Gas detecting method and gas detecting apparatus

• US 8,183,527 B2
• Filed: 12/21/2007
• Issued: 05/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kabushiki Kaisha Toyota Chuo Kenkyusho (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Taguchi, Toshiyuki, Wakita, Toshihiro, Sakakibara, Kiyomi
• Primary Examiner(s): Porta, David
• Assistant Examiner(s): VU, MINDY D
• Application Number:
  US12/521,099
• Publication Number:
  US 20100025585A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,614 Days
• Field of Search: 250/339.13, 250/338.5
• US Class Current: 250/339.13
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/0059 using light, e.g. diagnosis by transillumination, diascopy, fluorescence A61B5/0093, A61B5/1455, A61B5/02416 and A61B5/0261 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/097 Devices for facilitating collection of breath or for directing breath into or through measuring devices
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/18 for vehicle drivers or machine operators
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3504 for analysing gases, e.g. multi-gas analysis
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 21/3518 Devices using gas filter correlation techniques; Devices using gas pressure modulation techniques
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 2201/0616 Ambient light is used
• CPC Class Codes: G01N 33/4972 Determining alcohol content for vehicle safety devices B60K28/06

Abstract

A concentration of ethanol is detected without using any light source such as a lamp by utilizing a face of a human being as a light source. The gas detecting apparatus has an optical filter for ethanol which allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—O stretching vibration of ethanol contained in breath in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from the face of a person, an optical filter for reference that allows to transmit an infrared light having a wavelength band emitted from the face of the person, a converting component for ethanol that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for ethanol to electric signals, a converting component for reference that converts an infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for reference to electric signals, and a detection component that detects the concentration of ethanol gas based on the electric signals converted by the converting component for ethanol and the electric signals converted by the converting component for reference.

Claims

1. A gas detecting method comprising:

detecting an intensity of an infrared light, which has a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from a face of a person as an infrared light absorption intensity of ethanol; and

detecting the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath based on the magnitude of the detected infrared light absorption intensity of ethanol.

2. A gas detecting method comprising:

detecting an intensity of an infrared light, which has a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from a face of a person as an infrared light absorption intensity of ethanol;

detecting an intensity of an infrared light, which has a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of carbon dioxide in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from the face of a person as an infrared light absorption intensity of carbon dioxide; and

detecting a physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath based on the detected infrared light absorption intensity of carbon dioxide and the detected infrared light absorption intensity of ethanol.

3. A gas detecting method comprising:

detecting an intensity of an infrared light, which has a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from a face of a person as an infrared light absorption intensity of ethanol;

detecting an intensity of an infrared light, which has a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum of vapor in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from the face of the person as an infrared light absorption intensity of vapor; and

detecting a physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath is detected based on the detected infrared light absorption intensity of vapor and the detected infrared light absorption intensity of ethanol.

4. A gas detecting apparatus comprising:

an optical filter for ethanol that allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from a face of a person;

a converting component for ethanol that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for ethanol to an electric signal; and

detecting component for detecting the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath based on the magnitude of the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol.

5. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 4, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity [EtOH] relating to the concentration of ethanol gas according to the following expression

[EtOH]=−

ln (Te/To)/ke×

L. . . 

 

(6)

where, Te shows the amount of transmitted infrared light obtained from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol, To shows the amount of infrared light emitted from the face of a person, ke shows an absorption coefficient of ethanol gas, L shows the interacting length between ethanol gas and the infrared light emitted from the face of the person, and In shows natural logarithm.

6. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 4, further comprising a breath filter that allows to transmits a signal having a breath frequency component from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas based on the magnitude of the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol and transmitted through the breath filter.

7. A gas detecting apparatus comprising:

an optical filter for ethanol that allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from the face of a person;

an optical filter for reference that transmits the infrared light having the wavelength band of the infrared light emitted from the face of the person and having a band other than the predetermined wavelength band;

a converting component for ethanol that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for ethanol to an electric signal;

a converting component for reference that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for reference to an electric signal; and

a detecting component that detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath based on the electric signals converted by the converting component for ethanol and the converting component for reference.

8. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 7, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity [EtOH] relating to the concentration of ethanol gas according to the following expression

[EtOH]=−

ln(Te/To)/ke×

L. . . 

 

(7)

where, Te shows the amount of transmitted infrared light obtained from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol, To shows the amount of transmitted infrared light emitted from the face of a person obtained by the electric signal converted by the converting component for reference, ke shows an absorption coefficient of ethanol gas, L shows the interacting length between ethanol gas and the infrared light emitted from the face of the person, and In shows natural logarithm.

