Page 14 - Customer Needs and Use Assessments (CNUA) of Hydrocardon Sensors

ACT In Situ Hydrocarbon Sensors Customer Needs and Use Assessment.....................................................13
B. Specifications
7. What is the typical range of hydrocarbon concentration for your application?
The survey respondents answered this question in general terms over a very broad range
of hydrocarbon concentrations ([HC]). Respondents also expressed these concentrations
in a variety of units. The question is perhaps best answered graphically as a synthesis all
of the narrative responses given by Users and Vendors normalized to a common unit of
measurement. Concentration ranges were converted to parts per billion (ppb) and
expressed as the log of hydrocarbon concentration (log [HC]). Note that one vendor
commented that they detect hydrocarbons from a 0.1 mm surface layer. Most
respondents indicated 0 ppb as their lower range, here interpreted as 0.1 (10-1) ppb (or
close to zero). Individual ranges are plotted in the figure above step-wise from lowest to
highest concentration. Responses span twelve orders of magnitude. As noted in the