorb
Filter (optional)

Particulate filter .............. stainless steel mesh with 1 micron efficiency

Regulator........................ Maximum inlet pressure 3000psi, outlet
1-30psi adjustable (higher optional)
Pressure Gauge: ............ 2.5 dial, 1% accuracy, max pressure
20,000 PSI
Flow meter ..................... 1-10.5LPM, 3 scale. Borosilicate glass
tube, SS wetted metal parts, black glass
float, max pressure 250 PSI
Calibration Gas .............. Certified Nitrogen

Exclusive US Sales and Service:

COSA INSTRUMENT CORPORATION

55 Oak Street, Norwood, NJ 07648
(201)767-6600 Fax.:(201) 767-6804
cosa@cosaic.com
www.cosa-instrument.com

www.xentaur.com

Xentaur Corp., 84 Horseblock Rd., Unit F, Yaphank, NY 11980 (631)345-3434 Fax: (631) 345-5349 email: xentaur@xentaur.com