Thermal conductivity-based hydrogen in argon detector (HAD): Design, development of instrumentation, and performance evaluation

I Lakshmigandhan; S Premalatha; E Prabhu; Nair Afijith Ravindranath; G Gunasekaran; V Jayaraman

doi:10.1063/5.0169764

Thermal conductivity-based hydrogen in argon detector (HAD): Design, development of instrumentation, and performance evaluation

Rev Sci Instrum. 2023 Dec 1;94(12):125006. doi: 10.1063/5.0169764.

Authors

I Lakshmigandhan¹, S Premalatha¹, E Prabhu¹, Nair Afijith Ravindranath^{1

2}, G Gunasekaran¹, V Jayaraman^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Materials Chemistry and Metal Fuel Cycle Group, Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 603102, Tamilnadu, India.
² Homi Bhabha National Institute, Training School Complex, Anushaktinagar, Mumbai 400094, India.

PMID: 38117195
DOI: 10.1063/5.0169764

Abstract

The Hydrogen in Argon Detectors (HADs) working on the principle of thermal conductivity difference between argon (reference) and argon + H2 (sample) in the cover gas of a sodium-cooled fast breeder reactor using the Wheatstone bridge circuit. The output of HAD is very sensitive to the gas flow rate and to the variation in ambient temperature. The RMSnoise of current was brought within ±1 µA by a constant current source across the bridge. The temperature correction factor fed in the processor brought down the RMSnoise in the HAD signal within ±2.4 mV than the uncorrected one having RMSnoise of ±230 mV. The filtered noise of HAD facilitates enhancing the detection limit of HAD down to 30 ppm (3σ) of hydrogen in argon.