Honeywell Searchline Excel Edge

Honeywell Searchline Excel Edge is engineered to address the challenges of monitoring long fence lines, tank farms, loading bays and extended process areas for flammable hydrocarbon leaks. Its open-path architecture, with separate transmitter and receiver units, provides continuous line-of-sight coverage typically from 60 to 330 m, enabling wide-area protection with fewer devices than traditional point detectors. This reduces project complexity, cabling and associated lifecycle costs while maintaining high-integrity gas cloud detection along critical perimeters.

The detector supports an open-path measurement range suitable for both ppm.m and %LEL.m style applications via conversion tables provided in the product documentation. Recommended alarm thresholds, including low and high alarm levels plus a lower minimum alarm option, help support robust, proven safety system design where early warning and clear cause-and-effect logic are required.

Searchline Excel Edge is designed to maintain detection performance where many open-path devices are challenged. It delivers a rapid T90 response of less than 3 seconds, enabling safety systems to react quickly to developing hydrocarbon gas clouds. Advanced optical and near-band infrared sensing technology allows the detector to “see” through fog more effectively than conventional NDIR or laser-based open-path detectors, supporting dependable operation in low visibility.

The detector is specified for use in harsh outdoor environments including thick fog, rain, dust and demanding industrial atmospheres. High repeatability and low temperature drift help maintain stable readings over time and across a wide environmental operating range, while defined humidity and pressure ratings support reliable performance under typical outdoor conditions encountered in onshore, coastal and offshore applications.

Searchline Excel Edge detects a wide range of flammable hydrocarbon gases, including commonly used alkanes and olefins, providing applicability across energy, oil and gas, petrochemical, logistics and large industrial complexes. A Universal Hydrocarbon calibration, certified to relevant performance standards, covers a core family of hydrocarbons and is suitable for natural gas mixtures and most refinery applications. This flat, performance-approved response across target gases simplifies detector selection, layout and cause-and-effect engineering, reducing the need for multiple gas-specific devices on a single site.

Where the safety case or local regulation requires it, special gas-specific calibrations such as methane, ethane, propane, butane, pentane, ethylene or propylene can be specified. This combination of universal and gas-specific calibration options allows standardisation on a single platform while still addressing tightly defined monitoring requirements.

The calibration-free design of Honeywell Searchline Excel Edge significantly reduces routine maintenance demands and supports a lower total cost of ownership. Built-in advanced diagnostics continuously monitor critical parameters such as window clarity and alignment accuracy, providing early warning of developing issues so that maintenance can be planned before coverage is compromised. Automatic optimal alignment tests and alignment verification functions help ensure the beam remains correctly aligned over long distances throughout the life of the installation.

Full internal logging of alarms, events and maintenance actions aids traceability, troubleshooting and audit readiness. Automatic health tests, combined with extensive logging, help demonstrate ongoing operational integrity for regulatory compliance. An internal long-life TLH-2450 battery cell supports internal functions and is replaceable only by authorised service personnel, further reducing unnecessary interventions on deployed detectors.

Searchline Excel Edge is built for long-term service in aggressive industrial and marine conditions. Its electro-optical module is housed separately from the electrical connections in a dual-compartment Ex de design, improving safety and serviceability in hazardous areas. The detector uses robust 316L stainless steel construction with a painted stainless housing to provide strong resistance to corrosion, including from salt mist and sulfuric atmospheres, making it suitable for offshore platforms, coastal terminals and heavily industrialised sites.

High ingress protection and NEMA enclosure ratings confirm resistance to water ingress, dust and washdown, while a wide operating temperature range supports deployment in extreme hot and cold climates. These attributes combine to deliver durable, low-risk performance in exposed outdoor locations where continuous operation is critical to site safety.

Honeywell Searchline Excel Edge supports straightforward integration into new and existing fire and gas, DCS, PLC and SCADA architectures. Output options include 4–20 mA with HART, Modbus and three configurable SPDT relays for Alarm 1, Alarm 2 and Fault signalling. The analogue current loop uses distinct values for normal operation, fault, inhibit, warning and over-range conditions, allowing detailed device status to be communicated over a single channel and simplifying control system configuration and diagnostics.

These flexible interfaces support a wide range of shutdown, alarm and annunciation strategies. Defined power consumption characteristics assist with power budgeting, particularly on remote installations and systems backed by UPS or other backup supplies, where load management and availability are key design constraints.

Bluetooth connectivity, with a defined working distance, enables simplified, non-intrusive setup, configuration and maintenance using an intrinsically safe, rugged mobile device. Technicians can use the Honeywell Fixed Platform App on compatible handhelds for guided commissioning, diagnostics and maintenance tasks, reducing the need to open enclosures in hazardous areas. This helps limit exposure to live equipment, shortens site visits and supports compliance with hot-work and permit-to-work requirements.

High-visibility multi-colour LED indicators, including a prominent LED HALO ring on the receiver, provide clear at-a-glance local status for normal operation, alarms, faults and Bluetooth pairing. Visual indicators on both transmitter and receiver support rapid status checks from multiple angles and distances without connecting additional tools.

Searchline Excel Edge is supplied as a transmitter/receiver pair with a universal mount, sunshade and antenna cover, reducing the need for additional mounting hardware. The transmitter and receiver units are relatively compact and lightweight, helping simplify mounting design, particularly on structures where load is a concern. A universal mounting bracket and Honeywell Fixed Platform Universal Mount allow straightforward installation on walls, structural steel or poles, while optional pole-mount kits, sunshades and height extenders help optimise positioning in outdoor and high-sunlight environments.

A dedicated optical alignment scope supports precise long-distance alignment of the transmitter and receiver, making commissioning more efficient and repeatable. Additional accessories such as a gassing test cell, test filters, height extender and mounting plates support commissioning, proof testing and periodic verification, enabling engineering and maintenance teams to standardise on a single detector platform across multiple site conditions and applications.

Honeywell Searchline Excel Edge is designed and certified for use in hazardous areas with global approvals covering both Zone and Division classification schemes. SIL 2 functional safety certification to EN 61508 by an independent body supports deployment in safety instrumented systems and SIL-rated fire and gas designs. Compliance with electromagnetic compatibility, measurement, radio and environmental standards, alongside RoHS requirements, underpins its suitability for modern industrial facilities subject to stringent regulatory expectations.

Combined with Honeywell’s global fixed gas detection support network, which provides maintenance, calibration support and training services, the detector offers a robust, long-term solution for perimeter and fence-line hydrocarbon gas monitoring in energy, oil and gas, petrochemical, logistics and large industrial installations.