Overview; How Do Sharp Dust Sensors Work - Sharp GP2Y1026AU0F Application Manual

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Application Guide for Sharp GP2Y1026AU0F Dust Sensor

1. Overview

Designed for use in commerical air purifiers, Sharp Corporation dust sensors have proven
popular over the years with electronics hobbyists and researchers interested in building air
quality and pollution monitors. In particular, Sharp's GP2Y1010AU0F dust sensor model is
the subject of many electronics projects due to its low cost and ease of availability through
components distributors. Since the introduction of GP2Y1010AU0F, Sharp has released
newer models such as GP2Y1014AU0F and GP2Y1026AU0F which offer improvements in
design and function. Sharp GP2Y1026AU0F is a digital UART sensor featuring a built-in
microcomputer (MCU) which handles some of the processing you would normally need to
provide yourself such as offset calibration, temperature correction, LED pulsing, and
averaging of data values to minimize noise.

2. How do Sharp dust sensors work?

Sharp dust sensors operate on the principle of light scattering. A photo-detector and LED
emitter oppose each other at an angle within the rectangular package of the sensor which
has a dust through hole on either side. Air containing dust particles flows into the sensor
chamber and causes the light from the LED emitter to be scattered towards the photo-
detector. The dust sensor outputs a voltage value which varies according to the intensity
of light scattered which in turn corresponds to the level of dust in the sensor chamber. The
actual dust density (or dust concentration) can then be calculated from the output voltage
value using a linear relation.
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