Design of Long-Life Wireless Near-Field Hydrogen Gas Sensor

A compact wireless near-field hydrogen gas sensor is proposed, which detects leaking hydrogen near its source to achieve fast responses and high reliability. A semiconductor-type sensing element is implemented in the sensor, which can provide a significant response in 100 ms when stimulated by pure hydrogen. The overall response time is shortened by orders of magnitude compared to conventional sensors according to simulation results, which will be within 200 ms, compared with over 25 s for spatial concentration sensors under the worst conditions. Over 1 year maintenance intervals are enabled by wireless design based on the Bluetooth low energy protocol. The average energy consumption during a single alarm process is 153 μJ/s. The whole sensor is integrated on a 20 × 26 mm circuit board for compact use.