KR102345034B1 - Indoor air quality analysis apparatus using semiconductor gas sensor - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is a casing provided with an intake port and an exhaust port for intake and exhaust of air; a blowing fan installed in the casing and configured to discharge air introduced through the intake port through the exhaust port; a plurality of semiconductor gas sensors installed in the casing to detect different gases contained in the air sucked in through the intake port; a communication module for performing wireless communication with an external terminal; a control unit configured to obtain information about the gas detected from the semiconductor gas sensor and provide it to the terminal through the communication module; And it relates to an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor to include a; and a power supply unit for providing power necessary for operation for detecting gas and obtaining and providing information about the gas.
According to the present invention, not only can it be used conveniently indoors, including at home, but also the convenience can be further improved through interlocking with a terminal such as a mobile phone, and there are few restrictions on use due to the relatively small size It has the effect of making it excellent in accuracy compared to its size.

Description

Indoor air quality analysis apparatus using semiconductor gas sensor

The present invention relates to a device for analyzing indoor air quality using a semiconductor gas sensor, and more particularly, to make it convenient to use indoors, including at home, and to improve convenience through interworking with terminals such as mobile phones, It relates to an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor, which limits its use due to its relatively small size.

In general, indoor air quality is polluted by pollutants introduced from the outside or carbon dioxide generated from indoor people. Accordingly, appropriate environmental improvement is also required.

However, the air quality measuring device is usually provided as an additional function to an air purifier, etc., and is aggravating the economic burden due to a price that is not a small amount to be purchased separately.

As a conventional technique related to indoor air quality measurement, the "indoor air quality monitoring system" of Korean Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2016-010149 has been proposed, which includes an air inlet unit and a moisture removal unit and a particulate matter removal unit at the rear end thereof; In the indoor air monitoring system comprising a multi-manifold connected to the particulate matter removal unit, an analysis device connected to the manifold and one side, and a blower located at the rear end of the manifold, the water removal unit is the air movement A heating coil surrounds the periphery of the conduit and is composed of a transparent Pyrex, the particulate matter removal unit has a filter in the conduit through which air moves, and the conduit is composed of a transparent Pyrex material, and the removal unit is a multi-layer of the inlet and the rear end thereof. The manifold and screw type are configured to be connected and separated, and the manifold is connected to a plurality of analysis devices and an air flow pipe to distribute the introduced air to the analysis device. The analysis device can analyze one or more pollutants selected from sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), fine dust, ozone (O3) and lead (Pb). While the sulfurous acid gas is ultraviolet fluorescence, the carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide are non-dispersive infrared analysis (NDIR), the nitrogen oxide is chemiluminescence, the fine dust is a beta-ray absorption method, the ozone is an ultraviolet light method, and lead is an atomic absorption spectrophotometry method. characterized by being measured.

However, this prior art has a problem in that it is difficult to manufacture in a small size, so it acts as a limit for convenient use for home use, and requires a lot of cost to purchase like existing products, thereby causing an economic burden. .

In order to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, the present invention not only allows convenient use indoors, including at home, but also enhances the convenience through interworking with terminals such as mobile phones, and has a relatively small size Therefore, the purpose is to make the use less restrictive, to have excellent accuracy compared to the size, and to be able to supply it at a relatively low cost.

Other objects of the present invention will be easily understood through the description of the following embodiments.

In order to achieve the object as described above, according to an aspect of the present invention, the casing is provided with an intake port and an exhaust port for intake and exhaust of air; a blowing fan installed in the casing and configured to discharge air introduced through the intake port through the exhaust port; a plurality of semiconductor gas sensors installed in the casing to detect different gases contained in the air sucked in through the intake port; a communication module for performing wireless communication with an external terminal; a control unit configured to obtain information about the gas detected from the semiconductor gas sensor and provide it to the terminal through the communication module; and a power supply unit for providing power necessary for operation for detecting gas and for obtaining and providing information on gas;

In the casing, an accommodation space for accommodating the communication module, the control unit, and the power supply unit is provided on the inside, and a measuring passage connecting the intake port and the exhaust port to each other so as to be isolated from the accommodation space is provided on the inside, , The measurement passage may include: an injection chamber connected to the intake port from the inside of the casing and installed with the blower fan; a supply passage connected to the injection chamber and formed to have a reduced cross-sectional area; and an expansion chamber connected to the exhaust port by having a cross-sectional area that is expanded from the supply passage, thereby reducing the passage speed of the air supplied from the supply passage, increasing the contact time with each of the semiconductor gas sensors installed inside ; may be included.

