Bosch Sensortec Announces Tiny Particulate Matter Sensor to Monitor Air Quality
One of the cool new sensors we learned about at CES is the BMV080 - it is the smallest particulate matter sensor available and has several applications to support monitoring indoor and outdoor air quality. Bosch Sensortec had a couple of demos at their booth to demonstrate the capabilities of the sensor.
The new BMV080 from Bosch Sensortec is the smallest particulate matter sensor we have seen (measures 4.2 x 3.5 x 3 mm3 [W x L x H]) - according to the web site, it is 450 times smaller than any comparable device. Here is a photo we took in the booth at CES:
In addition to being tiny, the BMV080 measures both indoor air quality and outdoor air quality; is fanless; and is silent - all of this makes it high quality but nonintrusive. It is ideal for projects and designs that are compact, but require information about particulate concentration levels.
Air Quality Demos Using the BMV080
Both of the demos at the Bosch Sensortec CES booth had to do with the kitchen - where the air quality can be impacted by all types of cooking and cleaning activities; having an air quality sensor in place can help trigger ventilation at the right time.
In the first demo, the BMV080 was used to monitor air quality while cooking a piece of meat.
In the second demo, the sensor was used to measure air quality around the microwave while it popped a bag of popcorn. The microwave was in a plastic chamber so the impact was pretty obvious. For visualizing the data, the team created both chart and a visual (sad face surrounded by particulates) to show how the air quality was being impacted.
Although we have not yet built anything with the BMV080, we thought the sensor and the demos would be fun to share. You can see what we have built around sensors from Bosch Sensortec here. Here's a sampling:
