Gas detector sensor maker NevadaNano went one better with its popular round form factor flammable gas sensor by flattening it and miniaturizing it to just half-inch by half-inch.
Called the MPS Mini, the flammable gas sensor is designed mainly for residential, commercial and other non-industrial uses, which makes it “ideal for IoT applications,” said Bob Vigdor, director of safety sales for the Reno, Nevada, company.
The previous model was larger and in a round form factor, although the newer Mini version has almost completely the same properties. The MPS in the name stands for Molecular Property Spectrometer. The smaller size of the sensor is designed for greater economy, Vigdor said.
OEMs have expressed interest in using the sensor for designing home gas monitoring devices, some that monitor combustibles and even go beyond combustibles to include gases such as carbon monoxide and radon. Devices could be designed to detect a gas leak and then send a wireless signal with a separate radio chip back to an emergency command center to alert a response, he said.
The Mini device monitors temperature, pressure and humidity inside the sensor to take real time environmental data and calculate gas concentrations for 19 gases such as methane, hydrogen, propane, and octane.
The Mini does not require field calibration and has 10 years-plus life. Pricing has not been announced, although NevadaNano called it “low-cost.”
Other sensors on the market based on non-dispersive infrared technology and pellister technologies do not provide the same level of accuracy or the ability to monitor for more than a dozen gases as the MPS Mini, Vigdor claimed.
Editor’s Note: NevadaNano is debuting the MPS Mini in booth 733 at the Sensors Converge event in San Jose, California, starting Wednesday.