A plurality of the semiconductor gas sensors may be arranged on the bottom surface of the expansion chamber to be parallel to the moving direction of the air.

a manipulation unit provided to input a user's manipulation signal to the outer surface of the casing; and a display unit provided on the outer surface of the casing to externally display the operating state and information on the gas obtained by the control unit.

According to the indoor air quality analysis apparatus using the semiconductor gas sensor according to the present invention, it is possible to not only use it conveniently indoors, including at home, but also to improve the convenience through interlocking with a terminal such as a mobile phone, and relatively Due to the small size, there are fewer restrictions on use, and the accuracy is excellent compared to the size, and it has the effect of supplying it at a relatively low cost.

1 is a perspective view illustrating an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a front cross-sectional view illustrating an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a block diagram illustrating an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Since the present invention can have various changes and can have various embodiments, specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail. However, this is not intended to limit the present invention to specific embodiments, and it should be understood as including all changes, equivalents and substitutes included in the spirit and scope of the present invention, and may be modified in various other forms. and the scope of the present invention is not limited to the following examples.

Hereinafter, an embodiment according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, and the same reference numbers are assigned to the same or corresponding components regardless of reference numerals, and redundant description thereof will be omitted.

1 is a perspective view showing an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a static view showing an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a cross-sectional view, and FIG. 3 is a block diagram illustrating an indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 3 , the indoor air quality analyzer 100 using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a casing 110 , a blower fan 120 , a semiconductor gas sensor 130 , and a communication module. 140 , a control unit 150 and a power supply unit may be included.

The casing 110 is provided with an intake port 111 and an exhaust port 112 for intake and exhaust of air. The casing 110 may have, for example, an accommodation space 114 for accommodating the communication module 140, the control unit 150, and the power supply unit, and the intake port 111 to be isolated from the accommodation space 114 from each other. and a measurement passage 113 connecting the exhaust port 112 to each other may be provided inside. In addition, the casing 110 may be formed of a front casing and a rear casing that are detachably assembled back and forth by a method such as bolting or fitting in order to open and close the receiving space 114 .

The measurement passage 113 is connected to the intake port 111 from the inside of the casing 110, the injection chamber 113a in which the blowing fan 120 is installed, and the injection chamber 113a to have a reduced cross-sectional area. By having the formed supply passage 113b and a cross-sectional area extending from the supply passage 113b, the speed of passage of air supplied from the supply passage 113b is reduced, and the semiconductor gas sensor 130 installed inside each It is possible to increase the contact time of the, and may include an expansion chamber (113c) connected to the exhaust port (112). The diameter of the supply passage 113b may correspond to 2% to 10% of the maximum width of the cross-sectional area of the expansion chamber 113c, and for this reason, the semiconductor gas sensor 130 by reducing the air flow rate in the expansion chamber 113c. ) can greatly contribute to the improvement of measurement reliability.

The blower fan 120 is installed in the casing 110, and exhausts the air introduced through the intake port 111 through the exhaust port 112. For power saving, a product that blows at a relatively low power and low speed can be used. .

