Design and characterization of a novel turbidity sensor based on quadrature demodulation

Abstract Turbidity is regarded as a comprehensive indicator in water quality monitoring, and the turbidity sensor deployed in the water supply network can record the dynamic changes of water quality in time. However, the weak photoelectric signal from the photodetector contains a quantity of noise. In order to improve signal-to-noise ratio, a novel on-line turbidity sensor based on quadrature demodulation principle has been proposed in this paper. A near-infrared light-emitting diode (LED) with a wavelength of 860 nm was selected as a stable monochromatic light source, and a photodiode with an angle of 90° to the incident light from the LED was selected as the photodetector. Using signal modulation and demodulation technology, the weak photoelectric signal extraction, conversion, amplification and output of the turbidity sensor were realized through the effective integration. A corresponding test apparatus of the turbidity sensor was established and experimental results showed that within a 0–5 NTU measurement range, the turbidity sensor had good linearity and stability, the relative measurement error was within ±1% and the limit of detection could reach as low as 0.0049 NTU. The developed turbidity sensor has good detection performance and can meet the needs of low turbidity detection of drinking water.