Development of Olfaction Aid System That Can Significantly Enhance Human Olfactory Sensitivity

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K13997
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Measurement engineering
• Research Institution: Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
• Principal Investigator: Ishida Hiroshi 東京農工大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (80293041)
• Research Collaborator: MATSUKURA Haruka 東京農工大学, 大学院生物システム応用科学府, 特任助教
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 計測工学 / 感覚・知覚・感性 / ヒューマン・インターフェース

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this research project, an olfaction aid system that allows the user to sense smells with amplified sensitivities has been developed. In the proposed system, air samples are sucked by using a pump into a flow-through cell that houses an adsorbent. Odor molecules wafting in the air are collected on the surface of the adsorbent. Then, odor vapor with an increased concentration is generated by heating the adsorbent to thermally desorb odor molecules. In the proposed system, a nano-porous silica monolith adsorbent is used because of its large surface area and high adsorption capability. A disk silica monolith adsorbent is directly glued on a heater to attain quick thermal desorption of the collected odor molecules. Experimental results show that odor vapor with four times higher concentration can be presented in 8 s by using the fabricated prototype system. The proposed system is expected to be used for assisting aged people with declined olfaction capabilities.

Free Research Field

計測工学