Yole: Sensor Makers Becoming Growing Interest for HVAC Sector

The gas sensor market for HVAC applications is showing one of the most important growths within the overall gas and particles industry, between 2018 and 2023, according to Yole Développement, the market research and strategy consulting company.

Yole forecasts a $107 million market in 2023 with a 12.5% CAGR between 2018 and 2023.

During the same period, Sensirion, manufacturer of sensors for the measurement and control of flow and environmental parameters, released a humidity, temperature and carbon dioxide concentration sensor, the SCD30. This device is the first solution offered by the Swiss company especially developed and designed for HVAC systems.

Knowmade, in its Miniaturized gas sensors – Patent landscape, has seen a big increase in patenting activity related to miniaturized gas sensors in 2017-2018. This evolution within all gas sensor market segments, including HVAC, is mainly due to new inventions from Bosch, AMS, NGK, Sensirion new entrants such as MicroJet Technology, Spirosure, Carrier Corporation, LG and Apple. The patent filings currently pending reflect a particular interest by the competitors in European and Chinese markets. Historical IP players Siemens, Honeywell and General Electric have the strongest patent portfolios, especially Siemens, which illustrates the most important contribution to the prior art in the field of miniaturized gas sensors…

The reverse engineering and costing company, System Plus Consulting, offered today a detailed structural, process & costing report focused on Sensirion’s SCD30, a competitively priced miniature carbon dioxide, relative humidity and temperature sensor combo: Sensirion SCD30: NDIR CO2 and humidity sensor.

“Sensirion has developed a thermopile die based on its air flow sensor technology, called CMOSens,” said Sylvain Hallereau, senior cost analyst at System Plus Consulting. “This technology allows integration of CMOS digital and analog functions with a very thin membrane manufactured in the metal layer.”

The added value of the CO2 gas sensor technology is not only due to the use of silicon. Packaging and IR filters are also very important for the accuracy of the measurement.

The module embeds the SHT31 humidity sensor of Sensirion with an ultra-low power microcontroller from STMicroelectronics to control the module and communications.

With a CO2 gas, humidity and temperature sensor, the SCD30 module gives all the environmental data for HVAC, making it smarter. With a small package volume under 5.6cm3, this CO2 gas sensor can be clearly integrated into HVAC installations… The new gas sensor report from System Plus Consulting will probably spark lot of interest and curiosity among the community of sensor and HVAC systems manufacturers.

The Sensirion SCD30 report is part of a complete collection of gas sensor reports offered by Yole Group of Companies: Gas and particle sensors technology & market report from Yole, Particle sensors comparison, from System Plus Consulting and Miniaturized gas sensors – Patent landscape from KnowMade.

The three companies continously work closely together to investigate the gas and particle industry and provide an in-deepth understanding of the latest technical innovations, market issues and patent activities.
HVAC seeks to reduce air extraction and limit energy consumption. But good extraction is also important to limit humidity and CO2 concentration and ensure well-being. This evolution is fully part of the smart building era. Making HVAC systems smarter with high added-value sensors, is key, today.

Sensirion is following the evolution of the industry and for the first time offers a sensor combining several parameters, ideal for HVAC applications. The Swiss company offers an impressive gas sensor portfolio for numerous applications, with their MOX gas sensors. The release of the SCD30 solution shows Sensirion’s strategy to penetrate the HVAC market segment. Today only a few companies share this market…

“SD30 from Sensirion is not based on a new technology. In fact, with SCD30, the company has made a really nice development by using existing and mature technologies-tough improved to a higher level,” Hallereau said. “This approach is really smart as it allows Sensirion to penetrate a new market segment. From a technical point of view, challenges were mainly focused on the combination of all parameters, ensuring accurate measurements and reliability. They were also focused on the selection and the development of a dedicated packaging.”