Odor approximation of fruit flavors using a QCM odor sensing system

Odor approximations of orange and melon flavors were performed using an array of quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) odor sensors coated with lipids and stationary phase materials of gas chromatography (GC). The steady state sensor responses to single flavor components were measured and the data were used to estimate the important odor components by means of a two-level quantization method. From these results the experimental approximation using the steady state sensor responses and principal component analysis (PCA) were performed and the similarities between the approximated odors and the original ones were evaluated by a human sensory test. It was found that these similarities were high, especially in the case of orange flavor.