DELTA, BC /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- AirTest Technologies is pleased to announce that it has signed a license agreement with Airware Inc. of Santa Barbara, CA, that provides exclusive proprietary rights to a new technology that eliminates drift and temperature dependence in all types of infrared (IR) gas sensing devices. The innovation also simplifies sensor manufacturing, reduces the cost, and improves performance of these types of sensors so that significant penetration of the existing multi-billion dollar sensor market for environmental, commercial, industrial, and residential applications is now accessible to AirTest. This agreement includes worldwide patent rights to the technology.
The IR measurement of gases is a well-established technology that has been in widespread use for over 60 years in industrial, medical, scientific, and commercial applications. Many of the sensor technologies currently offered by AirTest are based on IR detection principles. The breakthrough innovation developed by Airware Inc. and its owner Dr. Jacob Wong provides the ability to achieve unprecedented performance of IR gas sensor technology in terms of stability, cost to manufacture, and low-level sensitivity. According to George Graham, President of AirTest, "This innovation can be applied to a myriad of existing markets in industrial and commercial gas detection. It also opens the door for penetration of large markets related to appliance control, building control, and environmental monitoring, as well as life/fire safety applications in residential, commercial, and industrial markets."
Airware's innovative improvement in IR sensor technology has been developed by its CEO and principal owner, Jacob Y. Wong. Dr. Wong received a degree in Physics from Princeton University and his Ph.D in Physics from Stanford. Throughout his career, Dr. Wong has concentrated his work mainly in the development and improvement of nondispersive IR gas sensors. This background includes the development of Hewlett-Packard's legendary Capnometer, a widely used medical CO2 analyzer for monitoring cardiac and respiratory patients in operating rooms and intensive care units. In the early 1990s Dr Wong founded a company called Telaire Systems Inc. that pioneered the development of low-cost microprocessor-based sensors that measure CO2 for building control. The company was subsequently sold to Engelhard Corp. and then later purchased by GE Sensing, a division of General Electric. Dr. Wong has been granted over 50 U.S. patents in the field of IR gas sensors. The license agreement also includes ongoing support in sensor development from Dr Wong and the highly talented Airware Team.
According to Mike Schell, AirTest's Vice President of Business Development, "AirTest has already identified some unique high volume applications related to atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring (CO, NO2, CO2, H2O) and appliance safety (hydrocarbons), where the technology offers a significant improvement in cost and performance over current methods being used. We are finding that the need for low-cost, stable, and long-lasting gas measurement technology exists in almost every industry."
About AirTest
AirTest Technologies is a green-tech company, specializing in sensors that improve commercial building operating efficiency and at the same time create energy savings. The sensors are all based on technical innovations developed in the past ten years, and comprise a growing second wave of energy-saving technologies that will make a significant contribution to the Sustainable Buildings Program. AirTest offers its products to leading-edge building owners, contractors, and energy service companies targeting the buildings market. AirTest also provides energy cost-reduction solutions to building equipment and controls manufacturers who incorporate AirTest sensor components in their products.
About Airware
Airware Inc. is a research and development company, specializing in the application of custom, nondispersive IR gas measurement solutions to a wide variety of commercial, residential, and industrial gas sensing applications.