The quality of the air we breathe is something we don’t often think about until there’s a problem. In order to make personal air quality testing more available, Bosch has developed new particulate matter (PM) and volatile organic compound (VOC) sensor technologies. Learn more about them in this article.
Historically, devices that measured PM and VOC concentrations were cumbersome and somewhat technical to use. They required a fan to draw ambient air into a chamber for analysis, which worked well but took up too much space to be convenient on a day-to-day basis.
Bosch Sensortec saw the need for newer, smaller ways to evaluate air quality and developed two new products to fit the need - the BME680 high-performance gas sensor and PM2.5 technology.
PM2.5 technology is a new way to measure particulate matter in the air. It uses three class-1 eye-safe lasers in a camera-like configuration to measure particulates. What makes this technology special is the size - it’s one five-hundredth the size of other PM sensors on the market, and thus can be easily integrated into users’ personal items, such as smartphones. The solution only needs exposure to ambient air to function, making it capable of continuously monitoring particulates in a user’s environment.
The BME680 is a newly-developed VOC sensor that is able to detect nuisance or harmful vapors such as paint, lacquers, detergents, and more. It’s the world’s smallest solution that can provide 4-in-1 monitoring of ambient temperature, barometric pressure, relative humidity, and gases. The small size (3 x 3 x 0.93 mm3 package) and ultra-low power demand (less than 0.1 mA) make it easy to integrate into increasingly small modern devices.
Both of these new developments, when combined with AI software, can help users live healthier lives. To find out more about PM2.5 and BME680, and to learn more about some of the insights they enable, click through to the article.
