Sensor Development, Fall 2017

Lois Lee, Grace Zhang, Srilekha Vangavolu

November 25, 2017

Abstract
This semester, using the prototypes from previous semesters, the Sensor Development team will
work on the further development and testing of both the products including the fluidized bed solids
detector and the submersible solids detector for floc blankets. This will allow other teams to measure
the sludge layers.

Introduction
The Sensor Development subteam was created to assist the Anaerobic Fluidized Bed (AFB) Reactor
and Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) wastewater subteams in improving the efficiency of their
apparatus. The Spring 2017 Sensor Development subteam assisted the the High Rate Sedimentation
(HRS) subteam by focusing on two projects. The first was which a fluidized bed solids concentration
sensor to measure clay particle concentrations in the high rate sedimentation (HRS) process as well as a
submersible solids concentration sensor attached to the end of a PVC tube and designed to measure the
height of the sludge blanket in the sedimentation tank.
This semester, the Fall 2017 Sensor Development subteam focused on optimization and calibration of
the fluidized bed solids concentration sensor by using different designs to eliminate problems that surfaced
in the previous iterations. The subteam also worked on redesigning and re-fabricating the submersible
sensor to incorporate a physical real-time concentration reader by programming a Raspberry Pi to take
in input from the photosensor and use the relations derived through experimental testing to output
concentrations onto a physical digital display. This will eliminate the need for any external connections.

Literature Review
0.1 Basic Mechanisms of Photosensor
A photosensor is used in a variety of electronic devices, circuits, and systems. It is an electronic compo-
nent that detects the presence of visible light, infrared transmission (IR), and/or ultraviolet (UV) energy
(Rouse, 2005). Most photosensors consist of semiconductors that have a property called photoconduc-
tivity , meaning the electrical conductance varies depending on the intensity of radiation striking the
material.
The most common type of photosensors are the photodiode, the bipolar phototransistor, and the
photoFET (photosensitive field-effect transistor). These devices are essentially the same as the ordinary
diode, bipolar transistor, and field-effect transistor, except that the packages have transparent windows
that allow radiant energy to reach the junctions between the semiconductor materials inside. Bipolar
and field-effect phototransistors provide amplification in addition to their sensing capabilities.
The photosensor measures light intensity by measuring the illuminance of the light. The equation
for calculating illuminance is based on the definition of luminous flux. Luminous flux is a quantitative
expression of the brilliance of a source of visible light, which is electromagnetic energy within the wave-
length range of approximately 390 nanometers (nm) to 770 nm (Jenkins and White, 1950). This quantity
is measured in terms of the power emitted per unit solid angle from an isotropic radiator, a theoretical
point source that radiates equally in all directions in three-dimensional space (Figure 1). The luminous
flux (dF) falling on the area (dA) from a source of intensity (I) is given by:

cos()
dF = I dA (1)
r2

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 However, the calculation for luminous flux is only valid for theoretical point sources, and when the
light is emitted from an extended source, illuminance is applied (Jenkins and White, 1950). It is defined
as the luminous flux per unit area (dA) per unit solid angle (d). Thus, illuminance should be calculated
using the following equation:

dF I cos()
E= = (2)
dA r2

Figure 1: Diagram demonstrating how the equation for calculating illuminance is derived by calculating
the light intensity I passing through an area.

0.2 TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor

The specific photosensor that the fluidized bed solids concentration sensor utilized was the TEMT6000
Ambient Light Sensor made by SparkFun (Figure 2). TEMT6000 is a silicon NPN (Figure 3) epitaxial
planar photo-transistor in a miniature transparent mold for surface mounting onto a printed circuit
board. The device is sensitive to wavelengths from 390 nm to 700 nm (TEM, 2008). The built fluidized
bed solids concentration sensor worked with devices requiring 3.3 V to 5 V and was attached to a 1 cm
by 1 cm breadboard (Bartlett, 2016).

Figure 2: The TEMT6000 breakout board contains three pins: SIG, GND, and VCC. SIG is the output
voltage from the divider circuit. GND is the ground voltage in the circuit of 0 V. VCC is the collector
voltage and should not exceed 6 V. Enclosed in the blue circle is the phototransistor, which detects light
(Bartlett, 2016).

