CO2 Sensing and Gas Flow Control Project

Using Arduino Project Guidance
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Hi everyone!

I'm currently taking part in a group project which is aimed at introducing researchers (without any electronics experience) to using arduino as a platform for future experimental work. Our project involves controlling the flow of a mixture of gases (CO2, N2, O2), to produce a gas mixture, which is then flowed through a redox-flow battery cell, where the CO2 content of the exhaust gas must then be recorded. The aim is to create a system that will enable flow of a selected gas mixture over a sample substrate which ad/desorbs CO2 in response to a change in voltage.

The gas mixture will be controlled by mass flow controllers, which we think have their own proprietary software, so the scope for controlling these with our arduino may be limited. However, we're hoping to control pressure, CO2, and temperature sensors to allow measurements of the exhaust gas. The below sensors are what we are presently planning to use based on the requirements of the project:

CO2 sensor -

Pressure sensor –

https://uk.farnell.com/omega/px309-030a5v/pressure-sensor-analogue-30psi/dp/2810640

Temperature sensor –

(We have access to some generic thermocouples in the department, not 100% sure of which specific components presently)

As I have very little experience with electronics or programming, I was hoping that I could draw upon the experience of the Arduino community to help get us started. If anyone has experience with similar projects, or with using similar sensors for different projects, we would be incredibly grateful for any tips/pointers to help get us started with finding examples of code that are compatible with these components.

Thanks in advance :blush:!!!

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Those are rather expensive sensors as far as hobbyists are concerned. I'd be surprised if many (any?) people here have used them.

That said, generic advice for this sort of thing is to create a setup and code that lets you exercise each sensor separately before you try to combine them.

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Such an expensive sensor is absolutely required for a project like this, as the cheap consumer sensors are far too unstable and can't easily be calibrated.

Fortunately, the one you selected has a simple UART serial interface (0 to 3.3V), so it will be easy for the Arduino to read the output.

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@wildbill I understand they're quite expensive. We've been given a fairly generous budget by the research group as this is something they need for taking accurate measurements in their lab. Thanks for your advice about making separate code and linking it together :slight_smile:

@jremington That's great to hear, I've heard UART mentioned but should probably look into what this actually entails. Cheers for the help :slight_smile: !

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Control of the device looks straight forward based on the user manual

It's controlled more like AT style with "\r\n" as the message terminator

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