9. A gas detecting apparatus comprising:

an optical filter for ethanol that allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from a face of a person;

an optical filter for carbon dioxide that allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of carbon dioxide in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from the face of the person;

a converting component for ethanol that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for ethanol to an electric signal;

a converting component for carbon dioxide that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for carbon dioxide to an electric signal; and

a detecting component that detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath based on the electric signals converted by the converting component for carbon dioxide and the converting component for ethanol.

10. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 9, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity [EtOH] relating to the concentration of ethanol gas according to the following expression

[EtOH]=(ne(t₂)−

ne(t₁))/(nc(t₂)−

nc(t₁)) . . . 

 

(8)

where, ne(t₂), ne(t₁) show the physical quantities relating to the concentration of ethanol gas shown by ne of the following expression at times t₂, t₁, and nc(t₂), nc(t₁) show the physical quantities relating to the concentration of carbon dioxide shown by nc of the following expression at the times t₂, t₁

ne=−

1n(Te/To)/ke×

L

nc=−

1n(Tc/To)/kc×

L

where, Te shows the amount of transmitted infrared light obtained from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol, Tc shows the amount of transmitted infrared light obtained from the electric signal converted by the converting component for carbon dioxide, To shows the amount of infrared light emitted from the face of a person, ke shows an absorption coefficient of ethanol gas, kc shows an absorption coefficient of carbon dioxide and L shows the interacting length between ethanol gas and carbon dioxide and the infrared light emitted from the face of the person.

11. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

an optical filter for reference that transmits the infrared light having the wavelength band of infrared light emitted from the face of a person and having a wavelength band other than the predetermined wavelength band; and

a converting component for reference that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for reference to an electric signal,

wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas further using the electric signal converted by the converting component for reference.

12. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 9, further comprising:

an optical filter for reference that transmits the infrared light having the wavelength band of the infrared light emitted from the face of a person and having a band other than the predetermined wavelength band; and

a converting component for reference that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for reference to an electric signal,

wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity [EtOH] relating to the concentration of ethanol gas using the amount of transmitted infrared light emitted from the face of the person obtained by the electric signal converted by the converting component for reference as the amount of infrared light To emitted from the face of the person.

13. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 9, further comprising a breath filter for allowing the transmission of a signal having a breath frequency component from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol and the electric signal converted by the converting component for carbon dioxide, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas based on the magnitudes of the electric signals converted by the converting component for ethanol and the converting component for carbon dioxide and transmitted through the breath filter.

14. A gas detecting apparatus comprising.

an optical filter for ethanol that allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum derived from a C—

O stretching vibration of ethanol in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from a face of a person;

an optical filter for vapor that allows to transmit an infrared light having a predetermined wavelength band including an absorption spectrum of vapor in an absorption spectrum generated by interaction with infrared light emitted from the face of a person;

a converting component for ethanol that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for ethanol to an electric signal;

a converting component for vapor that converts the infrared light transmitted through the optical filter for vapor to an electric signal; and

a detecting component that detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas contained in breath based on the electric signals converted by the converting component for vapor and the converting component for ethanol.

15. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 14, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity [EtOH] relating to the concentration of ethanol gas according to the following expression

[EtOH]=(ne(t₂)−

ne(t₁))/(nw(t₂)−

nw(t₁)) . . .  

 

(9)

where, ne(t₂), ne(t₁) show the physical quantities relating to the concentration of ethanol gas shown by ne of the following expression at times t₂, t₁, and nw (t₂), nw (t₁) show the physical quantity relating to the concentration of vapor shown by nw of the following expression at the times t₂, t₀

ne=−

1n(Te/To)/ke×

L

nw=−

1n(Tw/To)/kw×

L

where, Te shows the amount of transmitted infrared light obtained from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol, Tw shows the amount of transmitted infrared light obtained from the electric signal converted by the converting component for vapor, To shows the amount of infrared light emitted from the face of a person, ke shows an absorption coefficient of ethanol, kw shows an absorption coefficient of vapor, and L shows the interacting length between ethanol gas and vapor and the infrared light emitted from the face of the person.

16. The gas detecting apparatus of claim 14, further comprising a breath filter for allowing the transmission of a signal having a breath frequency component from the electric signal converted by the converting component for ethanol and the electric signal converted by the converting component for vapor, wherein the detecting component detects the physical quantity relating to the concentration of ethanol gas based on the magnitudes of the electric signals converted by the converting component for ethanol and the converting component for vapor and transmitted through the breath filter.