Madrid (EFE).- Researchers from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM) have created an “artificial nose” that detects “critical” levels of carbon dioxide, through a device that has been implemented in a robotic dog and that, Thanks to three identification sensors, it will be able to detect and identify three types of gases in real time.
The authors defend the importance of the work, remembering that continued inhalation of carbon dioxide reduces the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood and prevents cells from using the oxygen that reaches them, leading to oxygen deprivation that mainly affects to the brain and heart and causes serious poisoning, or even death.
For this reason, the UPM explains in a note, it is “so important” to have an “early” system for detecting the presence of this gas in the air, which helps people at risk, or even emergency services, to perceive the presence of this gas before it produces harmful effects on health.
Starting from this premise, a team of researchers from the UPM Center for Automation and Robotics has developed an artificial nose capable of detecting different gases, including carbon dioxide, when they reach critical levels.
Capture in real time
This device is based on computational fluid dynamics analysis and uses a modular artificial nose, inspired by the process of inhalation and exhalation, equipped with a strategically placed air capture system that works in real time.
This is achieved through a distributed air absorption system and channeling the air in a concentrated manner to an internal sensor for analysis.
The researchers add that the implemented system has had a previous design phase that analyzes the behavior of the particles around it through a computational fluid dynamics analysis to improve and “maximize the quality of the samples acquired from a given area.” , obtaining data that has been used to create maps of carbon dioxide concentration in the environment.
Finally, the nose has been integrated into the operating system of a quadruped robot to maximize environmental coverage, taking advantage of its locomotion capabilities in unstructured terrain.
The results obtained by the device, which have been recently published in Machine magazine, “are encouraging” because the aspiration system has shown “a substantial improvement” in the measurement concentration, producing more reliable readings by increasing the parts per million of carbon dioxide by an average of 61 percent, instead of taking measurements only with the sensor exposed to the environment.
