Patent ID: 8590404

Claim:
A gas sensor, comprising: a gas collecting chamber including: a nanoporous wall including alumina, on a portion of the gas collecting chamber in a near vicinity of the solid propellant fuel; a micro pump attached to the gas collecting chamber between the nanoporous wall and a gas analysis device, the micro pump being both for sucking ambient air out of the gas collecting chamber thereby forcibly bringing gas out of the gas collecting chamber through the pores in the nanoporous wall and also for blowing inert gas selected from the group consisting of argon, helium, neon, krypton, xenon, radon, sulfur hexafluoride, nitrogen and combinations thereof into the gas collecting chamber and out through the nanoporous wall thereby to rid the nanoporous wall of accumulated particles; a baffle located in the gas collecting chamber near an area of the gas collecting chamber where the micro pump is connected, the baffle being for channeling the gas sucked by the micro pump from the solid propellant fuel to the gas analysis device; and the gas analysis device connected to the gas collecting chamber, the gas analysis device measuring both type and concentration of gases collected in the gas collecting chamber via the nanoporous wall, the gases measured being selected from the group consisting of CO, CO 2 , NO, N 2 O, NO 2 and combinations thereof.