Bosch unveils robust, power-efficient 4-in-1 MEMS air quality sensor BME690 for indoors

Achieves up to 50% power savings for battery-powered devices, optimized for high-condensation environments

Highlights:

  • 4-in-1 MEMS sensor measures gases, humidity, temperature and barometric pressure in a compact package
  • Offers up to 50% reduction in power consumption compared to its predecessor, ideal for battery-operated devices.
  • Fully aligned with WELL and RESET standards for indoor air quality, ensuring top-notch monitoring performance.
  • Increased robustness for use in environments with high condensation levels.

In order to stay healthy, we need to know that we are breathing clean air. On average, we spend around 90% of our time indoors, exposed to air that is significantly less clean than that outside. Poor indoor air quality can cause respiratory diseases, allergies, heart disease and cancer, as well as many other conditions.

Bosch Sensortec has a long heritage of industry-leading air quality sensors. The BME690 is the latest-generation gas sensor for the monitoring of gases, temperature, pressure and humidity, coupled with innovative artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities. The BME690 is further developed on Bosch Sensortec’s BME688 and BME680 sensors, building on this time-proven platform. It remains pin-compatible and has the same compact 3 x 3 x 0.93 mm3 dimensions, making it easy to design-in as a drop-in upgrade.

Precise air quality monitoring

The BME690 is ideal for monitoring indoor air quality, including the detection of high levels of volatile organic compounds (VOC) generated by cleaning products, cooking fumes or other common VOC sources.  It is also well-suited for breath analysis (monitoring of VOCs and hydrogen sulfide) and for food freshness detection, where food wastage is prevented though the timely detection of spoilage.

While the BME690 offers plug-and-play operation, it also includes powerful AI features enabled by Bosch Sensortec’s BME AI-Studio software tool. Customers can easily develop their own custom solutions and quickly get ahead of the competition.

Low power consumption

Compared to the previous generation BME688 sensor, the new BME690 has slashed power consumption by up to 50%, making it perfectly suited for portable, battery-powered applications such as wearables and asset tracking.

The BME690 has been specifically designed for increased robustness in high condensation indoor environments, in products such as white goods and kitchen rangehoods. The sensor aligns with the WELL Building Standard and RESET® Air standard.

“A high standard of indoor air quality is vital for keeping us healthy and happy,” said Stefan Finkbeiner, CEO at Bosch Sensortec. “The BME690 acts as a digital nose, providing actionable data for use in our homes, factories and offices.”

The new sensor now has a noticeably faster response time to humidity changes, which delivers substantial improvement in control connected smart home devices and HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) systems.

The BME690 is available in distribution from Q4 2024 onwards.

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