ELECTROCHEMICAL sensors manufacturer DD Scientific has launched a low cost, high performance range of sensors designed to meet the needs of cark park monitoring. There is increasing interest in the cost savings that can be made by ensuring that ventilation systems are only operational when required – to do this, it is essential to measure gases such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide which occur in underground car parks.
These pollutants only appear when vehicles are moving inside the car park, if they are not present then the ventilation can safely be shut off. The reduction in energy usage by operating the systems only when required can be significant over the operational life of the ventilation system.
To meet the demand for accurate gas sensing in such systems, DD Scientific has developed two sensors for the key target gases; carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide. The sensors are said to provide robust and reliable detection over five years and have been optimised so as to deliver this performance at an extremely affordable cost, according to DD Scientific. The sensors are already in use in car park applications and have been tested to be compliant with relevant industrial standards such as EN50545-1.
Their simplified design allows for easy integration with electronic monitoring equipment and their excellent long term drift characteristics reduce the frequency of calibration to the point where they can be considered ‘fit and forget’. For both gas types, the sensor can be supplied with an extra internal reference electrode that allows higher gas concentrations to be measured as well as providing additional temperature stability.
