World demand soars for British automotive pollution sensors

Citation

(1999), "World demand soars for British automotive pollution sensors", Sensor Review, Vol. 19 No. 3. https://doi.org/10.1108/sr.1999.08719cab.004

World demand soars for British automotive pollution sensors

World demand soars for British automotive pollution sensors

Keywords Automotive, Gas sensors

World-wide demand for their automotive gas sensors has nearly doubled, say City Technology, one of the world's leading developers and manufacturers of gas sensors, based in Portsmouth, Hampshire in the UK (see Figure 1).

Figure 1 Huge increase in sales of City Technology's automotive oxygen sensor

In the USA in particular sales have more than doubled over the past 12 months. City supplies its unique, AO2 CiTiceL automotive oxygen sensor to two of the world's three largest manufacturers of emission instruments which are based in the USA. Sales are growing daily.

Increasing legislation governing emissions in many countries makes monitoring essential in order to hit Agenda 2000 targets.

Measuring oxygen in exhaust gases (0-4 per cent concentration) gives an indication of the efficiency of pollution-reducing catalytic converters. A number of huge scale vehicle emissions monitoring programmes are under way across the USA. These include the Smoke Check Program in California which is testing 24 million vehicles; the Inspection and Maintenance Program in New York, fully operational March 1999, testing 4 million vehicles. All the instruments used in the programmes contain City's technology. In the USA the fitting of catalytic converters is obligatory but their maintenance is not. This has huge implications for the environment.

City's unique A02 CiTiceL sensor has approvals which make it acceptable internationally and an attractive option for OEMs everywhere keen to enter new markets quickly. City Technology continues to develop world-class sensors thanks to their sustained commitment to Research & Development. Year on year, City spends 10 per cent of turnover on R&D, five times the British manufacturing average.

Main features

What makes the AO2 CiTiceL so desirable? It measures 02 accurately at concentrations as low as 0.1 per cent while resisting the rigours of the garage environment. The A02 has an ultra fast response time of T99.5 < 40 secs while giving linearity of 0-100 per cent 02 with a very low zero offset of <20 microvolts. Its high activity electrodes give a very stable signal over the sensor's lifetime which is at least two years. The A02 is temperature compensated, resistant to poisoning by CO2 and, being moulded in ABS, is chemically resistant. It uses an industry standard M16 screwthread and offers either molex or jacket socket connector options. The sensor is BAR-97 and PTB approved and exceeds PTB cross-sensitivity requirements.

For further information please contact: David Baines, Sales and Marketing Director, City Technology Limited. Tel: +44 1705 325511.