Shiao-Pin Yen

Further Expanding the Capabilities of the JPL Electronic Nose to Include Post-fire Constituents

The JPL Electronic Nose (ENose) team is currently expanding the capabilities of the Third Generation ENose to include oxygen detection and post-fire constituents (CO and HCl). The JPL ENose was developed as an event monitor for spacecraft cabin air with nearreal-time data analysis and was designed to detect, identify and quantify eleven chemical species (analytes). Each generation of JPL ENose was re-optimized the sensing array to suit the selected analytes, which were detected over a clean, well-defined background; the most recent generation included microhotplate sensor substrates to allow for an expansion of sensing materials in the array. The Third Generation JPL ENose recently completed more than 3200 hours (> 6 months) of continuous operation aboard the US Lab on the International Space Station (ISS). Adding the detection of post-fire constituents poses a more complex challenge that includes sensor selection, air sampling and data analysis. Post-fire constituents include air particulates, carbon monoxide and acid gases. In this paper we will discuss sensor selection for carbon monoxide and we will present results for several polymerbased sensors that have been tested for carbon monoxide response.