Westsystems Srl

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The Westsystems Fluxmeters are portable instrument for the measurement of fluxes that use the accumulation chamber method. This method studied for soil respiration in agronomy (Parkinson) for soil degassing in volcanic areas (Tonani), as well as in landfills and has been designed by WEST Systems in cooperation with G. Chiodini and R. Cioni to obtain a portable instrument that allows the performance of measurements with very good accuracy in a short time.

West Systems can provide 3 instrument typologies, that differ from one another in the carbon dioxide detector and in the transportability:

LICOR Based instrument(s) :: The carbon dioxide detector is a LICOR - LI820 (or LI840) This release of fluxmeter is very accurate in the range from 0 up to 300 moles/sm/day of carbon dioxide. The instrument can be expanded with additional detectors to measure hydrogen sulfide and / or methane diffuse flux. .. Download :: Brochure :: Manual

Drager based instrument(s) :: The carbon dioxide detector is a Drager Polytron IRCO2 a very robust/rugged double beam infrared absorption spectrometer. The instrument is very accurate in the range from 0.5 up to 1000 moles/sm/day of carbon dioxide.The instrument can be expanded with additional detectors to measure hydrogen sulfide and / or methane diffuse flux. Download :: Brochure :: Manual

Scout instruments :: The scout fluxmeters family was designed to give a very portable instrument, composed by a infrared double beam spectrometer embedded into the accumulation chamber. The mixing of gas inside the accumulation chamber is realized with a turbulent flow. There will be 3 releases:

Release:

fall 2006

S.CO2

The instrument, based on a very accurate carbon dioxide detector, measures carbon dioxide flux in the range 0-50 moles/sm/day, and it's ideal for quick surveys. Download :: Brochure :: Manual

Release:

winter 2006

S.DUMP

The instrument measures carbon dioxide and methane fluxes in the range 3-500 moles/sm/day. The S.DUMP is designed to study the not-controlled emissions of bio gas of landfills, his sensitivity is not enough for the study of volcanic areas. Download :: Brochure :: Manual

Release:

springtime 2007

S.LEAK

The instrument detect and quantify leaks of methane / propane / butane from ducts or reservoirs. The accumulation chamber can be designed for special applications. Download :: Brochure :: Manual

Accumulation Chambers for LICOR and DRAGER based instruments
WEST Systems provide two accumulation chambers (100 mm height / 200 mm height) in order to extend the flux measurement range. Two pipes connect the accumulation chamber to the instrument. A mixing device, alkaline battery supplied, allow a optimal mixing of the gas inside the chamber to increase the measurement accuracy. The LI-800 version allows you to carry out measurements in a wider range of carbon dioxide flux, in particular for small flux, where the measurements carried out by means of the Drager version are affected by a rather significant error.
Palmtop Computer (All instruments)
A small, pocket size, computer (PDA) manage the instrument, showing the result(s) of measurement in real time. Since 2005 the connection between the PDA and instrument is realized using bluetooth/wireless devices.
Accumulation Chamber Method
The flux measurement is very easy and very fast and can be done under difficult operative conditions.	Since 1994 several surveys have been carried out to monitor areas with volcanic hazard and to map CO2 degassing areas.
HSL Flux
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Flux Map
Flux map in a landfill. (ITER 2000)	Zoom in...