A single capacitive sensor that may detect both water leaks and flammable vapors. The sensor may have two electrodes not touching each other but supported with an insulative material between the electrodes that allows fluids to enter between the electrodes. An electronic circuit connected to the capacitive sensor may determine the capacitance of the two electrodes. Fluids may enter between the electrodes and affect their capacitance. Permittivities of the fluids may be calculated from their effects on capacitance. Ranges of the permittivities may indicate the kind of substances and their intensity of presence. Water and flammable vapors are examples of such substances. The electronic circuit may be connected to a control module of a water heater, in that if the intensity or concentration of detected water or flammable vapors reaches a pre-set threshold, then the circuit may trigger an alarm and/or shut down the water heater.

A sensor is configured to measure the carbon dioxide concentration in a gas mixture. The sensor has a dielectric layer arranged between a layer-like first electrode and a layer-like second electrode. The second electrode is a composite electrode that has at least one carbonate and/or one phosphate as first material and at least one metal as second material. This sensor can be manufactured by a method comprising applying a layer-like first electrode to a substrate, applying a dielectric layer to the first electrode, and applying a layer-like second electrode to the dielectric layer. The second electrode is applied as a composite electrode that has at least one carbonate and/or one phosphate as first material and has at least one second material that has an electrical conductivity of more than 10-2 S/m.

Disclosed is a system and method for monitoring a characteristic of an environment of an electronic device. The electronic device may include a printed circuit board and a component. A sensor is placed on the printed circuit board, and may be between the component and the board, and connects to a monitor, or detector. An end user device may be used to store, assess, display and understand the data received from the sensor through the monitor.

In order to measure a fluid flow or flow conditions of a fluid flow through an apparatus, electrodes are provided across which capacitance values are determined. The capacitances are used in conjunction with a predetermined model to determine a revised model for the system. If the modelled to be satisfactory, then the values representative of the flow conditions are output. If it is not, then the model is tuned to reduce the error. A novel arrangement of electrodes is also provided along with apparatus embodying the method. The invention also provides a way of determining fluid properties, for example, density, volume present contained within a vessel or tank whether flowing or stationary.

Embodiments herein include a method for detecting a health condition of a subject. The method can include obtaining a biological sample from the subject and placing it into a container having a headspace surrounding the biological sample. The method can include contacting a gas from the headspace with a chemical sensor element, the chemical sensor element including one or more discrete graphene varactors. The method can include sensing and storing capacitance of the discrete graphene varactors to obtain a sample data set. Other embodiments are also included herein.

Gas-flammability sensing systems and methods may be used to determine the flammability of gas mixtures in measurement volumes such as a fuel tank (e.g., an aircraft fuel tank). Gas-flammability sensing systems include a test cell structured to receive a gas sample, a heater in thermal communication with the test cell, and a gas meter configured to measure a physical property of the gas sample within the test cell related to the combustion state of the gas sample. The heater is configured to heat the gas sample to an elevated temperature less than the autoignition temperature of the gas sample. Methods of determining the flammability of a gas sample include collecting the gas sample, heating the gas sample to the elevated temperature, measuring the physical property of the gas sample after heating, and determining the flammability of a gas sample based upon the measured physical property.

A bonding pad layer system is deposited on a semiconductor chip as a base, for example, a micromechanical semiconductor chip, in which at least one self-supporting dielectric membrane made up of dielectric layers, a platinum conductor track and a heater made of platinum is integrated. In the process, the deposition of a tantalum layer takes place first, upon that the deposition of a first platinum layer, upon that the deposition of a tantalum nitride layer, upon that the deposition of a second platinum layer and upon that the deposition of a gold layer, at least one bonding pad for connecting with a bonding wire being formed in the gold layer. The bonding pad is situated in the area of the contact hole on the semiconductor chip, in which a platinum conductor track leading to the heater is connected using a ring contact and/or is connected outside this area.

We disclose herein a gas sensor comprising a catalyst material; a temperature detector configured to measure a change in temperature of the catalyst material; and a plurality of electrodes configured to measure the current and/or resistance of the catalytic material. The gas sensor can be formed using CMOS or CMOS-SOI technologies.

A gas sensor includes a sensor element having electrode pads, metal terminal members connected to the respective electrode pads, separators, and lead wires connected to the rear ends of the metal terminal members. Each metal terminal member has a forward locking portion and a rear locking portion provided at the forward and rear ends, respectively. The separator is composed of a forward separator and a rear separator connected to each other. The forward separator includes a first locking portion having a rearward-facing surface, and the rear separator includes a second locking portion having a forward-facing surface. The metal terminal member is held between the forward separator and the rear separator in a state in which the forward locking portion is in locking engagement with the rearward-facing surface and the rear locking portion is in locking engagement with the forward-facing surface.

According to one embodiment, a gas sensor is disclosed. The gas sensor includes a substrate region, a first electrode provided on the substrate region, and a movable structure above the first electrode. The movable structure includes a deformable member which deforms by absorbing or adsorbing a predetermined gas, a heat member which heats the deformable member, and a second electrode. The gas sensor further includes a first cavity region which is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode.