Agilent Technologies 990 Micro GC Safety Manual page 10

Hydrogen Safety
Hydrogen shutdown
Hydrogen gas may be used as a carrier or as fuel for some applications. When
mixed with air, hydrogen can form explosive mixtures.
The GC monitors inlet, detector, and auxiliary gas streams. If a stream shuts
down because it is unable to reach its flow or pressure setpoint and if that
stream is configured to use hydrogen, the GC assumes that a leak has occurred
and declares a hydrogen safety shutdown. The effects are:
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To recover from this state, fix the cause of the shutdown (tank valve closed,
serious leak, others). Turn the instrument off, then back on.
The GC cannot always detect small leaks in inlet and/or detector gas streams.
WAR N IN G
For this reason, it is vital that column fittings should always be either connected
to a column, or have a cap or plug installed. The H
for hydrogen so that the GC is aware of hydrogen use.
Measuring hydrogen gas flows
Do not measure hydrogen together with air or oxygen. This can create explosive
WAR N IN G
mixtures that can be ignited by the hot surface or high temperature areas.
10 Agilent 990 Micro GC and 990 Mobile Micro GC Chromatograph Safety Manual
The offending channel and any associated channels (such as septum purge)
are set off.
The split valves in the inlets open.
The small heated zones are turned off.
An alarm tone sounds.
streams must be configured
2