SPEC Sensors Announces UL Recognition for Its High Sensitivity Carbon Monoxide Sensor

NEWARK, CA--(Marketwired - June 15, 2016) - SPEC Sensors 3SP_CO_1000 has been independently tested by UL and determined that it conforms to UL STD 2034, and UL STD 2075. The UL Recognized component mark means that OEMs can feel confident designing products using SPEC Sensors' 3SP_CO_1000 and other sensors.

Carbon Monoxide Detectors typically use electrochemical sensors because of their low power consumption, enhanced selectivity, sensitivity, and long lifetimes. Many of the current commercially available electrochemical sensors are bulky, expensive, or low performance, making them difficult to integrate into new devices.

SPEC Sensors' proprietary manufacturing approach for Screen Printed ElectroChemical sensors shrinks traditional electrochemical gas sensing technology to a size appropriate for today's Smart Home, Wearable, and Internet of Things applications without sacrificing performance. In addition, SPEC Sensors is able to make these sensors at the volumes and costs appropriate for these markets.

SPEC Sensors' proprietary technology also offers measurement sensitivity well below levels required for Carbon Monoxide life safety detectors, thereby enabling new applications for Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality monitoring.

Southcoast Air Quality Management District recently evaluated the performance of SPEC Sensors CO sensors with their high performance measurement electronics against an NDIR (non-dispersive infrared) CO sensor that is calibrated daily and costs ~ $10,000. They collected data over a 2 month period at an outdoor ambient monitoring station measuring levels from below 80 ppb to above 1 ppm and found a correlation of 83%.

While the new UL recognition should give many OEMs the confidence to use SPEC Sensor's CO sensor in their CO safety products, this sensitive sensor can be used for more demanding applications such as indoor air quality, outdoor air pollution, and more advanced multi-sensor fire and smoke detectors.

As Dr. Joseph Stetter, SPEC Sensors President and CTO, explains, "SPEC Sensors' advanced manufacturing and revolutionary sensor design has improved reliability and response, using a tiny package with lower cost. Until recently, most high performance CO Sensors were not small and were difficult to make inexpensively at high volumes. SPEC Sensors are ready to enable the next generation of products to protect human health and to improve the well-being of our society and planet."

About Carbon Monoxide:

Carbon Monoxide (CO) is a tasteless, odorless, colorless gas that is highly toxic. It is one of the greatest causes of death by poisoning in the U.S. and a major contributor to air pollution worldwide. Today, 36 States require CO detectors in Private dwellings, but only 12 States require them in hotel/motel rooms and only 5 states require them in school buildings. Current CO detectors protect life [with a 400 ppm alarm] but do nothing to prevent exposures that affect health, starting at much lower ppm values.

There is evidence that exposure at a fraction of the 400 ppm alarm level [e.g. 20 ppm] can cause health problems for: pregnant women and their babies, patients with heart disease and COPD, individuals with asthma, the aged, the infirm and even healthy individuals exercising aerobically.

Carbon Monoxide sensors, especially when integrated into Smart City networks, Connected Buildings, Smart Homes, Smart Phone accessories and other wireless and wearable devices in the Internet of Things, inform people about their environment, air quality and safety. Some visionaries even foresee a world where trillions of sensors are deployed and worn, blanketing the globe, and providing immediate actionable information for all of us. Distributed sensing, starting with CO, can tell us where to go to avoid pollution and enable people to change their lives and the world around them.

About SPEC Sensors:

SPEC Sensors was founded to provide the gas sensing expertise that enables distributed environmental sensing, improving health and wellness for people. Based in California near Silicon Valley, we combine our extensive experience in reliable and time tested gas sensing technologies with novel manufacturing techniques to produce gas sensors that are small enough to go anywhere while maintaining the high performance that is critical to delivering actionable information. We take pride in both our long history and gas detection and our deep involvement in cutting edge technology and protection of public health. With low cost, high performance, low power gas sensors for Carbon Monoxide, and other EPA criteria pollutants like NO2, SO2, and Ozone, SPEC Sensors is prepared to make gas sensing a part of our everyday lives.

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