Roadmap

This page outlines planned and in-development additions to the FlowSeg product line.

Humidity sensor option for 2Mix

An upcoming option allows one or more mass flow controllers (MFCs) in a 2Mix unit to be specified with a built-in humidity sensor. The sensor measures water vapor content directly in the gas channel, allowing the software to calculate and control pH₂O accurately without a separate 2Wet fluid dosing device.

This suits applications requiring low to moderate pH₂O, where the process gas is pre-humidified by a simple upstream source such as a bubbler or a cylinder of pre-humidified gas. As long as gas temperature stays above the dew point throughout the system, condensation is avoided and accurate pH₂O control is maintained. The option adds meaningful capability at modest cost compared to a full 2Wet system, and combines with other 2Mix options as normal.

PLC and process integration

A 24 VDC interlock input (1–2 A) keeps the MFCs powered while the circuit is closed. Opening the circuit removes power from all devices. All valves are normally closed, so the system returns to a no-flow safe state immediately, independent of the controlling computer or software. This allows the FlowSeg system to be wired into an external safety circuit, PLC, or alarm system so that a detected hazard in the wider process shuts down gas flow without any software involvement.

Additional I/O for deeper integration is available on surcharge:

1. Hold/resume input – freezes all setpoints at current values without cutting power, allowing the experiment to pause and resume the same program
2. Purge trigger input – switches immediately to a pre-defined inert-gas state, useful before sample changes or shutdown
3. Program trigger input – advances to the next program segment on a PLC pulse rather than by elapsed time, letting the external process drive the sequence
4. Flow fault output – signals when actual flow deviates from setpoint beyond a set threshold, for example due to an empty cylinder, blocked line, or valve fault
5. Status output – indicates whether the system is in a valid controlled state, allowing a PLC to gate its own sequence on FlowSeg readiness
6. Analog setpoint input – 4–20 mA or 0–10 V signal to command total flow directly from the PLC, with no software integration required
7. Analog flow output – actual total flow as an analog signal for logging in a plant historian or external display

New software generation

A new generation of FlowSeg control software is in development. The primary focus is a clean architecture designed from the start to be extended to additional platforms. The planned targets are Windows are Linux desktop systems, where the latter open possibility to expand to single-board computers (SBCs) such as Raspberry Pi. Such device can be embedded in the 2Mix or 2Wet device itself, and allows ully self-contained instruments with no external PC required. This cleans up the lab and allows automation and remote control, or industrial setups.

Just as important, the new software is browser-based: the instrument itself serves its user interface as a web page. Control and monitoring are no longer tied to the PC wired to the instrument, any browser on same network as the instrument, for example your laptop at your office desk, in the next room, or on a tablet in the lab, and the running experiment is right there. Nothing is installed on the viewing computer, any operating system works, and several people can follow the same run at once. Combined with the embedded SBC target above, this makes a fully self-contained instrument: plug it into the network and open it in a browser.

A first look at the new interface is already available as a live demo in your browser, running against a simulated instrument while development continues.