ELECTRONIC NOSE
1
2
History of E-Nose
• First appeared in a paper by
Persuade and Dodd (1982).
• This was followed by several papers
evaluating different sensor types.
• The E-nose was developed not to
replace GC/MS techniques.
3
The Biological Nose
sniffing
turbinate
mucus
Olfactory epithelium
neurons
olfactory bulb
hypothalamus
4
The Biological Nose
• The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are basic to
odors.
• Turbinate creates turbulent air flow.
• molecules trapped by mucus.
• Then diffuses to epithelium
• It contains olfactory neurons
5
• Receptor proteins on the cilia
of the olfactory neurons
The Biological Nose
• VOCs binds to receptor
proteins
• Enzymatic reactions results in
depolarization of the
cells membrane
• Neurons responds to this by
transmitting signals through
axon
6
The Biological Nose
• Sensors are broadly tuned:
• Single receptor recognizes multiple odorants.
• A single odorant is recognized by multiple
receptors.
• Neurons reach olfactory bulb
• Each Glomerulus (~2000) in the bulb receives signals
from only one type of receptor cells.
• Approximately 2500 receptors converge into each
Glomerulus.
• Olfactory information ultimately arrives in the
brain, at the hypothalamus
7
Physiological aspects of smell
• The volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are basic to
odors.
• There are about 120 primary orders.
• These orders are not orthogonal.
• Humans are not capable to distinguish odors in
terms of intensity.
8
Physiological aspects of smell
• detection threshold
- absolute threshold of sensation for an odor.
• recognition threshold
- lowest concentration at which an odor is first
identified by 50% of the population sniffing it
• The recognition threshold(5 odor units/m3) is five times
the detection threshold(1 odor unit/m3).
9
The Electronic-Nose
• system comprising of active materials which operate
serially on an odorant sample.
• These active materials are
1. an array of gas sensors
2. a signal processing system.
• The output of the electronic nose can be
--the identity of the odorant,or
--the concentration of the odorant,or
--the characteristic properties of the odor
10
The Electronic-Nose
• Each sensor in the array has different sensitivity.
• Each sensor in the array has a unique response
profile to different odorants.
• The pattern of response across all sensors in the
array is used to identify and/or characterize the
odor.
11
Sensing an odorant
• Each sensors has been driven to a known state
• An air sample is pulled by a vacuum pump through a
tube into a small chamber.
• The sensors are exposed to the odorant.
• A transient response is produced as the VOCs interact
with sensor’s active material.
12
Sensing an odorant
• steady state condition is reached after few seconds.
• response time
- period during which the odorant is applied
• Then, a washing gas vapor is applied.
• Finally, the reference gas is applied.
• recovery time.
-period during which the washing and reference
gases are applied . 13
Electronic Nose Sensors
• Electronic nose uses different type of sensors
• Electronic nose sensors fall in four categories:-
• Conductivity Sensors
• Piezo Electric Sensors
• MOSFET Sensors and,
• Optical Sensors.
14
1.Conductivity sensors
• There are two types of conductivity sensors.
a. Metal Oxide Sensor
b. Polymer Sensor
• Both of them exhibit a property of change in
resistance when exposed to volatile organic
compounds.
15
a. Metal oxide sensors
• Most extensively used
• oxides of Sn, Zn, Ti, W and Ir
doped with Pt or Pd.
• resistive heat element at
200⁰C to 400⁰C
• VOC passes over the doped
oxide material, the resistance between the two metal
contacts changes in proportion to the concentration.
16
• Sensitivity ranges from 5 to 500 parts per million.
• A known reference gas used to initialize the sensor.
• The baseline response of metal oxide sensors is
prone to drift
• The sensors are also susceptible to
poisoning (irreversible binding) by sulphur compounds
17
b. Polymer Sensor
• Active material is a conducting polymer.
• Conductivity of these materials changes as they are
exposed to various types of chemicals.
• micro fabrication techniques are employed
electrodes separated by a gap of 10 to 20 μm
• conducting polymer is electro polymerized between
the electrodes
18
• Sensor polymer material swells upon exposure to odor.
• Results in a long path for current, hence higher
resistance.
19
Baseline Resistance
All of the polymer films on a set of electrodes
(sensors) start out at a measured resistance,
their baseline resistance.
e- e- e- e- e- e-
20
Each polymer changes its size, and therefore its resistance, by a different
amount, making a pattern of the change
e- e-
e- e- e-
e-
If a different compound had caused the air to change, the pattern of the
polymer films' change would have been different:
e-
e- e- e-
e- e-
21
• Because conducting polymer sensors operated at
ambient temperature, they do not need heaters
• detect odors at sensitivities of 0.1 ppm, but
10 to100 ppm is more usual.
• it is difficult and time consuming to electro
polymerize the active material
• susceptibility to water vapour can mask the
responses to odorous VOCs.
• some odorants can penetrate the polymer bulk
22
2.Quarts Sensors
• Consist of a resonating disk,
with metal electrodes on
each side
• The device resonate at a
frequency of 10MHz to
30MHz
23
• The reduction in frequency is inversely
proportional to odorant mass absorbed by the
polymer
• The response and recovery times are
minimized by reducing size and mass.
• Their response to water dependent upon the
absorbent material employed.
24
3.MOSFET Sensors
25
