ADITHY
Manual for
GAS SENSOR MEASUREMENT
TRAINER
( Sr. No:............................)
Introduction to Gas Sensors: Construction Types and Working
A Typical human nose has 400 types of scent receptors enabling us to smell about 1 trillion different
odours. But still many of us do not have the capacity to identify the type or concentration of gas present
in our atmosphere. This is where Sensors comes in, there are many types of sensors to measure differ-
ent parameters and a Gas sensor is one which comes handy in applications where we have to detect the
variation in the concentration of toxic gases in order to maintain the system safe and avoid/caution any
unexpected threats. There are various gas sensors to detect gases like oxygen, Carbon Dioxide, Nitro-
gen, methane etc. They can also be commonly found in devices that are used to detect the leakage of
the harmful gases, monitor the air quality in industries and offices etc.
In this article, we will learn more about gas sensors, their construction, types, working and how they can
be used to measure the required type and concentration of Gas in our atmosphere. There are many
types of Gas sensors but the MQ type gas sensors are commonly used and widely popular so will focus
more on these types of sensors for this article.
Introduction to Gas Sensor
A gas sensor is a device which detects the presence or concentration of gases in the atmosphere. Based
on the concentration of the gas the sensor produces a corresponding potential difference by changing
the resistance of the material inside the sensor, which can be measured as output voltage. Based on this
voltage value the type and concentration of the gas can be estimated.
The type of gas the sensor could detect depends on the sensing material present inside the sensor.
Normally these sensors are available as modules with comparators as shown above. These compara-
tors can be set for a particular threshold value of gas concentration. When the concentration of the gas
exceeds this threshold the digital pin goes high. The analog pin can be used to measure the concentra-
tion of the gas.
Different Types of Gas sensors
Gas sensors are typically classified into various types based on the type of the sensing element it is built
with. Below is the classification of the various types of gas sensors based on the sensing element that are
generally used in various applications:
Metal Oxide based gas Sensor.
Optical gas Sensor.
Electrochemical gas Sensor.
Capacitance-based gas Sensor.
Calorimetric gas Sensor.
Acoustic based gas Sensor.
Gas Sensor Construction
Of all the above-listed types, the most commonly used gas sensor is the Metal oxide semiconductor
based gas sensor. All Gas sensors will consist of a sensing element which comprises of the following
parts.
Gas sensing layer
Heater Coil
Electrode line
Tubular ceramic
Electrode
The purpose of each of these elements is as below:
Gas sensing layer: It is the main component in the sensor which can be used to sense the variation in the
concentration of the gases and generate the change in electrical resistance. The gas sensing layer is
basically a chemiresistor which changes its resistance value based on the
The concentration of particular gas in the environment. Here the sensing element is made up of a Tin
Dioxide (SnO2) which is, in general, has excess electrons (donor element). So whenever toxic gases
are being detected the resistance of the element changes and the current flown through it varies which
represents the change in concentration of the gases.
Heater coil: The purpose of the heater coil is to burn-in the sensing element so that the sensitivity and
efficiency of the sensing element increases. It is made of Nickel-Chromium which has a high melting
point so that it can stay heated up without getting melted.
Electrode line: As the sensing element produces a very small current when the gas is detected it is more
important to maintain the efficiency of carrying those small currents. So Platinum wires come into play
where it helps in moving the electrons efficiently.
Electrode: It is a junction where the output of the sensing layer is connected to the Electrode line. So
that the output current can flow to the required terminal. An electrode here is made of Gold (Au –
Aurum) which is a very good conductor.
Tubular ceramic: In between the Heater coil and Gas sensing layer, the tubular ceramic exists which is
made of Aluminum oxide (Al2O3). As it has high melting point, it helps in maintaining the burn-in (pre-
heating) of the sensing layer which gives the high sensitivity for the sensing layer to get efficient output
current.
Mesh over the sensing element: In order to protect the sensing elements and the setup, a metal mesh is
used over it, which is also used to avoid/hold the dust particles entering into the mesh and prevent
damaging the gas sensing layer from corrosive particles.
Gas Sensor Working
The ability of a Gas sensor to detect gases depends on the chemiresister to conduct current. The most
commonly used chemiresistor is Tin Dioxide (SnO2) which is an n-type semiconductor that has free
electrons (also called as donor). Normally the atmosphere will contain more oxygen than combustible
gases. The oxygen particles attract the free electrons present in SnO2 which pushes them to the surface
of the SnO2. As there are no free electrons available output current will be zero. The below gif shown
the oxygen molecules (blue color) attracting the free electrons (black color) inside the SnO2 and
preventing it from having free electrons to conduct current.
When the sensor is placed in the toxic or combustible gases environment, this reducing gas (orange
color) reacts with the adsorbed oxygen particles and breaks the chemical bond between oxygen and
free electrons thus releasing the free electrons. As the free electrons are back to its initial position they
can now conduct current, this conduction will be proportional the amount of free electrons available in
SnO2, if the gas is highly toxic more free electrons will be available.
How to use a Gas sensor?
A basic gas sensor has 6 terminals in which 4 terminals (A, A, B, B) acts input or output and the re-
maining 2 terminals (H, H) are for heating the coil. Of these 4 terminals, 2 terminals from each side can
be used as either input or output (these terminals are reversible as shown in the circuit diagram) and vice
versa.
These sensors are normally available as modules (shown right), these modules consist of the gas sensor
and a comparator IC. Now let’s see the pin description of the gas sensor module which we will gener-
ally use with an Arduino. The gas sensor module basically consists of 4 terminals
Vcc – Power supply
GND – Power supply
Digital output – This pin gives an output either in logical high or logical low (0 or 1) that means it
displays the presence of any toxic or combustible gases near the sensor.
