Electronic Nose Could Help Prevent Fires

May-30-18 An electronic nose small enough to fit on a smartphone could be used to detect spoiled food or potential fires.

Still in the prototype phase, the electronic nose is part of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology’s ‘smelldect’ project. The small device, only a few centimeters in size, features many individual sensors made of high-resistance tin oxide nanowires that communicate with a main sensor chip. When individual molecules (which carry scents) settle on the nanowires, the resistance changes—allowing the device to identify the odor pattern by comparing it to a library of known odors.

The results are delivered in seconds, and the team believes the small device could be incorporated into electronics to detect cable fires, or in smartphones to assist shoppers.

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[DW.COM]
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