Friday, 13 July 2018

Alcohol Sensor

 What is an Alcohol Sensor?

This alcohol sensor is suitable for detecting alcohol concentration on your breath, just like your common breathalyzer. Sensor provides an analog resistive output based on alcohol concentration.
An alcohol sensor detects the attentiveness of alcohol gas in the air and an analog voltage is an output reading. The sensor can activate at temperatures ranging from -10 to 50° C with a power supply is less than 150 Ma to 5V. The sensing range is from 0.04 mg/L to 4 mg/L, which is suitable for breathalyzers.
                                              Alcohol Sensor

Alcohol Sensor

Basic Pin Configuration Of Alcohol Sensor

The MQ-3 alcohol gas sensor consists of total 6-pins including A, H, B and the other three pins are A, H, B out of the total 6-pins we use only 4 pins. The two pins A, H are used for the heating purpose and the other two pins are used for the ground and power. There is a heating system inside the sensor, which is made up of aluminium oxide, tin dioxide.  It has heat coils to produce heat, and thus it is used as a heat sensor. The below diagram shows the pin diagram and the configuration of the MQ-3 alcohol sensor.

Pin Configuration Of Alcohol Sensor
Pin Configuration Of Alcohol Sensor

Working Principle And Circuit Diagram

The MQ-3 alcohol sensor consists of a tin dioxide (SnO2), a perspective layer inside aluminium oxide micro tubes (measuring electrodes) and a heating element inside a tubular casing. The end face of the sensor is enclosed by a stainless steel net and the back side holds the connection terminals. Ethyl alcohol present in the  breath is oxidized into acetic acid passing through the heat element. With the ethyl alcohol cascade on the tin dioxide sensing layer, the resistance decreases. By using the external load resistance the resistance variation is converted into a suitable voltage variation. The circuit diagram and the connection arrangement of an MQ-3 alcohol is shown below.
                                           MQ-135 Circuit Diagram

MQ-135 Circuit Diagram

Applications Of MQ-3 Alcohol Sensor

The following are the applications of the MQ-3 alcohol sensor:
  • Alcohol monitor

Characteristics Of MQ-3

  • Good sensitivity to alcohol in wide range.
  • It has long life and low cost.
  • It is a simple drive circuit

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