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Figure 3: The TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor contains an NPN transistor, which passes electrons
from the emitter to the collector. As the incoming light on the p-type Base increases, it allows more
current to flow from the n-type Collector to the n-type Emitter (Bartlett, 2016).

0.3 Beers Law

Beers Law was used to determine the solids concentration. Beers Law relates the amount of light
absorbed and scattered with the medium composition and the distance that the light travels. The law
is expressed as the equation:

Kz = K0 eaz (3)
Kz represents the amount of light (K ) that reaches a certain depth, z. K0 is the light at the surface of
the medium, and a is the extinction coefficient, which is the amount of radiation absorbed (Allaby, 2007).
Beers Law establishes a linear relationship between the concentration of a species and its absorbance.
The absorbance is typically calculated using transmittance, which is measured experimentally. In terms
of concentration and absorbance, Beers Law can also be expressed by the equation:

A=bc (4)
where A is the absorbance measured,  is the wavelength-dependent molar absorptivity coefficient
(M 1 cm1 ), b is the length of the path traveled by the light, and c is the concentration.
However, the linear relationship between concentration and absorbance established by Beers Law can
be affected by several factors. High concentrations of particulates can cause electrostatic interactions
between particles, which may cause the absorptivity coefficients to deviate (Allaby, 2007). Another
limitation to Beers law is that it does not account for the scattering of light due to the particulates in
solution.

0.4 Photosensor Calibration

Photosensors need to be calibrated before data collection for a number of reasons. Differences in sensor
design mean two different sensors could respond differently in similar conditions. Sensors subject to heat,
cold, shock, humidity, aging, and other outside conditions could result in a change in response even when
they have the exact same design (Earl, 2015). Also, given that the sensor is only a part of the overall
system, variabilities in other components of the measurement system must be taken into consideration
when designing the experimental process or during data analysis. When collecting data under laboratory
environments, the response of sensors can be affected by spectral distribution, ambient light, specular
reflections, and other optical phenomena. Thus, sensor calibration is essential to the accuracy of the
data.
A good photosensor is characterized by several parameters, including precision, resolution, linearity
and speed. Precision requires the sensor to always produce the same output for the same input, which
might be affected by random noise in the system and hysteresis (Earl, 2015). Resolution means a good
sensor will be able to reliably detect small changes in the measured parameter, especially when the
experiment are designed in a way such that changes only occur in very small magnitudes. A sensor

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whose output is directly proportional to the input is said to be linear and it eliminates the need for
complex curve-fitting and simplifies the calibration process. Speed is not a necessary quality but a
sensor that can produce precise readings in a short time range is preferred.
There are generally three types of calibration methods. One point calibration is the simplest type of
calibration (Earl, 2015). It is used to correct measurement offset when only one measurement point is
needed or when the sensor is known to be linear and has the correct slope over the desired measurement
range. A two point calibration can be applied to either raw or scaled sensor outputs. It essentially
re-scales the output and is capable of correcting both slope and offset errors. Two point calibration can
be used in cases where the sensor output is known to be reasonably linear over the measurement range.
Sensors that are not linear over the measurement range require some curve-fitting to achieve accurate
measurements over the measurement range, which is called multi-point calibration. Different calibration
methods should be selected carefully based on the characteristics of the sensor.

Previous Work
The Spring 2017 team created and tested the fluidized bed solids detector, yielding a relation to be used
to calculate the concentration of suspended clay particles in running flocculation re-circulator (Tsang
et al., 2017). The device consisted of a photosensor (Figure 5) on the opposite side of an LED adjusted
using a potentiometer (Figure 11b). The photosensor was connected to an external circuit board (Figure
6). The circuit board (Figure 6) contained ports for the LED and photosensor, and an ethernet cable,
to connect the circuit board to a computer. The pipe was cut in half to allow it to be clamped to the
testing apparatus, allowing easy and flexible functionality (Tsang et al., 2017). Measurements made by
the Spring 2017 team showed an exponential relation between concentration and absorption, which the
Fall 2017 team plan to do further tests to calibrate the curve to higher accuracy.

(a) The 2.54 cm (1 in) outer diameter PVC cross was

cut laterally, with the LED and photosensor affixed (b) Light from the LED light passes through the pipe
to opposite ends. and is received by the phototransistor.

Figure 4: Design of fluidized bed solids detector fabricated by the Spring 2017 team

Figure 5: The TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor was affixed to the fluidized bed concentration sensor
at one end.

