OdourScan Model 2000 Electronic Nose

The OdourScan Model 2000 Electronic Nose has been developed to provide the food industry with a rapid means of detecting and quantifying odours and smells. The instrument uses a set of six tin oxide detectors that have different sensitivities to detect different odourants and gases. The response from one or multiple detectors can be used to detect and measure the odourants.

The instrument has a head space sampling system designed to collect a gas sample from the head space of a sealed jar or container. The container needs to have a rubber septum that can be pierced by the sample probe. A syringe then withdraws a fixed volume of gas through a series of isolation valves and injects the gas into the sensor module. The outputs from the detectors are plotted on a time graph that shows the peak response from each detector as the gases pass over the detector block. The peak heights are then used to determine the identity of the gases and their concentrations.

The machine is PC controlled so that the data can be stored and used to develop calibrations for different products. Linear regression modelling can be used to develop calibrations for multiple gases or odourants analyses.

The analyser can replace the subjective testing that is undertaken in food manufacturing and provides a digital result which can be stored and then compared to other data. Unlike human sensory testing which can be subjective and affected by health, age and what foods people have recently eaten, the analyser provides an objective measurement, ie, a digital assessment that is independent of the operator and one that can be used to differentiate good and bad smelling products all year round.