Merging ethylene NDIR gas sensors with preconcentrator-devices for sensitivity enhancement

AbstractAutomated and reliable measurements of low concentrations of ethylene gas in ambience during transport of fruits are of great interest in fruit logistics. Knowledge about the concentration can be used for ripeness and quality prediction as well as for new logistic approaches. Here it makes sense to use non-dispersive-infrared-sensors as autonomous ethylene measurement systems because of their robustness and selectivity. In this paper such a measurement system is presented. It measures ethylene down to 10 ppmv. To overcome sensitivity limitations, the system was additionally combined with an ethylene preconcentrator to increase the system sensitivity down to the ppbv region indirectly by using adsorption effects on graphitized carbon