Gas concentration detection by means of thermoacoustic sound wave
AssigneeInfineon Technologies AG
InventorsMatthias Eberl, Franz Jost, Stefan Kolb
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Abstract
A gas sensor having a heater, a receiver, and a space arranged between the heater and the receiver, is described, the heater being configured to generate a thermoacoustic sound wave propagating through the space by using a stimulation signal. The receiver is in this case configured to receive the thermoacoustic sound wave that has propagated through the space and to convert it into a reception signal that has a time-of-flight-dependent shift with respect to the stimulation signal and therefore information relating to the gas concentration in the space.
Claims17
A gas sensor comprising:
- a heater,
- a receiver, and
- a space arranged between the heater and the receiver, the heater being configured to generate a thermoacoustic sound wave propagating through the space by using a stimulation signal, and
- the receiver being configured to receive the thermoacoustic sound wave that has propagated through the space and to convert the thermoacoustic sound wave into a reception signal that has a time-of-flight-dependent shift with respect to the stimulation signal and therefore information relating to a gas concentration in the space.
A method for determining a gas concentration, comprising:
- applying a stimulation signal to a heater to generate a thermoacoustic sound wave that propagates through a space arranged between the heater and a receiver,
- receiving the thermoacoustic sound wave at the receiver to generate a reception signal,
- determining a time-of-flight-dependent shift between a heater signal and the reception signal, and
- determining a gas concentration in the space based on the time-of-flight-dependent shift.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.