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Figure 6: Completed circuit board. The ethernet cable connects the circuit board to the computer. The
potentiometer allows the light intensity to be adjusted. By turning the screw, the brightness of the LED
can be increased or decreased. The wires in the sensor ports are soldered to the TEMT6000 Ambient
Light Sensor, and the wires in the LED ports are soldered to the LED light.

The Spring 2017 team also fabricated a rough prototype for the submersible solids detector for floc
blankets, using a photosensor and an LED facing each other (Tsang et al., 2017). The submersible sensor
consisted of a photometer attached to the end of a marked 2 meter long pipe. The photometer consists
of an adaptor pipe, which connects two adjacent pipes, one containing the LED, and one containing
the TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor. As the sensor is lowered into the sedimentation tank, water
will pass between the LED and the photosensor. When the sensor reaches the sludge blanket, which is
highly concentrated, the sludge blanket blocks all light from reaching the photosensor, and therefore the
photosensor reads the dark voltage (Tsang et al., 2017). At this point, the height of the sludge blanket
can be obtained from markings on the tube. However, the prototype was not completed due to lack of
time, so the Fall 2017 team plans to create an apparatus that will allow a dark voltage to be measured.
As with the fluidized bed solids concentration sensor, the submersible sensor can also output the
range of voltages between dark and blank, and uses this to determine floc particle concentrations within
the sedimentation tank. Floc concentrations have a broad variety of applications within the Honduras
treatment plants. This information can be used by plant operators to determine the rate of floc blanket
formation, and therefore decide how often to drain the tank for maximum efficiency. It can also be used
to optimize coagulant doses, as high doses of coagulant are known to lower floc blanket concentrations.

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Figure 7: The schematic for the submersible sensor, which consists of a photometer attached to a 2 m
long pipe. The photometer is the adaptor and the two pipes containing the photosensor and the LED.
The photosensor is the TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor, which contains a phototransistor to detect
light.

Overall, the past semesters team has left a working fluidized bed solids detector that needs to be
calibrated and reproduced for use in the lab, and has also left a submersible solids detector for floc
blankets prototype in the making, which will later be used in the field.

Methods
Experimental Apparatus
Fluidized Bed Solids Concentration Sensor
The current fluidized bed solids concentration sensor design has changed drastically in terms of fabrication
to help facilitate easy and flexible use within the laboratory. Some of these changes include
Schematic
The length of the sensor was increased from 10cm to 20cm in order to achieve a better light
coverage and minimize the disruption of data from outside light sources
Instead of having a sensor with horizontal and vertical components, the Fall 2017 Sensor
Development Team designed the new sensor as two half-cylinders that can wrap around the
tube and connected on the side. Since the radius of the two half-cylinders is longer than the
radius of the tube, they overlap with each other on the side and avoid any concern on having
a gap between different pieces of the sensor.
The sensor and the LED was fixed to the center of the inside of the two half-cylinders so they
are as far away from any possible outside light sources as possible.
Materials
The material of the sensor was switched from PVC pipes and clamps to foam and velcro so
that the design could be adjustable for any tubing size and the materials can be easily accessed
and fabricated without any professional equipments. The foam and velcro can be cut and put
together simply using scissors and additional tapes if needed.
Important Constraints and Possible Future Revision to Apparatus

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 The two pieces of foam overlap with each other at both sides of the tube and the thickness of
the pieces lead to a gap between the foam and the tubes. Even though the impact of outside
light leaked through the gap might be negligible due to the increased length of the photosensor,
further revisions to the apparatus might be needed after data collection and analysis.

Figure 8: The foam piece wraps around the pipe. The photosensor is positioned to be across from the
LED to capture the maximum light intensity.

Figure 9: The sensor is designed to be adjustable. Four velcro attachments are located on the outside of
the foam jacket. Having multiple straps allow for the jacket to positioned close to the pipe. This reduces
the effect of outside light.

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Figure 10: The amount of light falling on the phototransistor creates a proportional amount of charge
carriers in the transistor. A greater intensity of light creates more charge carriers thus causing greater
current flows. This variable current then travels to the voltage divider or the potentiometer and the
resistor in series . A potentiometer is a manually adjustable, variable resistor. Having the potentiometer
and the resistor in series allows for more precise readings.

