Poly Temp Catalog: CO2 Incubators: Infrared vs Thermal CO2 Control

	CO₂ Incubators

Infrared Vs. Thermal CO₂ Control: A Comparison

Revco offers both thermal and infrared CO₂ systems to suit your preference for automatic CO₂ control. Both systems use a sensor assembly positioned above the interior chamber. A small blower gently moves interior air across the sensor to compare actual CO₂% against setpoint. Continuous sampling maintains the highest CO₂ accuracy and initiates automatic recovery following door openings. The IntrLogic™ microprocessor control reads data from the sensor to inject gas upon demand and to operate the digital display and CO₂ alarm functions.

CO₂ Control Method	*Infrared (RCO5000 Series Models)**	Thermal (RCO3000 Series Models)
Sensor Technique	light diffraction	temperature transmission
Setpoint Resolution	± 0.1%	± 0.1%
Accuracy	± 0.1%	± 0.1%
Digital Display	resolution to 0.1%	resolution 0.1%
Recovery	fully automatic, faster than thermal	fully automatic
Humidity Sensitive	no	minimal; patented humidity-compensated sensor prevents drift due to temperature changes when door is opened
Calibration	auto-zero, IntrLogicä function	auto-zero, IntrLogicä function
CO₂ Alarm	audible and visual on 1% deviation above or below setpoint; manually initiated alarm mute	audible and visual on 1% deviation above or below setpoint; manually initiated alarm mute
Default	terminates gas flow if power fails; resumes automatically when power is restored	terminates gas flow if power fails; resumes automatically when power is restored
Gas Input	0.3 micrometer filter in-line, replaceable	0.3 micrometer filter in-line, replaceable
Gas Switchover	optional; see Accessories	optional; see Accessories


		*Note: For information on which CO₂ control system is best for your installation and application, contact Revco.