“Artificial sniffing” based on induced temporary disturbance of gas sensor response

Natural sniffing is an important source of inspiration in gas sensing. Different aspects of this process are exploited in order to attain the functionality of the corresponding technical solutions. We drew our idea from realizing that sniffing actually consists in an induced temporary disturbance of the exposure conditions of olfactory epithelium. This stimulus triggers the olfactory activity of the brain and strongly influences its ability to recognize and quantify odors. Three kinds of induced temporary disturbance were proposed as a means of affecting the gas sensor exposure conditions. They were associated with the rapid change of the flow conditions and/or the gas composition in a sensor chamber. It was demonstrated that their influence allowed for the accurate gas assessment based on the sensor signal.