Submersible Sensor
The submersible sensor apparatus has also been changed drastically due to the fact that the team decided
to incorporate the Raspberry Pi and the digital display. The additions made include the following:

Schematic
The original sensor had the photosensor and the LED in separate tubes protruding from a
PVC that housed the wires. The photosensor and LED were opposite each other and placed
facing each other.

(b) Placement of LED directly opposite to the pho-

(a) Placement of photosensor, sealed by silicon.
tosensor, also sealed by silicon.

Figure 11: Picture of the top of the submersible sensor fabricated by the Fall 2017 team.

The Fall 2017 Sensor Development team added a handle through which the wires will pass.
Since the sensor will be submerged under water, the design incorporated two different tubes
encircling the wires.

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Figure 12: The handle is made by incorporating two tubes with different diameters encircling the wires
to make sure it has enough stiffness to hold the structures at the bottom when it is submersed into the
floc blanket. The two tubes are attached to each other through a foam that is inserted into the gap
between them, and a piece of tape that holds both the tubes and the foam in place.

In order to save pins, the Fall 2017 Sensor Development team added a small circuit that
connects the grounds and powers of the LED and photosensor to the common ground and 5V
power on the Raspberry Pi.
Materials
The handle was made using two concentric clear PVCs. Because this is a prototype made for
experimental purposes, the Fall 2017 team chose to keep the length to 1m, however when this
is fabricated for use outside of the labs, this length should increase accordingly.
The Fall 2017 Sensor development team incorporated a Raspberry Pi into the design. The
Raspberry Pi will read the output from the photosensor as input and then output into a
separate digital display.

Figure 13: The figure shows the Raspberry Pi that will read the output and later be connected to a
digital display. The Raspberry Pi is powered by a cord inserted to the bottom-left corner, which can
be connected to any power source such as a lap top. The wires connected to the sensor are attached to
Raspberry Pi on the top.

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 The breadboard used for the circuit was a single sided breadboard and for the breadboard,
the team soldered the connections rather than using wires, for the sole purpose of decreasing
size.
Important Constraints and Possible Future Revision to Apparatus

In future iterations, the head of the sensor, consisting of the photosensor and LED, should
ideally be smaller so that it can be easier to use and be used in more flexible situations.
Since it is still a danger to have electrical equipment placed directly into water, it would be
best to seal off the apparatus completely and have it controlled wirelessly possibly through
use of a radio communicator attached to the Raspberry Pi.

Procedure
The sensors were calibrated after connected to ProCoDA. The team collected several benchmark data
points at the beginning of the calibration process, including the dark voltage, which is collected with only
water running through the tube with the LED light shut off, and the blank voltage, which is collected
with only water running through the tube with the LED light on. These two data points are recorded
to eliminate any possible effects of outside light sources to the output reading of the photosensor.
After obtaining the two most basic data points, the team obtained clay solutions with different
concentrations. It is important to note that in previous research, the difference between clay particles
and flocs was found to be negligible at low concentrations, with a difference of around 5 percent. Because
the High Rate Sedimentation recirculators operate at low concentrations, the discrepancy between the
properties of clay particles and flocs can be ignored, and the experimental data collected using clay
particles can be used to determine the calibration curve. The range of concentration was decided based
on the concentration range used by the Spring 2017 Sensor Development team, so that the Fall 2017 team
can decide whether or not the new design could give more accurate readings under the same conditions.
After measuring voltage output from the photosensor, the team converted the voltage readings to
absorbance in order to study the linear relationship between concentration and absorbance indicated by
the Beers Law. The Fall 2017 team achieved this using the following:
 
sample dark
Absorbance = log (5)
blank dark
This relation was derived using the equation for Transmittance vs. Absorbance:
I
T = (6)
I0
where T is the transmittance of light, I0 is the initial light intensity, and I is the intensity of light that
passes through the sample. Absorbance in relation to transmittance is the following:

A = log(T ) (7)
Consequently, absorbance is inversely proportional to transmittance. In terms of the experiment, the
more light absorbed by the sample, the less light is transmitted through to the photostransistor.

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Results and Analysis

Figure 14: Voltage output of the photosensor under concentration range from 0.05g/mL to 0.3g/mL.
The graph shows a strong exponential trend which gives the exponential linear trend line a 0.9824 R2
value.

