Carbon Dioxide sensors

Jul 24, 2004 9 Replies

Do Carbon Dioxide Sensors exist? If so at what sensitivity/accuracy? And what about interface methods, say, to a 68HC11?



Thanks Neil


yes you can! you can also get monoxide sensors as well. I have only seen them built as a device/product not in a component form. But I bet you can i.e. look at guts of one of the products you can buy or i bet some knows who can tell you

Andrew

And somewhere around the time of 07/24/2004 05:42, the world stopped and listened as Neil contributed the following to humanity:

CO2 sensors do exist. Although I've only seen them used in vehicle smog certification device. I'm they are out there.

I just did a google search on +co2 +sensor and pulled up about 76000+ matches.

They do exist in component form. Jaycar Electronics (in Australia) sells them.

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These work from 350 to 10000 ppm

Andrew

Great! So, does anyone have an idea of the level (in ppm) of carbon dioxide that would be in a cavity (lets say as big a family car), expired from one human over about 2hours, and then waht about 5hours?

Neil.

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ioxide&SPECIAL=&form=KEYWORD&ProdCodeOnly=&Keyword1=&Keyword2=&pageNumber=&p

Exercise for the reader:

resting metabolism of an adult: about 2000 kcal/day. Look up caloric value of glucose C6H12O6, 4kcal /gram So one uses 500gr/day (about 4 mol)

1 mol of glucose (180 gram) produces 3 mol (72 litre) of CO2, so total of about 300 l/day

Wim

Good answer! Under basal conditions an adult produces around 200mls CO2/minute, which is very close to your calculation. Protein and fat utilisation produce slightly less amounts of CO2.

Ian

Can you refer some books or articles with this type of metabolic info.

Neil.

I found the caloric value of glucose on Google (-diet -Atkins). I guess the the basal metabolitic rate can be found in any article about diets, but IMHO it should be part of the general knowledge of any proper education. The rest is highschool chemistry

Wim

Most books on medical physiology have this information. Google for "Respiratory Quotient" for some quick info.

Best regards,

Ian.

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