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Published on July 8, 2007

 

With the hope of making the process of testing aromas attain specific standards, research teams from four research institutions have worked together to develop what they call the artificial electronic nose, to help people check and discern the results with greater accuracy.

The research teams come from the National Nanotechnology Centre (Nanotec), the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (Nectec), the National Metal and Materials Technology Centre (Mtec) and Mahidol University.

Yongyuth Wanna, research assistant at Nanotec and a member of the project-development team, said the project was to develop technology which imitated the human nose.

The artificial one, he said, could detect and recognise odours and gas as required.

Instead of using an individual's smelling experience, Yongyuth said the new electronic nose would identify odours and generate odour discrimination automatically and systematically, and then give a result of what odours or chemicals it detected.

The result is important, as it will be used as an indicator for further analysis of food quality or pollution in the air, he said.

To make the artificial nose detect odours, a group of electronic sensors would be developed. Yongyuth said each of them would be designed to detect and recognise each odour or chemical gas.

Once they were grouped together within a sensor array, the nose would have the capability to detect various kinds of odours. Analysis software is another important part of the data processing. When the sensors detect odours, they send raw data to be processed in the software to identify the kinds of odours and their degree.

"This result will allow us to predict and evaluate the status of what the nose smells," Yongyuth said.

Yongyuth added that the electronic nose was suitable for use in many industries that needed to use odour detection for a product quality control and development.

In the food industry, the electronic nose could be used to detect various kinds of food, for example, meat, vegetables, fish, rice grains, coffee beans, wine, beer or any beverages, to evaluate their freshness, measure the product's life, and check on contamination for quality control.

Meanwhile, in the perfumery business, manufacturers could adopt this technology to help product development.

Yongyuth said since the electronic nose could detect molecules from chemical substances and gas, it could also help officials detect toxic substances including carbon dioxide or sulphur dioxide which contaminate the air, and to monitor the status of air pollution.

The team is now developing the sensors. The researcher said he planned to make 16 to 20 kinds of sensors to detect odours and chemical substances.

"We're now in the process of polymer synthesis to develop the sensor heads. Once we have them, we will develop each one to recognise individual odours as required," he said.

The sensor development is in collaboration with researchers from Mtec, Nanotec and Nectec, while researchers from Mahidol University will look after the analysis software development.

The team hopes that the first prototype of the electronic nose will come into operation later this year.

Pongpen Sutharoj

The Nation