Pittsburgh, PA -- Bacharach, Inc., a leading provider of HVAC-R gas instrumentation, combustion analysis and energy management solutions announces key product upgrades to the PCA® 400 combustion and emissions analyzer platform including sensor protection, Low NOx measurement, near-field communications (NFC) and the ability to connect/control the analyzer with the newly released mobile app.

PCA® 400 Firmware Updates

Launched in January 2018, Bacharach’s PCA® 400 is a hand-held combustion and emissions analyzer for on-demand and/or semi-continuous sampling in commercial and light industrial applications where furnaces, boilers, compressors and generators are present. The updates announced in this firmware release allow the user to take advantage of multiple key features integrated in the original design.

Sensor protection

With the user defined sensor protection for CO, NO, NO2 & SO2 sensors the analyzer will automatically engage the dilution pump for high concentration gas samples to prolong sensor life. This reduces the cost of sensor replacement and ensures testing procedures do not have to be repeated from having a failed sensor.

Low NOx resolution

With Low NOx capability, the PCA® 400 will measure down to 0.1 ppm enabling more accuracy when reading NOx measurements and reporting to regulatory agencies.

Near-field communications (NFC)

Bacharach’s B-Smart pre-calibrated sensors can be added or replaced in the combustion analyzer with a simple scanning process using near-field communications (NFC).  Pre-calibrated sensors enable users to keep their instruments in the field and available for usage, and the NFC capability enables fast and accurate replacement of those sensors without needing to manually enter a sensor code.

Companion Mobile App

The complimentary PCA® 400 app further enables users with mobile devices additional capabilities including:

• Remote Control – to remotely run or pause combustion tests to enhance safety, efficiency, and comfort of the technician.
• Remote Display – to remotely display live values on the mobile device as measured by the combustion analyzer for improved testing efficiency.
• Save Data – to create data records from combustion tests on the mobile device for added flexibility in report generation and sharing.
• Report Generation – to create PDF documents for tamper-free operational and regulatory compliance reporting to reduce reporting time and simplify record keeping.
• GPS location data – for added verification of equipment location.
• Data sharing – share reports directly from the mobile app by email or to cloud storage services.

Equipped with a high-speed pump, and near real-time display updates, the PCA® 400 provides technicians fast responses on the mobile app to make necessary equipment adjustments, reducing test time.

Bacharach’s portfolio of combustion analyzers uniquely have the capability to transfer test data from any analyzer to a mobile device.  The PCA® 400 mobile app further improves on this with the remote control and remote display capabilities and improved report sharing options.  Reports can be sent from the mobile device by email or they can be uploaded to numerous cloud-based storage services, such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Box, and more. This enables fleets and enterprise users to consolidate report collection from multiple users to a single email address or to a common cloud storage service for improved operational workflow and data management.

The end users update the device firmware can be updated by end users through a simple USB connection using the free PCA® 400 Windows-based application software. The PCA® 400 app is available for iOS devices in the App Store and for Android devices in the Google Play store.