For a cleaner drive
an electronic nose fitted with air-conditioning of a car would prevent toxic gases from entering the cabin. A team of researchers led by Julian Gardner of the engineering department at Warwick University in the English Midlands, uk, has developed the sensitive device that may also be fitted to exhausts of a car to monitor levels of pollution such as nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide and other gases produced by different vehicles ( Spectrum , No 259).
Gardner says the instrument is based on an array of individual sensors that respond to different exhaust gases. The device can be used in determining levels of different gases to a sensitivity of a few parts per million. The sensors have been fitted with an array of plastic strips that conduct electricity. These strips are slightly different in composition to each other. Whenever the strips absorb a gas, the resistance to electric current passing through plastic strip varies slightly.
The electronic nose is programmed in such a way that it recognises the pattern produced by different gases. If a car passes through a pollution zone, the sensors attached with the air-conditioning would recognise the quality of air. In case, the air is unwanted, the sensors would activate air-conditioning controls and not allow the air to enter the cabin.
The three-year project is being funded by the European Union. Several universities in Italy, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland are also extended their helping hands to the project.
Scientists aim at developing a technique so that the electronic nose could be fitted with exhaust system of a vehicle. It would help measure and check exhaust gases that may be helpful to the health of pedestrians and people residing near roads. The sensor is expected to cost about us $157. The new devices may encourage vehicle manufacturers to design improved catalysts that could break down pollutants and clean up exhaust gases more effectively.
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