Thermal Conduction and Gas Analysis

Abstract

GAS analysis based on thermal conduction was first introduced by Daynes and Shakespear¹ and depends on the principle that the thermal conduction loss in a particular mixture depends uniquely upon the composition of the mixture, and consequently, if we know the conductivity, the composition can be determined. Since then this principle has been utilized by a number of workers to analyse both the steady state and also the approach to steady state of non-uniform gas mixtures under various conditions. Unfortunately, the procedure adopted has not always been free from objections, and in the present report I propose to discuss the use of a thermal conductivity apparatus for which the theory is now completely understood and the various corrections are exactly calculable. The general design of the thermal conductivity cell is based on the conventional hot-wire type of cell introduced by Kannuluik and Martin² and since then has been widely used by a number of workers. Two simple designs for the construction of such cells have been recently made by Srivastava and Saxena³.