Despite the importance of the MIR band for a wide range of application areas, available MIR sensing systems tend to be large and delicate, limiting their commercially deployment.
REDFINCH used the power of PICs technology joined to hybrid and monolithic integration of III-V materials on Si to create high performance, cost effective sensors. Si photonics leverages the advantages of high performance CMOS technology, providing low cost mass manufacture, high fidelity reproduction of designs, and access to high refractive index contrasts that enable high performance nanophotonics. In the approach followed by Redfinch, co-integration makes extremely robust systems where discrete components are replaced by on-chip equivalents and gives a simultaneous improvement in ease of use and in cost reduction.
REDFINCH made 3 miniaturized chemical sensor demonstrators based on photonics devices for:
PROCESS GAS ANALYSIS
With the increasing concerns on the use of carbonated resources, H2 emerges as alternative fuel for emissionless automotive applications. Monitoring of H2 purity is one of the major concerns for fuel cell operation because pollutants, and in particular CO, can poison them. The continuous monitoring and fast response time enabled by the REDFINCH sensor fits the requirement of H2 quality monitoring.
GAS LEAK DETECTION
The use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) is steadily increasing worldwide. To establish reliable gas supply all around Europe a grid of pipes and reservoirs has been made. This gas grid also serves as a storage to compensate for the increasing share of fluctuating renewable energies. Since CH4, the main component of LNG, is a major greenhouse gas, infrastructure needs continuous monitoring for leakages, especially as it ages. Redfinch developed a miniaturized mobile leak detector based on PICs associated to Photo-Acoustic Sensors made in Si. Compared to existing sensors, this sensor is smaller, more specific and sensitive enough for reliable detection of leakages.
PROTEIN ANALYSIS IN LIQUIDS FOR THE DAIRY INDUSTRY
Milk production and processing is a multi-billion Euro industry. Farmers want to monitor the milk to better understand the health of their cattle and manage the herd. Dairies need to monitor the milk as the farmers are paid by the quality. Processors need to monitor the milk to control the quality their products after transformation. Today, nearly all milk monitoring is done offline and state-of-the-art milk analysers cannot differentiate between different types of proteins, they can only quantify the total protein content in a sample. The Redfinch protein sensor is small and portable and it can make milk analysis at the collection, allowing efficient redirection and distribution of the consignment.
