Study of Odor Preconcentrator Using SAW Device

Abstract

A new type preconcentrator was realized by using a SAW (Surface Acoustic Wave) device and a peltier device to raise concentration of a low-volatile compound efficiently and rapidly. It can rapidly desorb odor with the low-volatile compound in comparison with a preconcentrator tube using adsorbent material. In the proposed device, the odor is atomized using acoustic streaming caused by the SAW device after it accumulates the odor on a surface of that device cooled by the peltier device. A new measurement cell including both the preconcentrator and a QCM (Quartz Crystal Microbalance) sensor was fabricated to increase sensitivity. As a result, we obtained much higher response of the QCM sensor to 1-nonanol, one of low-volatile compounds, due to the preconcentrator effect in comparison with a previous structure of the preconcentrator cell separated from the sensor.