Development of Modular Ozone Sensor system for application in practical use

A computerized Modular Ozone Sensor System (MOSS) for evaluating the sensit ivity and reliability of different sensor/transducer combinations is presen ted. The system consists of a compact and portable apparatus that can be us ed to compare various sensors. The sensor types bench-marked using MOSS are electrochemical cells, various semiconducting gas sensors based on metal o xides (In2O3, SnO2), and Thickness Shear Mode Resonator (TSMR) sensors, whi ch were mounted on separate modules. The gas mixtures containing known amou nts of ozone were analyzed using this modular array of different sensors. A ll electronic sensor modules, including standardized connections are home-b uilt and optimized as a part of this investigation. Computerized data acqui sition and evaluation was performed using a standard hardware and an analys is software developed during this work. In order to test the setup, a set o f different sensors was employed. Their sensitivity to ozone and their cros s-sensitivity to other gases in ambient condition and to humidity were eval uated. Sensors, based on indium oxides, performed best in detecting ozone. They had the largest sensor sensitivity as well as the smallest cross-sensi tivities. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.