Communications: electrical – Condition responsive indicating system – Specific condition
Patent
1988-01-28
1989-09-19
Myracle, Jerry W.
Communications: electrical
Condition responsive indicating system
Specific condition
73 23, G08B 2300
Patent
active
048685453
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
This invention relates to apparatus for detecting alcohol or drugs in exhaled breath and is particularly applicable in situations where one or more people are expected to pass or remain in or adjacent a particular position, or where a person is required to speak into a telephone or radio transmitter for example. This may apply for instance to crowds entering a football ground, or a railway station, bus station, school, cinema, prison, place of public entertainment, transport, a high security zone, or the like.
The invention may also be applicable to any situation where a subject is required to speak into a microphone, for example when using a telephone, or radio transmitter, and can thus be applied to instruments designed to monitor subjects in "home arrest" or "parole" situations.
In some applications the system must be capable of operating effectively to take a large number of tests at short intervals and it is wholly inappropriate to expect each person tested to breath into a breathing tube. Accordingly it is desirable in such applications that the apparatus should be capable of operating at some distance from the suspect's mouth, but nevertheless it requires some control or indication of the distance involved in order to provide a reasonably accurate test result.
Broadly stated from one aspect the invention consists in apparatus for detecting the presence of alcohol or drugs in expired breath in the atmosphere, comprising a gas sampler, a detector for the presence of alcohol or drugs in a gas sample, an output indicator or recorder coupled to the detector to provide an output or "drugs" signal when alcohol or drugs are detected, and an automatic controller for actuating the sampler and detector in response to a signal from a sensor arranged to be responsive to the presence of a subject to be tested.
According to a preferred feature of the invention the sensor is responsive to speech, or noise level, or fluctuation, or movement, temperature, pressure, mass, body weight, or an interruption in a radiated beam, or a combination of any two or more such "proximity" or "presence" parameters.
Conveniently the sensor includes a microphone responsive to speech at a predetermined acoustic level, and the microphone may be combined with filters or other circuitry designed to respond to frequency range or pattern or volume of the human voice, and/or to the temperature range of human breath. In a particular preferred arrangement the microphone produces a "speech signal" and the apparatus also includes a proximity sensor sensitive to the presence of a human body and producing a "proximity signal" and means for detecting a simultaneous or concurrent combination of both signals. The proximity sensor may, for example, be a temperature responsive element positioned close to the acoustic transducer, and combined with circuitry designed for example to make the sensor independent of changes in ambient temperature.
In any case the alcohol detector preferably comprises an electrochemical fuel cell and means for measuring or detecting the output of the cell to provide an indication of the alcohol content in the sample and the gas sampler comprises a pump for drawing or impelling a gas sample, preferably of predetermined volume, into contact with the detector. The pump is preferably electrically operated and includes a control circuit incorporating a pump, and in order to operate at short intervals the gas sampler and detector preferably incorporate a heater and a temperature control. If the alcohol detector comprises an electrochemical fuel cell it may be desirable to "clear the cell" between tests and to accelerate this the apparatus may include means for short circuiting the cell between tests. Alternatively the cell may be operated on a transresistance amplifier for example, and effectively on continuous short circuit.
In a particular preferred construction the apparatus includes a microphone acting as an acoustic transducer sensitive to speech, and an air temperature responsive element located immediately adjacent thereto,
REFERENCES:
patent: 3858434 (1975-01-01), Hoppesch et al.
patent: 4749553 (1988-06-01), Lopez et al.
Lion Technology Limited
Myracle Jerry W.
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