A plurality of semiconductor gas sensors 130 are installed in the casing 110 to detect different gases included in the air sucked through the intake port 111 . The gas that can be detected by each of the semiconductor gas sensors 130 may be, for example, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, oxygen, ammonia, urea, alcohol, or radon gas. The semiconductor gas sensor 130 is a gas sensor that actively utilizes a phenomenon in which the electrical resistance of a semiconductor changes when gas molecules are adsorbed to the semiconductor surface. As a sensor material, an oxide semiconductor having a relatively stable surface may be used, for example, As the sensor material, SnO ₂ , ZnO, γ-Fe ₂ O _{3 ,} or the like may be used. The semiconductor gas sensor 130 may be classified into a sintered type (direct heat type, interheat type), thick film type, thin film type, IC type, etc. depending on the structure. can

When the oxide semiconductor used in the semiconductor gas sensor 130 is exposed to a high temperature of 100 to 500° C., it adsorbs oxygen in the air to the surface, and the adsorbed oxygen takes electrons from the semiconductor surface and becomes negatively charged. This forms an electron depletion layer on the surface of the n-type oxide semiconductor (SnO ₂ ), where electrons are the main charge carriers, and the hole excess layer on the surface of the _{p-type oxide semiconductor (Co 3} O _{4 ), where the holes are the main charge carriers.} (hole accumulation layer) is formed. When carbon monoxide (CO), acetone, ammonia, etc., which are reducing gases, are introduced, the gas is oxidized by reacting with oxygen adsorbed on the surface of the semiconductor. Therefore, the resistance of the sensor decreases (n-type) or increases (p-type). Conversely, an oxidizing gas such as nitrogen oxide (NO) is directly adsorbed on the semiconductor surface to take more electrons from the semiconductor surface, and the electron depletion layer or hole excess layer further expands, so the resistance increases or decreases (n-type) by reaction with the gas (p-type). This increase or decrease in electrical resistance is defined as gas sensitivity, and since gas sensitivity is generally proportional to the concentration of gas, the presence or absence and concentration of gas can be checked.

When the semiconductor gas sensor 130 is located close to the human body, it may be configured to also measure a component of the exhaled gas, and through this, the user's disease may also be measured. Here, the main components of exhaled gas are nitrogen (75%), oxygen (13%), moisture (6%), and carbon dioxide (5%), but in addition, as many as several ppm (part per million) to as low as several ppt (part per trillion) ) levels of various VOCs exist, and some of them are known to be closely related to diseases. Typically, it is known that nitric oxide, acetone, ammonia, and hydrogen sulfide are excreted at higher concentrations in patients with asthma, diabetes, kidney disease, and halitosis, respectively. has been reported Therefore, if such trace amounts of biomarker gases are accurately analyzed, various diseases can be diagnosed early in a simple way. That is, using the semiconductor gas sensor 130, biomarker gases (nitrogen oxide, acetone, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, hydrocarbon ) can be configured to detect highly sensitive and highly selective compared to ethanol. For example, diabetes refers to a disease in which insulin, a hormone that regulates blood sugar in the body, is insufficient or does not function properly, resulting in a high blood sugar state. People with abnormal blood sugar control function cannot absorb glucose properly and use fat as an energy source. In addition, asthma is an inflammatory airway obstruction disease that causes breathing difficulties. In patients, a higher concentration of nitric oxide is detected in the exhaled air compared to normal persons due to excessive synthesis of nitric oxide promoted in airway inflammation. In general, the exhaled nitric oxide concentration of asthma patients is more than 30 ppb, which is almost twice that of normal people (~ 16 ppb). Therefore, it is possible to use as an index of disease diagnosis through the detection of the exhaled gas component through the semiconductor gas sensor 130 .

A plurality of semiconductor gas sensors 130 may be arranged on the bottom surface of the expansion chamber 113c so as to be parallel to the movement direction of the air, and as in this embodiment, a plurality of semiconductor gas sensors 130 may be provided to be spaced apart from each other on a single substrate, and thus It is not limited, and may be configured to be separately divided from each other.

The communication module 140 performs wireless communication with the external terminal 1 . The communication module 140 performs wireless communication with the external terminal 1, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, RFID, UWB, WiHD, 3G, LTE, 5G, Wibro (Wireless Broadband) ) and the like, various communication methods may be used. As the terminal 1, various information processing and communication devices that perform necessary information processing by driving a program or application, such as a laptop or desktop, as well as a smartphone or tablet PC, and perform wireless communication may be used. . In addition, in order to receive the service provided by the present invention, in the terminal 1, a separately provided application or program may be installed, and according to a process determined by the control of the control unit 150 to be described later, the communication module 140 . A pairing process for communication with the device may be performed.

