A SENSOR FOR REMOTE DETECTIONOF DRUNK DRIVING

摘要

Current technologies to determine the blood alcohol concentration (BAC) levels in drivers require vehicles to be stopped. This is an ineffective enforcement method in that only one arrest is made per 2000 alcohol-impaired driving trips. The current method is also a behavioral-based enforcement system where a law enforcement officer must use behavioral techniques to assess whether a driver is alcohol-impaired or not. A miniature threshold fuel cell sensor is proposed, which would allow remote, real time interrogation of the vehicle compartment to detect ethanol alcohol vapors expelled in the drivers breath. The sensor system would operate much like a radar gun to remotely estimate the BAC threshold of drivers under the influence of alcohol. A fuel cell sensor (FCS) is used for analyzing the air inside the passenger compartment. A sample of the air is drawn from the vehicle compartment into the fuel cell, causing a chemical reaction that results in proton migration to an electrode, and therefore, current flow. The electric current is proportional to the alcohol vapor concentration. If the current is strong enough to indicate a threshold BAC level may have been exceeded, a signal is wirelessly transmitted to an outside receiver. The signal may also be encoded with specific information about the vehicle. This would constitute probable cause to stop the vehicle for a more accurate BAC test. Applications may also exist outside law enforcement, such as freight companies monitoring the cab environment of vehicles in their fleet. A prototype of the proposed sensor has been designed and tested. This paper reports on the design details and field calibration plans for the remote alcohol detection sensor.