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getusama
Dec24-09, 11:41 AM
Hi

I do not have much knowledge on engineering but please would someone help me look for a device like

an electrical nose and tell me how I could acquire one.

Let me be more descriptive:
Say, this device might have a comopund attached to it that is made up of all kinds of odor elements.
Now, using this device it should be able to sense and tell me what elements and its percentage

quantity (from that compound) a certain odor is made up of.
The end result could come out in a spreadsheet or a database.

I earnestly look forward to a reply and any help will be much appreciated.


Regards

turbo
Dec24-09, 11:49 AM
It sounds like you want a gas chromatograph. Very expensive equipment.

Edit: BTW, the technology has probably improved a lot since I was a process chemist in a pulp mill (1978-1982), but we were using a Hewlett Packard GC that was big and bulky. You'd inject a syringe of sample through an injection port into a heated column. You would know approximately how much of each volatile organic compound was in the sample. Just study the graphic printout. A weakness of the system was that you'd have to change columns to measure VOCs of higher or lower molecular weights.

whome9
Dec24-09, 12:27 PM
There are ICs that smell. I forget how many distinct sensors they need to cover 95% of smells. Perhaps they measure how many new molecules of a substance has landed on each sensor.

Galap
Dec24-09, 01:05 PM
I know that such things exist, but I haven't the slightest idea where to find them.

whome9
Dec24-09, 01:11 PM
I know that such things exist, but I haven't the slightest idea where to find them.
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ac0312460

getusama
Dec24-09, 03:21 PM
Thanks everyone. Any more help?