Analog output – This pin gives an output continuous in voltage which varies based on the concentra-
tion of gas that is applied to the gas sensor.
As discussed earlier the output of a gas sensor alone will be very small (in mV) so an external circuit has
to be used in order to get a digital high low output from the sensor. For this purpose, a comparator
(LM393), adjustable potentiometer, some resistors and capacitors are used.
The purpose of LM393 is to get the output from the sensor, compare it with a reference voltage and
display whether the output is logically high or not. Whereas the purpose of the potentiometer is to set
the required threshold value of the gas above which the digital output pin should go high.
The below diagram shows the basic circuit diagram of a gas sensor in a gas sensor module
Here A and B are the input and output terminals (these are reversible - means any of the paired termi-
nals can be used as input or output) and H is the Heater coil terminal. The purpose of the variable
resistor is to adjust the output voltage and to maintain high sensitivity.
If no input voltage is applied to the heater coil, then the output current will be very less (which is negli-
gible or approximately 0). When sufficient voltage is applied to the input terminal and heater coil, the
sensing layer wakes up and is ready to sense any combustible gases nearby it. Initially let’s assume that
there is no toxic gas near the sensor, so the resistance of the layer doesn’t change and the output current
and voltage are also unchanged and are negligible (approximately 0).
Now let’s assume that there is some toxic gas nearby. As the heater coil is pre-heated it is now easy to
detect any combustible gases. When the sensing layer interacts with the gases, the resistance of the
material varies and the current flowing through the circuit also varies. This change in variation can be
then observed at the load resistance (RL).
The value of load resistance (RL) can be anywhere from 10KO to 47KO. The exact value of the load
resistance can be selected by calibrating with the known concentration of the gas. If low load resistance
is selected then the circuit has less sensitivity and if high load resistance is selected then the circuit has
high sensitivity.
Applications of Gas Sensors
Used in industries to monitor the concentration of the toxic gases.
Used in households to detect an emergency incidents.
Used at oil rig locations to monitor the concentration of the gases those are released.
Used at hotels to avoid customers from smoking.
Used in air quality check at offices.
Used in air conditioners to monitor the CO2 levels.
Used in detecting fire.
Used to check concentration of gases in mines.
Breath analyzer.
MQ135 Air Quality Gas Sensor Module
The MQ-135 Gas sensor can detect gases like Ammonia (NH3), sulfur (S), Benzene (C6H6), CO2,
and other harmful gases and smoke. Similar to other MQ series gas sensor, this sensor also has a digital
and analog output pin. When the level of these gases go beyond a threshold limit in the air the digital pin
goes high. This threshold value can be set by using the on-board potentiometer. The analog output pin,
outputs an analog voltage which can be used to approximate the level of these gases in the atmosphere.
The MQ135 air quality sensor module operates at 5V and consumes around 150mA. It requires some
pre-heating before it could actually give accurate results.
Details of MQ135 Sensor
The MQ135 is one of the popular gas sensors from the MQ series of sensors that are commonly used
in air quality control equipment. It operates from 2.5V to 5.0V and can provide both digital and analog
output. The pinouts and important components on an MQ135 Module is marked below
Note that all MQ sensors have to be powered up for a pre-heat duration for the sensor to warm up
before it can start working. This pre-heat time is normally between 30 seconds to a couple of minutes.
When you power up the module the power LED will turn on, leave the module in this state till the pre-
heat duration is completed.
Technical Specifications of MQ135 Gas Sensor
Operating Voltage: 2.5V to 5.0V
Power consumption: 150mA
Detect/Measure: NH3, Nox, CO2, Alcohol, Benzene, Smoke
Typical operating Voltage: 5V
Digital Output: 0V to 5V (TTL Logic ) @ 5V Vcc
Analog Output: 0-5V @ 5V Vcc
Detect Harmful Gases using Digital Pin:
The digital output pin of the sensor can be used to detect harmful gases in the environment. The sensitiv-
ity of the digital pin can be controlled by using the 10k potentiometer. If the gas is detected the indicator
LED D0 will turn on and the digital pin will go from logic high to logic low (0V). The LM393 Op-Amp
Comparator IC is used to compare the actual gas value with the value set using the potentiometer. If the
actual gas value increases than the set value then the digital output pin gets low.
Because of the onboard LM393 comparator IC the MQ135 Gas sensor module can also be used
without the need of an external microcontroller. Simply power up the module and set the sensitivity of
the digital pin using the potentiometer, then when the module detects the gas the digital pin will go low.
This digital pin can directly be used to drive a buzzer or LED with the help of simple transistors.
Measure PPM Value using Analog Pin:
The Analog output pin of the sensor can be used to measure the PPM value of the required gas. To do
this we need to use an external microcontroller like Arduino. The microcontroller will measure the value
of analog voltage and perform some calculations to find the value of Rs/Ro where Rs is the sensor
resistance when gas is present and Ro is sensor resistance at clean air. Once we find this ratio of Rs/Ro
we can use it to calculate the PPM value of required gas using the graph below which is taken from the
datasheet of MQ135 Sensor.
OPERATING INSTRUCTION
1. Switch On Trainer.
2. Wait for 10 Minutes.
3. Connect the multimeter across Output terminals.
4. Observe and measure the voltage.
5. Also observe and measure the GAS Concentration level in the atmospere in the LCD Display. .
6. The LCD will show the Air Quality level in PPM.
7. Now if we blow some gas or air at the sensor head, the gas constration level vary with air.
Like vise if we expose gas sensor to gases like Ammonia (NH3), sulfur (S), Benzene (C6H6), CO2,
and other harmful gases and smoke. The reading will vary.
The Normal Air quality is approx: 400PPM.
The Bar graph LED Will show the output voltage level which can be measured by multimeter.
