The number of industrial products required to be leak tested have increased during the recent years. The high quality demands for such products require the detection of the smallest leak possible in the shortest possible cycle time. The large variety of objects to be tested requires a variety of leak testing methods. One of these methods is the so called carrier or transport gas method. This method is based on the principle that the leaking gas which is escaping from the object being tested is transported to the leak detector by an additional flow of a carrier gas. This approach has several important advantages. First of all it allows parts to be tested which are not vacuum tolerant. Also extended parts like tubes which are too large to be tested in a vacuum chamber can be tested. It enables the leak testing of objects without high expenses for a vacuum chamber and pumping systems. In addition, many leak testing objects have testing areas which are difficult to access which can lead to long test times and overall long test sequences. Using the carrier gas flow method can help to get the leak signal much faster. Instruments with mass spectrometer type sensors offer the possibility to test vacuum type carrier gas applications. These sensor types offer the highest sensitivity for Hydrogen and Helium. In combination with carrier gas there are no high vacuum chambers necessary to use mass spectrometer type sensors. The WISE Technology sensor is a new development which opens up new possibilities in leak testing applications with carrier gas. The WISE Technology sensor is a quartz window type sensor that is completely independent of total pressure. Instruments with this new technology enable application-dependent leak testing at low pressure up to atmospheric pressure. Instruments with semiconductor type sensors for Hydrogen offer robust and cost-effective solutions for carrier gas leak testing at atmospheric pressure. The combination of leak detectors with the semiconductor sensor type with the carrier gas method is very well suited for detecting liquid leaks in very small objects at atmospheric pressure. In this presentation the advantages of the carrier gas method in combination with each sensor type will be discussed and typical applications will be shown.
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