What is an Oxygen Analyzer? Medical, Environmental and Industrial Applications

In my previous article – the one about Oxygen Monitoring – I listed the main types of modern electronic instruments used in the environmental, medical and industrial fields for measuring the oxygen concentration in various environments, giving each of them a brief description. Today I want to write a separate post about oxygen analyzers, bringing my analysis on this topic a little deeper, but keeping the user-friendly terminology.

Oxygen deficiency is a problem which affects our entire planet. If about a decade ago only specialists were interested in various types of oxygen monitors, nowadays, because of the increasing awareness about the importance of oxygenation, more and more home consumers are looking to buy such devices for their personal use (or at least to understand their functions).

However, when a home consumer is looking for information about oxygen monitors, the main difficulty he or she is facing is the specialized, complicated terminology intended for professionals (doctors or engineers) which is very hard to understand! This is especially true when we talk about gadgets used for oxygen monitoring in the industrial field – such as oxygen sensors and oxygen analyzers.

I thought about skipping this complicated topic – the oxygen analyzers – because these devices are mostly used in various industrial facilities, being far from meeting the needs of simple home consumers. However, doing so would not meet the purpose of this website – which is to provide a broad, easy-to-understand coverage on all types of oxygen monitors and their functions. That’s why, even if you will never use an industrial oxygen analyzer at home, you should know at least which is the difference between an analyzer and a pulse oximeter (not to mention dissolved oxygen meters or oxygen depletion monitors).

So, let’s start with a little ‘disclaimer’: for many home consumers, the term oxygen monitor is synonymous with the popular term pulse oximeter. While this is true, there’s more to it: oxygen monitor is a general notion which is applicable to all devices used for oxygen monitoring – no matter if we talk about pulse oximetry (non-invasive method of calculating blood oxygen levels), oxygen deficiency monitoring (calculating the oxygen percentage in the breathing air) or various types of oxygen sensors and oxygen analyzers (used mostly in the industrial field).

Unfortunately, this is not all! Even if all of these types of oxygen monitors have their own specialized functions, sometimes the same term – for example oxygen analyzer – can be used by manufacturers for describing various gadgets.  And vice-versa, the same type of device can have different names; for example, some companies call their product intended for measuring the oxygen saturation in the breathing air oxygen deficiency monitor while others call it oxygen analyzer or oxygen depletion monitor. So, no matter how hard we try to separate the meanings and functions of these terms, they still intertwine, depending on the intention of the manufacturer.

The oxygen sensor is the basic oxygen-measuring electronic device (this term is usually connected to the automotive field and the internal combustion engine). As its name implies, it ‘senses’ the amounts of oxygen present in a certain liquid or gaseous environment. The oxygen analyzer, on the other hand, is a complex monitor which incorporates an oxygen sensor: besides ‘sensing’ the oxygen saturation, this monitor analyzes it and displays the results according to the exact needs of the user: as a percentage or as ppm (parts per million). Both percentage and trace (ppm) applications are used in the industrial and environmental fields; for medical applications, specialists use mostly the percentage display.

In the medical field, oxygen analyzers are used for assessing the pulmonary functions of the patient by measuring the amounts of exhaled oxygen (especially during oxygen therapy). Oxygen analyzers are also a part of anesthesia monitors and oxygen concentrators.

In the environmental field, oxygen analyzers (also called by some manufacturers room air oxygen analyzers, oxygen deficiency monitors, safety monitors or oxygen depletion monitors) are used to measure the oxygen concentration in the ambient air or a certain liquid (typically the waters of a lake, river or even the ocean).

In the industrial field, the functions of the oxygen analyzer are more complex. Every day, because of the never-ending technological development, new, more advanced analyzers are reaching the market. As I wrote above, there are two main types of industrial oxygen analyzers: percent and trace (ppm) models.

I will list just a few of the many industrial applications of the oxygen analyzer:

• Combustion processes control;
• Monitoring of breathing air near different types of furnaces;
• Monitoring of oxygen concentration in the production processes of semiconductors and electronic components;
• Oxygen monitoring in energy consuming industries;
• Humidity control;
• Oxygen measurements in gas-flushed food packages;
• Oxygen content analysis in diving breathing gas.

I hope I succeeded in my purpose of simplifying this complex subject – the oxygen analyzer and its functions – and offering you a broader perspective on the actual topic of oxygen monitoring.