I’ve been on the road for the last four years talking about almost nothing but pH (my wife and kids would find that extremely boring…if they actually knew what I did for a living).  During my time in planes, trains, automobiles, and in chemical plants, refineries, power plants, and what have you, I’ve learned something real. Making pH measurements is so painful that it no longer hurts.  Do you know what I mean? It’s like that ache from an old injury, or just old age, that you know is there but you push to the back of your mind because you’ve got to go to work.  The pain is there, you know it, but you’ve learned to live with it because there is no other way…or at least you think.

Have you learned to live with any of these pains?

•     You have to do regular PMs for calibration of your pH sensors because they frequently drift.
•     You’re calibrating pH sensors outside when it’s 100º, 5º, raining, snowing, or 3 am.
•     You’re spending a lot of money replacing pH sensors.
•     Every time you replace a sensor it is an arduous process. You have to go to the transmitter, remove the wires from the terminal block, and pull the cable through your fitting, cable tray, and/or conduit.
•     Your pH sensors don’t perform in a repeatable manner in the same application. For instance, one sensor lasts for months while another for days or weeks.
•     You don’t know if the sensor is still good so you have to throw it away.
•     You can’t get a reasonable delivery on a sensor from the manufacturer so you stock extra sensors, which then go bad after 6 months or a year.

Ouch! Did you feel that? Well, you’re not alone! Virtually everywhere I’ve been, people are dealing with the pains of pH. Those that say they don’t have them are either too calloused to feel the pain anymore, have other pain taking priority, or are just in denial.

You do have a choice to alleviate your pain, whether acute or latent.  Relief can be found through Memosens.

Memosens is a digital smart sensor technology that provides the following key benefits:

•     Submersible, a contact-free inductive connection
•     Elimination of drift caused by cable and grounding
•     Off-line calibration
•     Sensor diagnostics and lifetime calculation
•     Multi-parameter transmitters and portable meters

An additional benefit to Memosens users is that several manufacturers use this technology.  All Memosens suppliers’ sensors, cables, and instruments are interchangeable giving you options when it comes to acquiring the right combination for your application.  Most other digital sensor companies use a proprietary solution.  That means you better really like their sensor offering because you’re stuck with them!

In order to best explain the features and benefits of Memosens, I will be following up this post with several others.  Here is the list of upcoming posts:

1. How can a toothbrush make your pH measurement more reliable? – The Inductive Connection
2. It’s probably the cable! – Analog sensors and their inherent electrical issues
3. It’s 3 am and I’m out calibrating a pH sensor! – The portable meter and the benefits of off-line calibration
4. How accurate is my pH sensor?  You should be asking, how accurate is my calibration procedure? – Helpful hints for a more accurate calibration
5. How many pH sensors did we throw away last month? – The value of enhanced sensor diagnostics

My hands are a little sore from typing…I think I’ll go take a couple of aspirin to relieve the pain.  Yeah, it’s that easy!

Memosens!