It has been written: > [...] > > The reason this is relevant is the typical meter is calibrated > assuming a straight line behavior (linear). The two points that > determine this line are by default 0% O2 and whatever you calibrate > at. Most meters are calibrated at no voltage = 0% O2 which is wrong > according to these guys (two PhDs in physics and engineering between > them). This zero reading is handy because people expect to see that > when there is no sensor plugged into the meter or the sensor is dead > and it also removes a difficult calibration step required for > accuracy. > > The troublesome step required for accuracy is correctly determining the > voltage that should be interpreted for 0% O2 for each individual > sensor. For those of you that know your linear algebra this is the y > intercept, b, in the y = mX + b formula. Y being voltage, X the % O2, > and m the slope or ratio of voltage to % O2. Note that the % O2 is > based on the partial pressure of oxygen. Crank up the gas flow and > pressure, and you'll see a higher O2 than is really there. Please note that I know nothing about the specifics of O2 sensors, but it seems suspicious to me that a sensor would be perfectly linear between 0% and 100% O2. It seems much more likely that in the middle of the scale (oh, say from 30% to 70%) it may be close to linear, but at the extremes (anywhere close to 0% and 100%) a sensor wouldn't necessarily be close to linear. I'd suspect something more like a 3rd order polynomial: | | ..... | .... | . | . mV | . (excuse the cheezy ascii graphics) | . | .... |.... +----------------------- 0% 100% I don't know if I'm right or not, but it seems suspcious that a sensor would give a strictly linear result. Anybody _really_ know? > [...] > > Got all that? Let me know politely if something doesn't check here. You've got to be kidding... politely? :) -- "What? No Geek Code!"
Navigate by Author:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Author Search Index]
Navigate by Subject:
[Previous]
[Next]
[Subject Search Index]
[Send Reply] [Send Message with New Topic]
[Search Selection] [Mailing List Home] [Home]