Cutting-edge technology in chemical gas sensors
Food manufacturing is a rather demanding industrial process due to the number of individual unit operations involved. The need to optimise the integrated performance of these units in terms of quality is imperative. Special attention is drawn in the packaging process where the quality of the materials employed has to be maintained to avoid interference with the finished product. This usually occurs because of the materials' texture composition (e.g. solvents from inks, adhesives, etc.) or environmental factors (e.g. microorganisms, light, humidity, etc.) ESCAPE partners made the most of their existing know-how to improve the sensitivity of a hybrid gas sensor system previously developed. They successfully produced a new generation of chemical gas sensors depositing an additional layer of tin oxide based sensing thick film onto microsensors (Si-micromachined substrates). The most innovative feature of the microconductor manufactured was its ability to sense the hydrocarbons in the presence of inorganic gases. The latter are usually detected in such concentrations that prevent identification of the hydrocarbon content. Hence, the new efficient microsensor was tested for its potential to be exploited in other applications except food industry. To this end, ESCAPE partners performed experimental studies to evaluate the sensor's performance in assessing the quality of atmospheric air with potential environmental applications. Results showed that it exhibited short response time to target volatile organic compounds and carbon dioxide and low power consumption producing high resolution measurements. Because of its upgraded characteristics it has been considered as a rather cost-effective solution for battery operated (mobile) applications. Microsensor exploitation in indoor applications is envisaged after further optimisation, although no particular quality standards are available for indoor air to comply with. To facilitate the quest of knowledge and expertise in the field of active air purification, cooperation is sought with specialists in air classification.
