Sensor array and stop-flow mode applied to discrimination and quantification of gas mixtures

The presented work focused on the strategy which offers widening the scope of applicability of sensor systems. The strategy was based on: (1) employing sensor array, which consists of many sensors, (2) applying stop-flow as the mode of sensor array operation, (3) utilizing response values of selected sensors measured at the same time point, (4) using only small fraction of obtained results. The performance of the system was evaluated with reference to the problems of discrimination of gas mixtures and quantification of their components. A considerable experimental material was the basis for our study. It comprised measurement results of 250 two-component VOC mixtures in air. They represented 10 classes characterized by fixed qualitative composition and variable quantitative one. The results of our work proved that sensor system based on big sensor array and operated in stop-flow mode has wider scope of application than the system utilizing small sensor array and one kind of exposure conditions.