scholarly journals A Compact, Reliable and Efficient 16 Channel Power Supply for the Automated Screening of Semiconducting Metal Oxide Gas Sensors

Electronics ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 882 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christof Hammer ◽  
Johannes Warmer ◽  
Sebastian Sporrer ◽  
Peter Kaul ◽  
Ronald Thoelen ◽  
...  

The choice of suitable semiconducting metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors for the detection of a specific gas or gas mixture is time-consuming since the sensor’s sensitivity needs to be characterized at multiple temperatures to find its optimal operating conditions. To obtain reliable measurement results, it is very important that the power for the sensor’s integrated heater is stable, regulated and error-free (or error-tolerant). Especially the error-free requirement can be only be achieved if the power supply implements failure-avoiding and failure-detection methods. The biggest challenge is deriving multiple different voltages from a common supply in an efficient way while keeping the system as small and lightweight as possible. This work presents a reliable, compact, embedded system that addresses the power supply requirements for fully automated simultaneous sensor characterization for up to 16 sensors at multiple temperatures. The system implements efficient (avg. 83.3% efficiency) voltage conversion with low ripple output (<32 mV) and supports static or temperature-cycled heating modes. Voltage and current of each channel are constantly monitored and regulated to guarantee reliable operation. To evaluate the proposed design, 16 sensors were screened. The results are shown in the experimental part of this work.

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1855
Author(s):  
Christof Hammer ◽  
Johannes Warmer ◽  
Stephan Maurer ◽  
Peter Kaul ◽  
Ronald Thoelen ◽  
...  

The simultaneous operation of multiple different semiconducting metal oxide (MOX) gas sensors is demanding for the readout circuitry. The challenge results from the strongly varying signal intensities of the various sensor types to the target gas. While some sensors change their resistance only slightly, other types can react with a resistive change over a range of several decades. Therefore, a suitable readout circuit has to be able to capture all these resistive variations, requiring it to have a very large dynamic range. This work presents a compact embedded system that provides a full, high range input interface (readout and heater management) for MOX sensor operation. The system is modular and consists of a central mainboard that holds up to eight sensor-modules, each capable of supporting up to two MOX sensors, therefore supporting a total maximum of 16 different sensors. Its wide input range is archived using the resistance-to-time measurement method. The system is solely built with commercial off-the-shelf components and tested over a range spanning from 100 Ω to 5 GΩ (9.7 decades) with an average measurement error of 0.27% and a maximum error of 2.11%. The heater management uses a well-tested power-circuit and supports multiple modes of operation, hence enabling the system to be used in highly automated measurement applications. The experimental part of this work presents the results of an exemplary screening of 16 sensors, which was performed to evaluate the system’s performance.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 280-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Radislav A. Potyrailo ◽  
Steven Go ◽  
Daniel Sexton ◽  
Xiaxi Li ◽  
Nasr Alkadi ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 331-345 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Castañeda ◽  
M. Gonzalez-Alatriste ◽  
M. Avendaño-Alejo

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. 2172-2179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren A. Horsfall ◽  
David C. Pugh ◽  
Christopher S. Blackman ◽  
Ivan P. Parkin

An array of WO3 and CTO heterojunction semiconducting metal oxide gas sensors used for the detection of explosives.


2021 ◽  

Recent progress on the sensing and monitoring of sulfur dioxide in the environment is presented. The sensing materials covered include potentiometric gas sensors, amperometric sensors, optical sensors involving colorimetric and fluorescence changes, sensors based on ionic liquids, semiconducting metal-oxide sensors, photoacoustic detectors and biosensors.


ACS Omega ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yulong Chen ◽  
Mingjie Li ◽  
Wenjun Yan ◽  
Xin Zhuang ◽  
Kar Wei Ng ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document