• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.5
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• pp.294-299
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• 2018

This article describes the output properties of non-dispersive infrared carbon dioxide($CO_2$) sensors resulting from the changes in ambient temperatures. After the developed sensor module was installed inside the gas chamber, the temperature was set to 267 K, 277 K, 300 K, and 314 K, and the concentrations of $CO_2$ gas were increased from 0 to 5,000 ppm. Then, the output voltage at each concentration was obtained. Through these experimental results, two observations were made. First, both the $CO_2$ sensor and the reference sensor showed an increase in the output voltages as the temperature rose from 0 ppm, Second, the full scale outputs of the $CO_2$ sensor grew as the temperature increased. The output characteristics were analyzed based on two factors: change in the radiant energy of the infrared light source and change in the absorptivity of $CO_2$ gas according to the ambient temperature. Additionally, temperature compensation methods were discussed.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.456-460
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• 2021

In this study, a Non-Dispersive Infrared (NDIR) Carbon Dioxide (CO₂) sensor with an externally exposed optical cavity is proposed for improving sensitivity. NDIR CO₂ sensors with high performance must use a lamp-type infrared (IR) source with a strong IR intensity. However, a lamp-type IR source generates high thermal energy that induces thermal noise, interfering with the accuracy of the CO₂ concentration measure. To solve this problem, the optical cavity of the NDIR CO₂ sensor is exposed to quickly dissipate heat. As a result, the proposed NDIR CO₂ sensor has a shorter warm-up time and a higher sensitivity compared to the conventional NDIR CO₂ sensor.

• Current Optics and Photonics
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• v.3 no.5
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• pp.374-381
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• 2019

This study examined a method for designing the optical cavity of a non-dispersive infrared gas detector. The infrared gas detector requires an optical cavity design to lengthen the ray path. However, the optical cavity with multiple reflecting surfaces has off-axis aberration due to the characteristics of the reflecting optical system. The rays were parallelized by using the off-axis parabolic mirror to easily increase the ray path and eliminate off-axis aberration so that the rays are admitted to the effective area of the infrared detector uniformly. A prototype of an infrared gas detector was produced with the designed optical cavity to confirm the performance.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.168-172
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• 2017

A nondispersive infrared (NDIR) ethanol gas sensor was prototyped with ASIC implemented thermopile sensor, which included a temperature sensor and two ellipsoidal waveguide structures. The temperature dependency of the two ethanol sensors (with partially blocked and intact structures) has been characterized. The two ethanol gas sensors showed linear output voltages initially when varying the ambient temperature from 253 K to 333 K. The slope of the temperature sensor presented a constant value of 15 mV/K. After temperature compensation, the ethanol gas sensor estimated ethanol concentrations with larger errors of 20 to 25% below 200 ppm. However, the estimation errors were reduced to between -10 and +1 % from 253 K to 333 K above 200 ppm ethanol gas concentration in this research.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.331-336
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• 2021

The Non-dispersive Infrared (NDIR) gas sensor has high selectivity, measurement reliability, and long lifespan. Thus, even though the NDIR gas sensor is expensive, it is still widely used for carbon dioxide (CO₂) detection. In this study, to reduce the cost of the NDIR CO₂ gas sensor, we proposed the new optical waveguide structure design based on ready-made gas pipes that can improve the sensitivity by increasing the initial light intensity. The new optical waveguide design is a structure in which a part of the optical waveguide filter is inclined to increase the transmittance of the filter, and a parabolic mirror is installed at the rear end of the filter to focus the infrared rays passing through the filter to the detector. In order to examine the output characteristics of the new optical waveguide structure design, optical simulation was performed for two types of IR-source. As a result, the new optical waveguide structure can improve the sensitivity of the NDIR CO₂ gas sensor by making the infrared rays perpendicular to the filter, increasing the filter transmittance.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.6
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• pp.446-450
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• 2021

