Ultrasound based Gas Detection: Analyzing Acoustic Impedance for High-Performance and Low-Cost Solutions

Gas leakage is a serious hazard in a variety of sectors, including industrial, domestic, and gas-powered vehicles. The installation of gas leak detection systems has emerged as a critical preventative measure to solve this problem. Traditional gas sensors, such as electrochemical, infrared point, and Metal Oxide Semiconductor sensors, have been widely used for gas leak detection. However, these sensors have limitations in terms of their adaptation to various gases, as well as their high cost and difficulties in scaling. In this paper, a novel non-contact gas detection technique based on a 40 kHz ultrasonic signal is described. The proposed approach employs the reflections of the emitted ultrasonic wave to detect the gas leaks and also able to identify the exact gas in real-time. To confirm the method’s effectiveness, trials were carried out using Hydrogen, Helium, Argon, and Butane gas. The system identified gas flow breaches in 0.01 seconds, whereas the gas identification procedure took 0.8 seconds. An interesting extension of the proposed approach is real-time visualisation of gas flow employing an array of transducers.