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Product development specialist TTP has developed a gas sensor that is far smaller than current technologies' size and therefore has much lower power consumption requirements.
The patent-pending ultrasonic sensor precisely measures the speed of sound in a gas to determine its composition and can also be connected wirelessly to the internet for remote monitoring and data collection.
Drawing on the firm's expertise in nonlinear acoustics and piezoelectric technology, the SonicSense devices will cost between £3 and £6 each in volume production.
TTP is investigating a range of industrial and medical applications, from gas safety and process control to respiratory monitoring and anaesthesia. Once the speed of sound through the gas is measured, thermal compensation is applied before the composition of a binary gas mixture is calculated. Additional bulk gas properties such as density can also be determined using the same sensor architecture to enable more complex gas mixtures to be evaluated.
SonicSense can be used to detect dangerous levels of methane in natural gas or biogas plants and can also measure the calorific value of production gasses for quality and pricing control, as well improving furnace or boiler efficiency.
Other potential applications exist. For example, as the development of hydrogen fuel cell cars and their supporting infrastructure reaches a national scale, there is a growing requirement for filling station operators to monitor levels of hydrogen gas; while the new sensor technology can also detect levels of the extremely potent greenhouse gas sulphur hexafluoride used in high voltage electronics.
TTP has developed prototype sensors with a sensor diameter of 24 mm and a depth of 18 mm – but it is expected that this dimension can be reduced to less than 5mm. With a low power consumption of around 10 mW, compared to over 1W for some gas sensors, TTP said that the device would ideally suited to long-lifetime, battery powered applications with no in-field replacement or calibration required.
Andrew Baker-Campbell, one of the inventors of the SonicSense technology at TTP, said: "Many industrial gases are expensive or difficult to measure directly. From precisely controlling process gasses for semiconductor fabrication to protecting workers from asphyxiation in the brewing industry, we are keen to work with development partners who see an opportunity to harness and commercialise this exciting new sensing technology."