Sensors & transducers
FROM INDUSTRIAL SENSOR TO EVERYDAY APPLICATION
They are smaller than a postage stamp and are suitable for virtually any type of application. From classic safety use cases to the most advanced innovations, the possibilities are almost limitless. This is gas sensor technology 2.0. A company from Munich has developed a technology that, for the industry, is the equivalent of the leap from the push-button phone to the smartphone – with all the implications that come with it.
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ome companies change an entire industry quietly, almost unnoticed. No billions in backing, no Silicon Valley hype, no keynote spectacle in front of thousands of people. Just a small team south of Munich, a machine capable of producing up
to ten million sensors per year, and an idea that no one had had before – or at least had never been able to implement technically. Founded in 2015, EC-Sense has moved beyond the startup phase and is now doing what true hidden champions do: fundamentally reshaping a technology and digitising an industry that has remained stuck in the analogue world for decades.
THE GAS SENSOR THAT NO LONGER NEEDS LIQUID
To understand why this is such a big deal, it is worth taking a brief look at the world of conventional gas sensor technology. For around 40 years, electrochemical gas sensors have worked according to the same principle: inside a cylindrical housing there is a liquid electrolyte. Ambient air enters, reacts with the liquid and generates an electrical signal. This signal is read out and converted. The result shows how many ppm – parts per million – of a gas, such as carbon monoxide, ammonia or hydrogen, are present in the air. But this principle comes with a number of drawbacks. The liquid can leak, creating a leakage
risk that can damage devices and endanger people. The sensors are relatively large, heavy and bulky because they require a small container for the liquid. They are manufactured exclusively by hand, piece by piece, which is labour-intensive and time- consuming. And they require regular recalibration because of what is known as zero-point drift: the sensor’s zero value shifts and displays a reading even when no gas is present.
EC-Sense has overcome all of this with a new technological approach. Instead of a liquid electrolyte, the Munich-based company uses a solid polymer electrolyte – printed directly onto ceramic. The company’s managing director, who has more than 40 years of experience in gas detection,
August 2026 Instrumentation Monthly
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