Fluid Dynamic Simulation of Odour Measurement Chamber

• Published in: Chemical engineering transactions Vol. 40
• Main Authors: G. Viccione, D. Spiniello, T. Zarra, V. Naddeo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: AIDIC Servizi S.r.l 01.01.2014
• ISSN: 2283-9216
• DOI: 10.3303/CET1440019

Arrays of chemical sensors, generally used in electronic noses (e.noses), yield a unique pattern for a given mixture of odours. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in applications of e.noses for the characterization and monitoring of environmental odours. While they have been around over the last three decades, little effort has been devoted to the development of the measurement chamber. Within it, all sensors are placed in contact of the flux of air to characterize in terms of odours. A measurement chamber must ensure standardized conditions in term of temperature, humidity and contact time of inflow air with the sensor surfaces. Aim of this work is to numerically analyse the fluid dynamic performance of measurement chambers with different geometry in order to improve sensor response signals in terms of stability, reproducibility and response time. The Fluid dynamic study was carried out by a Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) commercial software. Results show an objective methodological approach that can be used to design measurement chamber for electronic noses.