CO2 sensor
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- The correct title of this article is CO2 sensor. It features superscript or subscript characters that are substituted or omitted because of technical limitations.
A CO2 sensor is an instrument for the measurement of carbon dioxide gas. The most common principles for CO2 sensors are infrared gas sensors (NDIR) and chemical gas sensors.
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[edit] Nondispersive Infrared (NDIR) CO2 Sensors
These are the simplest of the spectroscopic sensors.[citation needed] The key components are an infrared source, a light tube, an interference (wavelength) filter, and an infrared detector. The gas is pumped or diffuses into the light tube, and the electronics measures the absorption of the characteristic wavelength of light. NDIR sensors are most often used for measuring carbon dioxide.[1] The best of these have sensitivities of 20-50 PPM.[1] Typical NDIR sensors are still in the (US) $100 to $1000 range. Most are used for carbon dioxide, because no other sensing method works reliably for this gas. New developments include using MEMS to bring down the costs of this sensor and to create smaller devices (for example for use in air conditioning applications).
[edit] Chemical CO2 Sensors
Chemical CO2 gas sensors with sensitive layers based on polymer- or heteropolysiloxane have the principal advantage of a very low energy consumption and can be reduced in size to fit into microelectronic-based systems. On the downside, short- and long term drift effects as well as a rather low overall lifetime are major obstacles when compared with the NDIR measurement principle[2].
[edit] References
- ^ a b Carbonate Based CO2 Sensors with High Performance, Th. Lang, H.-D. Wiemhöfer and W. Göpel, Conf.Proc.Eurosensors IX, Stockholm (S) (1995); Sensors and Actuators B, 34, 1996, 383-387.
- ^ Reliable CO2 Sensors Based with Silicon-based Polymers on Quartz Microbalance Transducers, R. Zhou, S. Vaihinger, K.E. Geckeler and W. Göpel, Conf.Proc.Eurosensors VII, Budapest (H) (1993); Sensors and Actuators B, 18-19, 1994, 415-420.
