Carbon Monoxide Sensor

Due to the expanding industrial world, many countries are affected by poor air quality, particularly in urban areas. This poses a threat to quality of life with the major contributors of air pollution being nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, hydrogen sulfide, and some volatile organic substances. Carbon monoxide sensors are now becoming an essential tool in monitoring and controlling contaminations affecting atmospheric quality. They offer a cheaper widespread air monitoring alternative to the traditional and more expensive air quality monitors based on infra-red spectroscopy and gas chromatography.

There is an increased focus on explosion prevention within hazardous locations in manufacturing and chemical industries. This is due to the presence of toxic and combustible gases. The monitoring of these hazardous areas helps achieve safer working environments. Government and industry regulations, require workers to be limited to the exposure of toxic gases and fumes. This has seen an increase in the use of carbon monoxide sensors, which provide improved sensitivity and selectivity for a broad range of toxic gases.

As the world’s population grows, so does the requirement for improved food supply, transportation, and storage. Controlling the quality of food is important to the supplier and consumer alike. Electrochemical sensors have typically been used to monitor industrial oxygen, however; their use in food industry applications is increasing due to reliable measurement and quick response time, and widespread use due to compact size and low cost. Carbon dioxide and ethanol are used in the food and beverage industry, and therefore, there is a need for continuous gas detection to prevent people ingesting poisonous or harmful gases. Other applications where gas detection is required is in steam processes, inert gases for packaging, CO2 for carbonation, toxic gases for sterilization and ammonia used in refrigeration.