Excessive helium background is one of the most common—and costly—issues in helium leak testing. It can lead to long pump-down times, reduced sensitivity, wasted helium, and, most critically, unreliable test results. In this webinar, you’ll learn what causes helium background, how to recognize it, and the proven steps you can take to minimize its effects and improve the integrity of your leak testing process.
Overview
Helium background is the most common culprit behind unreliable leak test results—and also one of the least understood. It’s invisible, pervasive, and influenced by every part of the test process. While helium naturally exists in the atmosphere at about 5 parts per million, concentrations in facilities that perform leak testing often rise to 10 or even 100 times that level. Elevated helium background can lead to unstable readings, longer pump-down times, and reduced test sensitivity.
In this webinar, we’ll explore what causes high helium background, why it undermines test reliability, and—most importantly—how to control it. Topics will include:
- Managing helium use and containment in your process
- Ventilation design and facility considerations
- Process and test design strategies
- Helium mixing and dilution
- Understanding leak detector specifications and their impact on background suppression
- Key operational techniques (such as zeroing) for stabilizing measurements
- Process control methods for monitoring and minimizing background levels
The presentation will run approximately 45 minutes, followed by a Q&A session. Join us to gain practical insights and proven strategies to ensure more reliable, efficient helium leak testing.
Key Takeaways
- Learn about helium background and how can it impact leak testing processes.
- Understand how to evaluate helium leak detector performance metrics like rough pumping speed or helium pumping speed.
- Prevent excessive helium background, or mitigate it when it occurs.
Speaker
John McLaren has more than 35 years of experience in leak detection—both as a user and as a producer of leak testing equipment. He began his career in the 1990s developing sealing and leak testing processes for automotive airbag inflators. Since then, he has held a variety of roles with tracer gas leak detection manufacturers, including positions in sales, applications, marketing, and product management.
Today, McLaren frequently collaborates with colleagues at Pfeiffer’s Leak Detection Center of Excellence in Indianapolis, Indiana.