Non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) gas sensors typically use an optical filter that transmits a discriminating 4.26 ㎛ wavelength band to measure carbon dioxide (CO2), as CO2 absorbs 4.26 ㎛ infrared. The filter performance depends on the transmittance and full width at half maximum (FWHM). This paper presents the fabrication, sensitivity, and selectivity characteristics of a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR)-based Fabry-Perot filter with a simple structure for CO2 detection. Each Ge and SiO2 films were prepared using the RF magnetron sputtering technique. The transmittance characteristics were measured using Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The fabricated filter had a peak transmittance of 59.1% at 4.26 ㎛ and a FWHM of 158 nm. In addition, sensitivity and selectivity experiments were conducted by mounting the sapphire substrate and the fabricated filter on an NDIR CO2 sensor measurement system. When measuring the sensitivity, the concentration of CO2 was observed in the range of 0-10000 ppm, and the selectivity was measured for environmental gases of 1000 ppm. The fabricated filter showed lower sensitivity to CO2 but showed higher selectivity with other gases.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.47-54
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• 2018

In this paper, we describe the thermal characteristics of the output voltages of ethanol gas sensor according to the amount of radiation incident on the infrared sensors located at each focal point of two elliptical waveguides. In order to verify the output characteristics of the gas sensor according to the amount of incident light on the infrared sensor, two combinations of sensor modules were fabricated. Hydrophobic thin film is deposited on one of the reflectors of sensor modules and one of the two infrared sensors was equipped with a hollow disk (10 Ø), and the temperature characteristics of the infrared sensor equipped with the hollow disk (10 Ø) and the infrared sensor without the disk were tested. The temperature was varied from 253 K to 333 K at 10 K intervals based on 298 K. The properties of ethanol gas sensor have been identified with respect to varying temperature for a range of ethanol concentration from 0 ppm to 500 ppm. In the case of an infrared sensor equipped with a hollow disk (10 Ø), the output voltage of the sensor decreased by 0.8 mV and 1 mV, respectively, as the temperature increased. Conversely, the output voltage of the diskless infrared sensor showed an average increase of 67 mV and 57 mV as the temperature increased. The ethanol concentrations estimated on the basis of results show an error of more than 10 % for less than 100 ppm concentration. However, if the ethanol concentration exceeds 100 ppm, the gas concentration can be estimated within the range of ${\pm}10%$.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.1065-1066
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• 2011

• Proceedings of the PSK Conference
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• 2003.04a
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• pp.289.1-289.1
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• 2003

Three types of near infrared spectrometer, a photo diode array type, a dispersive type and a FT type, were evaluated and compared the systematic difference in blood glucose measurement. The fundamental study was performed by adding glucose to buffer solution and bovine blood as the preceding study of non-invasive blood glucose. Spectra were collected using a 1.0 mm optical pathlength quartz cell by transmittance method. (omitted)

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.250-254
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• 2021

A highly sensitive and selective non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) carbon dioxide gas sensor requires achieving high transmittance and narrow full width at half maximum (FWHM), which depends on the interface of the optical filter for precise measurement of carbon dioxide concentration. This paper presents the design, simulation, and fabrication of a Fabry-Perot filter based on a distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) for a low-cost NDIR carbon dioxide sensor. The Fabry-Perot filter consists of upper and lower DBR pairs, which comprise multilayered stacks of alternating high- and low-index thin films, and a cavity layer for the resonance of incident light. As the number of DBR pairs inside the reflector increases, the FWHM of the transmitted light becomes narrower, but the transmittance of light decreases substantially. Therefore, it is essential to analyze the relationship between the FWHM and transmittance according to the number of DBR pairs. The DBR is made of silicon and silicon dioxide by RF magnetron sputtering on a glass wafer. After the optimal conditions based on simulation results were realized, the DBR exhibited a light transmittance of 38.5% at 4.26 ㎛ and an FWHM of 158 nm. The improved results substantiate the advantages of the low-cost and minimized process compared to expensive commercial filters.