sensorældning

Sensor aging, or sensorældning, is the gradual change in a sensor's performance as it operates over time. It often shows drift in baseline readings, changes in sensitivity, increased noise, slower response, or nonlinearity, reducing accuracy and reliability. Aging can affect electrochemical, semiconductor, optical, and MEMS devices and is influenced by temperature, humidity, exposure to contaminants, and mechanical stress.

Causes include chemical or physical changes in sensing materials, degradation of electrodes or coatings, material fatigue, drift of electronics, and fouling from the environment. Environmental factors such as temperature cycles, vibration, and UV exposure can accelerate aging. In some sensors, aging is linked to memory effects or charge trapping in semiconductors, or wear in moving parts.

The practical impact is drift, bias, nonlinear- ity, or reduced dynamic range, especially in long-term deployments. Monitoring strategies include periodic calibration, reference checks, redundancy, and drift analysis. Some systems use self-diagnostics, environmental compensation, or adaptive algorithms to mitigate drift.

Mitigation and management involve aging-resistant materials, protective coatings, environmental controls, and conservative design. Regular maintenance, reference standards, and predictable replacement schedules are common. Predictive maintenance and sensor fusion can help sustain overall performance.

Sensor aging is a key consideration in lifecycle management of measurement systems, affecting accuracy and reliability across industries such as process control, environmental monitoring, automotive, and consumer electronics.