New Generation Gas Detectors
Easy to Specify, Easy to Install

Meeting indoor air quality standards shouldn’t be as complicated as it is.  Opera Electronics Inc. of Montreal Quebec has just announced a new line of gas sensors that go a long way to simplifying the process of selecting, configuring and installing a toxic gas detector system.

To simplify the installation, they have introduced a new concept in gas detectors.  They call it the OPEN system. To explain, you’ll need a bit of gas detector history.

Gas sensors are used to operate exhaust fans motorized dampers, alarm bells, etc.  They can be connected directly to these devices or via a central control unit.  Where many sensors are used, each sensor was wired to the controller with from 2 to 4 wires for each sensor.  This made for a lot of wiring in multiple sensor installations.  Next, sensors were chained together and to the controller on a digital network to save wiring (Opera introduced its V3 network in 1996 and many other manufactures have followed with their own.)  These networks have one thing in common….if you have a brand X controller, you must buy a brand X sensor.  If you expand the system in the future……you must buy brand X sensors.  Many controls specialists have opted to install several stand alone sensors/controllers instead.  That makes more wiring but the user is not tied to one manufacturer for the long term.  Gas sensors are now available in a dizzying array of configurations to suit analogue networks, different digital networks as well as stand alone applications.

Here is what Opera has done to simplify things.  Their new 5000 series sensor does it all in one unit.  Each has an analogue output compatible with control systems by various manufacturers.  Each has a built in controller with three alarm relays, each with its own alarm settings, delay timers and run on timers as well as an audible alarm, LCD display and keyboard.  Each also has a digital interface so that sensors can be connected together for shared functionality on a twisted pair network.  And here is the best part; the network does not even need a controller.

The new Opera 5000 network uses a very advanced, high speed broadcast network that runs over one twisted pair (plus two wires for 24 volts supplied to each sensor).  All sensors on the network broadcast their specifics, their types, their current gas readings, their alarm status, etc, to all of the other gas sensors.  Any one of them can be designated a control point and connected to a fan or damper.  The control options are simply keyed into the sensors at any time, with no restrictions.

There is only one option available for a model 5000 gas sensor, that is, the addition of a BACnet MS/TP connection (less than $20).  BACnet - A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks has become the only building automation protocol that is entirely non-manufacturer specific.  Developed under the auspices of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), BACnet is an American national standard, a European standard, a national standard in more than 30 countries.

A new Opera system can be wired as a stand alone or connected together via the Opera network today and at any time, the inexpensive BACnet interface connector is simply plugged into the sensor and connected to any BAcnet standard MS/TP network.  The twisted pair field wiring and hook up is the same, either way.

Inspiration for these new sensors seems to be coming from a swing towards open markets in building automation systems.  Opera has positioned itself to take advantage of this trend with value based offerings where precision and functionality count most.