The control unit 150 obtains information about the gas detected from the semiconductor gas sensor 130 and provides it to the terminal 1 through the communication module 140 . That is, the control unit 150 receives an electrical signal output by each of the semiconductor gas sensors 130 due to detection of a predetermined measurement gas for each other, and compares it with the gas data stored in advance, the semiconductor gas sensor 130 . The type and amount of each detected gas may be acquired and provided to the terminal 1, or may be controlled to be displayed through the display unit 190, which will be described later. The control unit 150 may be implemented as a PCB 151 together with the communication module 140 .

The power supply unit is configured to provide power required for operation for detecting gas and obtaining and providing information on gas, and is configured to convert and supply external power supplied from the outside into power required for operation, or, as in this embodiment, a casing The battery 160 provided in the casing 110 to convert and charge power supplied through the connector 170 provided on the outside of the 110 by, for example, the charging unit 161 corresponding to the charging circuit may be formed.

The indoor air quality analysis apparatus 100 using a semiconductor gas sensor according to an embodiment of the present invention includes an operation unit 170 provided to input a user's operation signal to the outer surface of the casing 110 , and the casing 110 . It may further include a display unit 180 provided to the outside to display the operation state and information about the gas obtained by the control unit 150 on the side. Here, the manipulation unit 170 may be formed of a single or a plurality of switches or buttons, and instead may be formed of a touch panel corresponding to the display unit 180 .

According to the indoor air quality analysis device using the semiconductor gas sensor according to the present invention as described above, it can be used conveniently indoors, including at home, and the convenience can be further improved through interlocking with terminals such as mobile phones. .

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to have fewer restrictions on use due to a relatively small size, and to have excellent accuracy compared to the size.

As described above, the present invention has been described with reference to the accompanying drawings, but it goes without saying that various modifications and variations can be made within the scope without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims described below as well as those claims and equivalents.

110: casing 111: intake port
112: exhaust port 113: measuring passage
113a: injection chamber 113b: supply flow path
113c: expansion chamber 114: accommodation space
120: blowing fan 130: semiconductor gas sensor
140: communication module 150: control unit
151: PCB 160: battery
161: charging unit 170: connector
180: operation unit 190: display unit

Claims (4)

a casing provided with an intake port and an exhaust port for intake and exhaust of air;
a blowing fan installed in the casing and configured to discharge air introduced through the intake port through the exhaust port;
a plurality of semiconductor gas sensors installed in the casing to detect different gases contained in the air sucked in through the intake port;
a communication module for performing wireless communication with an external terminal;
a control unit configured to obtain information about the gas detected from the semiconductor gas sensor and provide it to the terminal through the communication module;
a power supply unit providing power required for operation for detecting gas and obtaining and providing information about the gas;
a manipulation unit provided to input a user's manipulation signal to the outer surface of the casing; and
a display unit provided on the outer surface of the casing to externally display the operating state and information on the gas obtained by the control unit;
including,
The casing is
An accommodating space for accommodating the communication module, the control unit and the power supply unit is provided on the inside, and a measuring passage connecting the intake port and the exhaust port to each other so as to be isolated from the receiving space is provided on the inside,
The measurement path is
an injection chamber connected to the intake port from the inside of the casing and in which the blowing fan is installed;
a supply passage connected to the injection chamber and formed to have a reduced cross-sectional area; and
an expansion chamber having a cross-sectional area that is expanded from the supply passage, decreasing a passage speed of the air supplied from the supply passage, increasing a contact time with each of the semiconductor gas sensors installed inside, and connected to the exhaust port;
Including, indoor air quality analysis device using a semiconductor gas sensor. delete The method according to claim 1,
The semiconductor gas sensor,
An indoor air quality analyzer using a semiconductor gas sensor, characterized in that a plurality of them are arranged on the bottom surface of the expansion chamber so as to be parallel to the movement direction of the air. delete

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