A technique known as Selected Ion Flow Tube Mass Spectrometry (SIFT-MS) instantly analyzes air down to part-per-trillion (ppt) concentrations. The SIFT-MS technology can be used to test vehicles for emissions and volatile organic compounds, including irritants, toxins, and odors.
In a presentation titled Rapid Vehicle Interior Air Quality (VIAQ) Analysis Using Direct Mass Spectrometry, a Tech Briefs attendee asked an automotive specialist from Syft Technologies, the New Zealand-based manufacturer of gas-emission measurement systems:
What production problems are being looked at? What production concerns are being evaluated by vehicle OEMs?
Below is an edited response from speaker Yan Li, Applications Team Leader and Automotive Specialist at Syft Technologies.
Yan Li: For each industry, production problems can be quite different. In general, there are two ways of using the technology to monitor the process line. The first is to monitor the emission from the production line, and how the emission is going to meet regulations.
The second way: People are using a dynamic real-time technology like SIFT-MS to see how the changing of the operating parameters of their process — and also the use of different agents in their process line — can affect their result. When there's a variation of the process line, how are VOC levels elevated or changed in a way that could affect their final product quality?
For the automotive industry and for the OEMs, right now what's mostly being proposed is using the technology to determine what the concentration levels look like in the process line, and whether the concentration within the final product assembly is going to meet the regulation or not. That's what the OEMs are looking at SIFT-MS for.
What do you think? Share your thoughts below.
Watch the full presentation: Rapid Vehicle Interior Air Quality (VIAQ) Analysis Using Direct Mass Spectrometry