As noted before, the photosensor will output a voltage depending on the amount of light it can detect.
The next task is to use the voltage outputted to create a feasible relation between concentration and
absorbance, so that later, when tested with unknown concentrations, one can determine the concentration
using the output voltage from the photosensor. Figure 11 showed the negative relation between voltage
and concentration that the Fall 2017 team determined using different concentrations of clay particles
in water. The experimental data showed that as the concentration increased, the voltage reading from
the phototransistor decreased. As more clay is added, the water becomes increasingly opaque and
the clay particles absorb and scatter light, which prevented the transmitted light from reaching the
photostransistor completely. More specifically, graph had an exponential trend, which means that the
voltage drop was more significant at lower concentrations and less significant at higher concentrations,
under which the amount of light that passed through the clay solution was so small that the variation
started to diminish.

Figure 15: Linearized concentration vs. absorbance relationship based on the voltage output of the
sensor under different concentrations. The graph shows a strong linear trend which gives the linear trend
line a 0.9889 R2 value.

However, voltage was not a value the team can use directly to interpret the relationship between
illuminance and concentration, so the team used a negative logarithmic relation to convert from voltage
to a more meaningful value: absorption. The resulting data showed a linear trend between concentration

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and absorption, which was what was expected theoretically using Beer Lambert Law. The relation that
has been developed can be used to determine unknown concentrations now by converting the output
voltage into absorption and using that value in the equation.

Figure 16: The graph showing the relationship between voltage and concentration with the attachment
of external velcro. The graph still shows a strong exponential trend with higher R2 value compared to
previous results

Figure 17: The graph showing the relationship between concentration and absorbance with the attach-
ment of external velcro. The graph shows a very strong linear relationship with higher R2 value.

The team later observed varying voltage due to the leaking of light at between the connection of
two components of the sensor, where the wires connected to the photosensor and LED extended out of
the wrapping foam, causing c greater gap between the materials. The team decided to add an external
velcro to cover the gap as well as to force the foam to wrap tighter around the tube with smaller gaps
between the sensor and the tube. After the modification has been made, the team calibrated the sensor
again and the data trends were similar compared to the older sensor without the external velcro, but the
data also had a higher R2 value, which meant the trends were stronger and the output data was more
accurate compared to the sensor without the velcro. This reflected the fact that the sensor output was
more accurate if the team was able to eliminate the leaking of outside light as much as possible.

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Figure 18: The comparison between data obtained by the Fall 2017 and Spring 2017 sensor development
team using different sensor designs under the same concentration. The graph of data generated by
the Fall 2017 team was obtained by combining the two sets of data discussed above. The Fall 2017
data showed a strong linear trend with slightly higher R2 value while the Spring 2017 data showed a
exponential trend.

The previous teams data was not linear however. Instead, their data yielded an exponential graph,
which they explained using optical limitations. They attributed these problems to the white color of
the clay, which may have reflected light rather than scattering or absorbing it, and the individual size
of the particles, which they believed was too large and led to drastic differences at lower concentrations.
However, given the new data and the high R2 value, it is possible that the new and improved design of
the sensor dealt with some unseen problems that may have existed in the previous iteration of the sensor.
Mainly, this could include gaps in the PVC enclosure that could have lead to excess light entering. The
new flexible foam design allows full enclosure of the pipe so that most of the light from outside would
not enter, and even if some did, it would be such a negligible amount that it would not influence the
data.
In previous semesters, the subteam focused on a range of concentrations between 0 and 0.005 g/mL,
because the relation for the range of values they collected, from 0 to 0.03 g/mL yielded an exponential
curve, and they wanted to keep a linear curve. However, this semester, since the data yielded a linear
trend, the entire range from 0 to 0.03 g/mL can be utilized.

Conclusions
The team redesigned the Spring 2017 teams fluidized bed sensor in order to make it more flexible,
portable, and effective. The team changed the materials, connections and dimensions of the sensor
so that it could possibly fit tubings with various diameters, which is more economically feasible than
developing different sensors for different types of tubing. Even though the sensor was designed specifically
for the High Rate Sedimentation team, it could have broader applications and be used for measuring
concentration in other parts of the water treatment system after the flexibility was increased. The sensor
was also more portable and effective because it had only two pieces that could wrap around each other,
and the increased flexibility increased the accuracy of the data proved by the data generated through
calibration. In general, the sensor had better functionality than the previous sensor designed and had
the ability to generate more constant output, which would allow the user to determine the unknown
concentration based on the measure of absorbance or simply the output voltage. The team has also
redesigned the submersible sensor to eliminate the need for external connections by incorporating a
Raspberry Pi into the design. The use of the Raspberry Pi and digital display makes the submersible
sensor more user-friendly and saves the time it would take to send the information to a separate computer.

