Utilizing the response patterns of a temperature modulated chemoresistive gas sensor for gas diagnosis

Abstract

The observed features in the temporal response patterns of a temperature-modulated chemoresistive gas sensor were used for gas diagnosis. The patterns were recorded for clean air and air contaminated with different levels of some volatile organic compounds while a staircase heating voltage waveform had been applied to the microheater of a tin oxide gas sensor that modulated its operating temperature. Combining the steady-state and transient parameters of the recorded responses in the 50–400°C range resulted in discriminatory feature vectors which were utilized for contaminant classification. The information content of these feature vectors was proved sufficient for discrimination of methanol, ethanol, 1-butanol, and acetone contaminations in a wide concentration range.