Abstract
Abstract. The detection of flammable gases is necessary to avoid explosive atmospheres. For this reason, low-cost pellistors are frequently used. However, such commercial pellistors require an operation temperature of 450 ∘C or more for the detection of methane and a correspondingly high power consumption. We present a novel wireless low-power catalytic gas sensor system based on non-precious metal catalyst for the detection of methane and propane operated at 350 ∘C. The combination of a microelectromechanical system (MEMS)-based sensor with a low-power radio system provides the opportunity to monitor complex infrastructure without using a power grid as power supply. The sensor system has been characterised extensively under the exposure to methane and propane at concentrations between 2000 and 8000 ppm, as these gases are the common test gases for pellistors in industry. Methane is the main component of natural gas; propane is an important component of liquified petroleum gas (LPG). In addition, the influence of changes in humidity on the sensor response to methane was examined in more detail. Due to the planned operation of the sensor and radio system in different application scenarios, short (3 s) and long (60 s) sampling rates were used for investigations.
Highlights
The early detection of flammable gases or explosive gas mixtures is extremely important to avoid endangerment of people and damage to infrastructure
We present a novel wireless low-power catalytic gas sensor system based on non-precious metal catalyst for the detection of methane and propane operated at 350 ◦C
Methane is the main component of natural gas; propane is an important component of liquified petroleum gas (LPG)
Summary
The early detection of flammable gases or explosive gas mixtures is extremely important to avoid endangerment of people and damage to infrastructure. Catalytic sensors for flammable gases, so-called pellistors, are sold in high numbers and used at gas supply facilities and filling stations, as well in the private sector for gas heaters and installations. Due to their continuous energy consumption between 300– 500 mW (Bíró et al, 2014), conventional pellistors can only be operated on the mains supply, making the installation of a sensor network complex and expensive. All MEMS sensors described so far must be operated at temperatures ≥ 400 ◦C, and they use conventional noble metal catalysts for the detection of combustible gases. We present our work on a novel combination of a long-range low-power radio system with a newly developed low-temperature planar pellistor for combustible gas detection
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