Performance analysis, modeling, and development of a signal conditioning unit of n-type metal oxide gas sensor for acetone gas detection

• Published in: Journal of computational electronics Vol. 20; no. 5; pp. 1938 - 1947
• Main Authors: Arun, K., Lekshmi, M. S., Suja, K. J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.10.2021; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acetone; Analyzers; Breath tests; Circuit design; Conditioning; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; Gas sensors; Heat; Mathematical and Computational Engineering; Mathematical and Computational Physics; Mechanical Engineering; Metal oxide semiconductors; Optical and Electronic Materials; Semiconductors; Sensors; Theoretical; Metal oxide semiconductor; Proteus design suite; Acetone gas sensor; COMSOL multiphysics; Signal conditioning unit
• ISSN: 1569-8025; 1572-8137
• DOI: 10.1007/s10825-021-01739-y

Metal oxide semiconductors have been widely used in the field of gas sensor study. Various researches are being done to improve the sensitivity of the sensing material for applications like breath analyzers. In this work, a theoretical investigation and analysis of the n-type metal oxide for acetone gas detection are carried out. The rate of change of resistance of the sensing material with respect to the change in the concentration of the target gas is analyzed. Acetone being a reducing gas, the resistance was found to decrease for n-type material. The simulations were done using COMSOL Multiphysics and results showed that the resistance of the sensing layer varies with the concentration of the target gas. Also, the performance analysis of sensors has been compared with the experimental results. Further, we have also derived a mathematical expression for connecting the relationship between the concentration of gas and the rate of change of resistance. The resistance change is observed to be proportional to the target gas concentration. A signal-conditioning circuit was also designed for providing a user-friendly interface for monitoring the gas concentration. The simulation of the signal conditioning circuit was done using Proteus Design Suite. This work will aid researchers to define and predict the behavior of gas sensors.