Future Work
In the future, the team would like to further calibrate the sensor by collecting more data with various
turbidities. The team will make several more trial runs and determine a best relation for concentration
and absorbance. Directly after independent testing has been done, the team will test with the HRS

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subteam as had been done in the previous semesters to ensure that the design works as planned. After
completion of testing and analysis, the team will fabricate another copy of the sensor and hand it over
for other sub-teams to use in the lab. The team will also discuss the design of the sensor with Monroe on
how can the team improve the design so that it will better serve the needs in an actual water treatment
plant because the design were made based on ideal scenarios in the lab.
The team will also start fabricating the submersible sensor by adding a handle and rewiring the wires
on the prototype from the previous semester. After fabrication, we will program the Raspberry Pi and
add the digital display. After successfully completing fabrication, the subteam will begin preliminary
trials and test the effectiveness of the new design as well as debug and recode where necessary.

References
(2008). TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor. Vishay Semiconductors. Rev. 1.2.
Allaby, M. (2007). Science - Article - Beers law.

Bartlett, M. (2016). TEMT6000 Ambient Light Sensor Hookup Guide.

Earl, B. (2015). Calibrating Sensors.
Jenkins, F. and White, H. (1950). Fundamentals of Optics. New York, McGraw-Hill.
Rouse, M. (2005). What is a photosensor?

Tsang, C., Oiwa, L., and Wang, J. (2017). Sensor development spring 2017.

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Semester Schedule
Task Map

Figure 19: Sensor Development Fall 2017 Task Map

Task List
1. Fluidized bed solids detector

Test the fluidized bed solids detector with floc blanket samples with various concentrations
(2017/09/25) - Srilekha
Calibrate the design of sensor based on the data and consider using 3D printing to build the
sensor system that wraps around 1 PVC pipe. (2017/10/15) - Lois
Manufacture several prototype that can be future tested in labs and eventually installed in
the actual water treatment plants (2017/10/31) - Grace

2. Submersible solids detector for floc blankets

Redesign the submersible solids detector based on the one built by the Spring 2017 team
(2017/09/30) - Lois
Test the submersible solids detector for floc blankets to see if it can measure floc blanket con-
centration and detect the location of the sludge water interface in the floc hopper (2017/10/20)
- Grace
Calibrate the design and develop an interface to display the resulting solid concentration
(2017/11/15) - Srilekha
Test the final submersible sensor with the 1L/s plant (2017/11/31) - Grace

Report Proofreader: Team member name

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Manual
In order to use the newly fabricated sensor, follow the steps in the Experimental Method after wrapping
the two velcro foam sections around the tube, taking care that the sensor and LED are not covered, and
such that the sensor and LED are opposite each other. Secure the two components with the external
velcro attachment.

Experimental Methods
1. Secure the velcro attachments in place.
2. Take the blank voltage

(a) Start with the LED off and measure the voltage of clean water.
(b) Use ProCoDA to record data
3. Take the dark voltage
(a) Start with the LED off and measure the voltage of the water whose concentration you wish
to test.
i. Use ProCoDA to record data
4. Take the light voltage.

(a) Start by turning on the LED by switching on the switch on the end of the breadboard. Take
care to adjust the lighting if necessary using the potentiometer.
Use ProCoDA to record data
(b) Use the recorded data and make the appropriate calculations through Beers Law to determine
concentration.

Experimental Checklist
Before the experiment:
Make sure the LED is hooked up by turning it off and on.
Make sure the photosensor is outputing reasonable data by shaking the tube slowly and letting
air bubble pass through the section covered by the sensor. If theres a jump in the voltage
output as the air bubble passes, then the sensor should be working correctly.
Make sure all the clay is dissolved in the solution or as well-mixed as possible without any
left-over solid clay particles near the end of the tube. Inaccurate clay concentration in the
solution might significantly affect the data analysis.
Make sure the sensor is connected to the right input channel for ProCoDA to correctly pick
up data.

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