Is a reference channel always necessary for a gas analyzing sensor?
A reference channel is useful in NDIR gas analyzers to compensate optical (IR source), mechanical and electronic long term drifts as well as drifts by contamination of the optical path. This reduces the need for re-calibration. The signal in the gas channel(s) will be normalized by the reference signal and so most of the variations will be eliminated. The spectral position of a reference channel should be as close as possible to the gas channel(s) to improve the “normalizing effect.” In many cases one reference channel can be used for all gas channels of a multi-gas analyzer. A reference channel is however not needed if there are other possibilities to compare the sensor signal with gas presence and without measuring gas, for example by changing the gas in the cuvette periodically.
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