New electrochemical gas sensing devices are meeting the requirements set forth by new applications and new regulations. In this article, get an overview of the technical challenges and solutions.
Electrochemical gas sensing, as a science, has been around since at least the 1950s. However, as new safety standards and applications have been introduced, it has become more important that these sensors evolve, too. They must now measure much lower concentrations, be more selective toward the target gases, operate for longer durations from battery power, and provide consistent performance over longer periods of time.
Pros and Cons of Electrochemical Gas Sensors
With linearity of output, low power requirements, and good resolution, it’s no wonder why electrochemical gas sensors are popular. However, current electrochemical sensors can have a limited shelf life - as little as 6 months to a year in some cases. During this time, their sensitivity can drift up to 20%.
Technical Challenges
There are three main classifications of technical challenges that must be considered:
● Sensor manufacturing challenges including repeatability and sensor specialization add complexity.
● Technical challenges affect sensors over their life, including sensitivity drift and EMC compatibility.
● End-of-life planning can be difficult to accomplish, given the sometimes unpredictable decline in sensing accuracy.
Signal Chain Integration makes it possible to reduce complexity, reduce the PCB area consumed, decrease power consumption, and improve accuracy.\\\
Single-Chip Solution
The ADuCM355 from Analog Devices was developed specifically for electrochemical gas and water analysis. It integrates two electrochemical measurement channels, an impedance measurement engine used for sensor diagnostics, and an ultra low power, mixed-signal ARM® Cortex®-M3 microcontroller for running user application and sensor diagnostics and compensation algorithms.
For more information about this solution and how it contributes to reduced maintenance costs and improved accuracy, click through to the article.
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