McGowan Sensor Labs Limited

Offerings

• Preparation of gas-sensing materials on demand
• Contract R & D programmes by an experienced team at modest costs
• Practitioner tutorials about gas sensors

Consultancy

• Technical advice to gas sensor companies
• Technical support service to support clients
• Market sector gas sensor reports at modest prices written by practitioners

See Case Studies

About us:

We were founded in 2008 as a technical consultancy to help silicon chip clients develop a gas sensor capability. Operating at the technology frontier, we realized opportunities to advance the technology lay in taking control of building the gas sensors, so-called 'hard-tech' aspects using our materials science know-how and manufacturing expertise.

The challenge of reformatting the sensor technologies to meet current-age challenges, is to avoid synthetic outputs (resulting from multiple algorithms to correct and refine data) dominating over authentic 'raw' outputs, less divorced from the raw signal.

We believe it's better to formulate out shortcomings in sensing materials at the outset rather than use materials of convenience cum algorithms.

At our firm, we bring to bear a depth of experience from working at the vanguard of chemical sensing at Alphasense, Universities of Cambridge & Warwick, UCL, UWE, Harwell, Cookson, Capteur Sensors, City Technology, MicroChemical Systems, ChipSensors, Honeywell and Silicon Laboratories.

To contact us:

Tel: 00(44)1865 554954

Mob: 00(44)7764 614076

Email: enquiries@mcgowan-smith.co.uk

References:

Technology

Sensors are central to the modern world due to the phenomenal growth in 'smart' consumer products and the 'internet of things'.

Gas sensors play a pivotal part in this increasing uptake, none more so than in applications regarding pollution, air quality, food storage and point-of-care heath diagnostics.

We are at the forefront of developments in MOx (metal oxide chemi-resistors) sensors, which offers by far the best gas sensors for embedding into modern devices:

• Target a variety of different gases (VOCs, Hydrogen, Ammonia, CO, CO₂, Refrigeration gases, Ethylene)
• simple integration with electronics
• small form factors and long lifetimes

For wearables and other lifestyle smart devices, low power is an additional "must-have" requirement. Working with a well-established technology company, this has been achieved but, significantly, not at the expense of robustness and reliability — see Technology page.

Air Quality

Of increasing concern is the impact of air quality, both outdoor and indoor, on our health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown into sharp relief the crucial importance of indoor air quality (IAQ). IAQ can be improved by simple engineering methods, ventilation or purification through air purifiers. Both methods require gas sensors, CO₂ for ventilation and VOC (volatile organic compounds) for air purifiers. Despite detailed guidance by trade bodies¹, regulation defining performance benchmarks for these sensors is scant.

For outdoor monitoring, local authorities try to meet obligations under EU Ambient Air Quality Directives³ (rolled over into UK law) with widely placed inexpensive diffusion tubes (DTs) supplemented by a few expensive fixed continuous monitoring stations. DTs provide an indicative measurement every 4-5 week but only after an offline laboratory analysis. The high-cost of the fixed monitoring boxes restricts their wider uptake.

As we are gas sensor developers, we are addressing this poorly serviced sector with robust sensor solutions.