sources . please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . unsourced material may be challenged and removed . april 2010 learn how and when to remove this template message spectrasensors inc. type private industry industrial gas founded 1999 headquarters houston texas united states products gas analyzers number of employees 114 slogan precision optical sensors for industrial applications website spectrasensors.com spectrasensors inc. is a manufacturer of optical based gas sensors for the industrial process environmental monitoring and clean technology markets . the company s sensors measure the absorption of laser light at specific wavelengths to detect carbon dioxide and water vapor in industrial process control and environmental monitoring applications . such applications include non contact measurement of moisture carbon dioxide and other corrosives in the energy industry petrochemical industry arsenic and other impurities in drinking water water quality and airborne water vapor and other atmospheric measurements from commercial aircraft for the u.s. and international weather services atmospheric . clean tech applications include identifying and harvesting methane ch4 as a clean energy source as well as mounting sensors on commercial airliners to enable real time monitoring of weather conditions to avoid commercial flight delays totaling 1 billion per year in wasted time and fuel . contents 1 products 2 history 3 see also 4 external links products edit spectrasensors uses tunable diode laser tdl technology in conjunction with absorption spectroscopy in an array of products such as ambient air monitoring analyzers moisture analyzers hygrometers dew point analyzers and hydrogen sulfide analyzers gas analyzers for natural gas pipelines petrochemical refineries environmental technology and gas quality applications . spectrasensors gas analyzers measure moisture h2o carbon dioxide co2 hydrogen sulfide h 2s hydrogen chloride hcl methane ch 4 ammonia nh 3 ethylene oxide eto and more . typical applications include gas quality and energy measurements h 2o co2 h 2s btu in natural gas trace moisture and hydrogen sulfide in refineries and petrochemical plants and airborne moisture and other atmospheric measurements from commercial aircraft for the u.s. and international weather services . the heart of tdl systems is a small laser diode that produces a very specific wavelength of light tuned to a harmonic frequency of the target gas molecule in the near infrared band . the light causes the molecule to vibrate and therefore absorb energy . once adjusted to the specific frequency of the molecule the laser is minutely tuned to different wavelengths on either side of their target wavelength . the light energy being absorbed at the target gas frequency is compared to the light energy at the surrounding frequencies resulting in an extremely precise measurement . new data are integrated every second making the system quick to respond to variations in the target gas . natural gas distributors are currently using the company s extraction monitors to quantify levels of water vapor and carbon dioxide in their natural gas pipelines . the application calls for a rugged device which can withstand the harsh environments in these pipes with low parts per million sensitivity . today many suppliers transport their product to many customers through a shared pipeline infrastructure . market rates for gas products are determined in part by the moisture levels and purity of natural gas . relative moisture levels indicate whether a gas is wet or dry while carbon dioxide levels tell the distributor whether the product is clean or dirty . the requirement to measure humidity is also driven by the corrosive effect that water can have in combination with other chemicals in the pipes . corrosion can lead to leaks which can lead to a potentially dangerous situation . today spectrasensors markets its products and technology directly to end use customers both in branded and original equipment manufacturer versions . history edit spectrasensors was spun out of the nasa caltech jet propulsion laboratory in 1999 to commercialize tdl technology . the company has raised about 8 million in private equity funding ; investors include chevron technology ventures american river ventures nomura new energy & clean technology ventures blueprint ventures and nth power . before focusing on the natural gas and process gas industry spectrasensors used tdls to measure atmospheric conditions . in most cases water vapor data is gathered by an older style of sensor using a thin film capacitor . these sensors are launched on weather balloons every 12 hours from stations around the country . satellites also gather water vapor data but at low vertical resolution . see also edit tdlas external links edit spectrasensors.com retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title spectrasensors inc & oldid 647218589 categories manufacturing companies based in texashidden categories articles lacking sources from april 2010all articles lacking sources navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 february 2015 at 08 36 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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