Low-cost multispecies air quality sensor

TY - GEN

T1 - Low-cost multispecies air quality sensor

AU - Wang, C. M.

AU - Esse, B. D.

AU - Lewis, A. C.

PY - 2015/6/1

Y1 - 2015/6/1

N2 - Field measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important in a range of disciplines including air pollution science, medical diagnostics and security screening. There is an enduring need for portable devices that provide reliable compound-specific measurements, at mixing ratios in the part per billion and part per trillion ranges. Such devices should ideally be robust, low-cost and have low-power demands. This work describes the development of a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) device for VOC measurements, a collaboration of multiple disciplines, involving research and development from a number of different fields in sciences and engineering. Such a collaborative approach is necessary for the assembly and integration of sample collection and preparation stages, gas chromatography (GC) separation and photoionisation detection (PID), to create a complete functional system. The objective of this project is to develop a multispecies sensor for measuring hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds in gas phase samples, through the deployment of thermal desorption methods in combination with a micro-fabricated GC-PID device. The final developed system will allow measurements of a range of different organic compounds in air. This will be validated using controlled experiments and against reference standards and measurement techniques. The system will be applied in number of real-world monitoring investigations, including indoor atmospheres and air pollution studies. In this paper we describe progress towards development of a low power GC chip temperature control system and a low cost PID detector suitable for microfabricated GC.

AB - Field measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are important in a range of disciplines including air pollution science, medical diagnostics and security screening. There is an enduring need for portable devices that provide reliable compound-specific measurements, at mixing ratios in the part per billion and part per trillion ranges. Such devices should ideally be robust, low-cost and have low-power demands. This work describes the development of a lab-on-a-chip (LOC) device for VOC measurements, a collaboration of multiple disciplines, involving research and development from a number of different fields in sciences and engineering. Such a collaborative approach is necessary for the assembly and integration of sample collection and preparation stages, gas chromatography (GC) separation and photoionisation detection (PID), to create a complete functional system. The objective of this project is to develop a multispecies sensor for measuring hydrocarbons and oxygenated compounds in gas phase samples, through the deployment of thermal desorption methods in combination with a micro-fabricated GC-PID device. The final developed system will allow measurements of a range of different organic compounds in air. This will be validated using controlled experiments and against reference standards and measurement techniques. The system will be applied in number of real-world monitoring investigations, including indoor atmospheres and air pollution studies. In this paper we describe progress towards development of a low power GC chip temperature control system and a low cost PID detector suitable for microfabricated GC.

KW - Field instrumentation

KW - Gas chromatography

KW - Lab-on-a-chip

KW - Microfabrication

KW - Photoionisation detection

KW - Volatile organic compounds

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84937949190&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.2495/AIR150091

DO - 10.2495/AIR150091

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:84937949190

SN - 9781845649647

VL - 198

SP - 105

EP - 116

BT - Air Pollution XXIII

PB - WIT Press

T2 - 23rd International Conference on Modelling, Monitoring and Management of Air Pollution, AIR 2015

Y2 - 1 June 2015 through 3 June 2015

ER -