For some reason, I got interested a while ago in automated smelling. Don't ask why.
The state of the art, from what I could tell, is that no equipment is any better than half as good as a dog's nose.
There was a gas leak next door to me, or at least, they thought it was near the street, in front of the house next door. They chopped down a tree, dug a hole about six feet deep, and discovered that it was actually in front of MY house.
I joked with the PG&E guys that they should just inject some bacon fat into the gas line and my dog would find the leak. They said there actually are dogs who are trained to find gas leaks.
But probably smoke particles are easier to detect automatically.
Being half as good as a dog's nose is an incredible achievement.
> There was a gas leak next door to me, or at least, they thought it was near the street, in front of the house next door. They chopped down a tree, dug a hole about six feet deep, and discovered that it was actually in front of MY house.
Not sure what this tale is supposed to convey? Gas diffuses really fast and travels through crevices, so the smell could have been carried to literally any point in the neighborhood, especially when you consider that gas "smell" is a compound that's there specifically to be easily detectable. They made an educated guess and were reasonably close to the leak origin.
The state of the art, from what I could tell, is that no equipment is any better than half as good as a dog's nose.
There was a gas leak next door to me, or at least, they thought it was near the street, in front of the house next door. They chopped down a tree, dug a hole about six feet deep, and discovered that it was actually in front of MY house.
I joked with the PG&E guys that they should just inject some bacon fat into the gas line and my dog would find the leak. They said there actually are dogs who are trained to find gas leaks.
But probably smoke particles are easier to detect automatically.