Improvement of explosion hazard monitoring systems for technogenic facilities

The purpose of this work is to find solutions aimed at improving the explosion hazard monitoring systems of man-made facilities in the presence of a multicomponent fuel-air mixture by means of an integrated explosion hazard assessment and improving the accuracy of control equipment.Materials and methods. Analytical methods for studying the process of oxidation of combustible gases and vapors on catalysts based on the classical provisions of electrical engineering, thermodynamics and catalysis, experimental studies of serial single-chamber thermocatalytic sensors of pellet type with a platinum-palladium catalyst when they operate in a multicomponent fuel-air mixture, evaluation and generalization of the results of theoretical and experimental studies were used in this work.Results. The peculiarities of the oxidation process of combustible gases and vapors in thermocatalytic sensors with a non-selective platinum-palladium catalyst under changing the temperature regime of the working thermocouple were established. It has been shown that thermocatalytic sensors with a non-selective platinum-palladium catalyst under a certain temperature regime of operation allow for an unambiguous assessment of the explosiveness of such components as methane, butane, and heptane, which allows for an integrated assessment of the explosiveness of a multicomponent fuel-air mixture. For the studied sensors, this is ensured by selecting a preheating temperature of 350 °C for the working thermocouple in the air.Scientific novelty. The conditions under which thermocatalytic sensors with a non-selective platinum-palladium catalyst allow for an integrated unambiguous assessment of the explosive hazard of the environment, including in the presence of a multicomponent fuel-air mixture, have been established.Practical significance. It consists in establishing the conditions under which it is possible to unambiguously assess the explosive properties of fuel-air mixtures, including multicomponent ones, using a single thermocatalytic sensor, which reduces the cost of explosion monitoring systems and increases the reliability of explosion control under conditions where various explosive gases and vapors of volatile combustibles can simultaneously accumulate in the air.