Handheld Device to Sniff Out Humans Trapped in Collapsed Buildings

The researchers built their palm-sized sensor array from three existing gas sensors, each tailored to detect a specific chemical emitted by breath or skin: acetone, ammonia or isoprene. They also included two commercially available sensors for detecting humidity and CO2. In a human entrapment simulation, the sensors rapidly detected tiny amounts of these chemicals, at levels unprecedented for portable detectors–down to three parts per billion. The next step is to test the sensor array in the field under conditions similar to those expected in the aftermath of a calamity.

The authors acknowledge funding from the Swiss National Science Foundation, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency.

Contacts and sources:
Katie Cottingham, Ph.D.
The American Chemical Society

Citation: “Sniffing Entrapped Humans with Sensor Arrays”
Andreas T. Güntner† , Nicolay J. Pineau†, Paweł Mochalski‡, Helmut Wiesenhofer‡, Agapios Agapiou§, Christopher A. Mayhew‡, and Sotiris E. Pratsinis*†
† Particle Technology Laboratory, ETH Zurich, Zurich CH-8092, Switzerland
‡ Institute for Breath Research of the University of Innsbruck, Dornbirn AT-6850, Austria
§ Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, Nicosia CY-1678, Cyprus
Analytical Chemistry., 2018, 90 (8), pp 4940–4945