Mouth alcohol tester
First Claim
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1. A breath alcohol tester, comprising:
- a breath manifold designed to accept breath from a human subject, said breath including an early breath followed by a later breath;
a flow restriction, wherein an action of said breath in said breath manifold against said flow restriction creates a positive pressure in said breath manifold;
a fuel cell; and
a sampling system, the sampling system comprising an electrochemical volume-displacement device;
wherein said manifold is configured to use said positive pressure in said manifold to force at least a portion of said early breath into said fuel cell via backpressure without said sampling system sampling said early breath;
wherein the amount of alcohol forced into said fuel cell by said early breath is measured by said fuel cell as a first value;
wherein at least a portion of said later breath is displaced by said sampling system and provided to said fuel cell;
wherein the amount of alcohol in the portion at said later breath displaced by said sampling system is measured by said fuel cell as a second value; and
wherein if a ratio of said first value to said second value is above a predetermined threshold said breath alcohol tester disregards said second value.
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Abstract
This application discloses a system for detecting mouth alcohol which is integrated with a breath-measuring instrument. In an embodiment, the breath-measuring instrument comprises a single fuel cell system, wherein the single fuel cell measures an individual'"'"'s alveolar breath as well as detection of any mouth alcohol. In a further embodiment, the breath-measuring instrument comprises a first fuel cell and a second fuel cell, wherein the first fuel cell measures alveolar breath and the second fuel cell detects mouth alcohol.
29 Citations
16 Claims
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1. A breath alcohol tester, comprising:
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a breath manifold designed to accept breath from a human subject, said breath including an early breath followed by a later breath; a flow restriction, wherein an action of said breath in said breath manifold against said flow restriction creates a positive pressure in said breath manifold; a fuel cell; and a sampling system, the sampling system comprising an electrochemical volume-displacement device; wherein said manifold is configured to use said positive pressure in said manifold to force at least a portion of said early breath into said fuel cell via backpressure without said sampling system sampling said early breath; wherein the amount of alcohol forced into said fuel cell by said early breath is measured by said fuel cell as a first value; wherein at least a portion of said later breath is displaced by said sampling system and provided to said fuel cell; wherein the amount of alcohol in the portion at said later breath displaced by said sampling system is measured by said fuel cell as a second value; and wherein if a ratio of said first value to said second value is above a predetermined threshold said breath alcohol tester disregards said second value. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9)
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10. A breath alcohol tester, comprising:
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a breath manifold; a flow restriction; a sampling system, the sampling system comprising an electrochemical volume-displacement device; a first fuel cell; and a second fuel cell; wherein said breath manifold is designed to accept breath from a human subject, said breath including an early breath followed by a later breath; wherein the action of said breath in said breath manifold against said flow restriction creates a positive pressure in said breath manifold; wherein said manifold is configured to use said positive pressure forces at least a portion of said early breath into said first fuel cell without said sampling system sampling said early breath; wherein the amount of alcohol in said early breath is calculated by said first fuel cell as a first value; wherein at least a portion of said later breath is displaced by said sampling system and provided to said second fuel cell; wherein the amount of alcohol in said later breath is calculated by said second fuel cell as a second value; wherein the ratio of said first value to said second value is determined and compared to a predetermined threshold; and wherein if said ratio exceeds said threshold, said breath alcohol tester indicates the presence of mouth alcohol. - View Dependent Claims (11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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Specification