PORTABLE EXHALED BREATH ANALYZER EMPLOYING FLUCTUATION-ENHANCED GAS SENSING METHOD IN RESISTIVE GAS SENSORS

摘要

This paper presents a portable exhaled breath analyser, developed to detect selected diseases. The set-up employs resistive gas sensors: commercial MEMS sensors and prototype gas sensors made of WO_3 gas sensing layers doped with various metal ingredients. The set-up can modulate the gas sensors by applying UV light to induce physical changes of the gas sensing layers. The sensors are placed in a tiny gas chamber of a volume of about 22 ml. Breath samples can be either injected or blown into the gas chamber when an additional pump is used to select the last breath phase. DC resistance and resistance fluctuations of selected sensors using separate channels are recorded by an external data acquisition board. Low-noise amplifiers with a selected gain were used together with a necessary bias circuit. The set-up monitors other atmospheric parameters interacting with the responses of resistive gas sensors (humidity, temperature, atmospheric pressure). The recorded data may be further analysed to determine optimal detection methods.