Development of an olfactory display using piezoelectric devices

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K12072
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 61020:Human interface and interaction-related
• Research Institution: Kanagawa Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Bannai Yuichi 神奈川工科大学, 情報学部, 客員研究員 (70622124)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 服部 元史 神奈川工科大学, 情報学部, 教授 (00252792)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: バーチャルリアリティ / 嗅覚 / ＨＭＤ / ウェアラブル / 気化 / 層流

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A piezoelectric element spray unit and air flow path were designed for the purpose of developing a droplet spray type olfactory display that generates fragrance by spraying fine perfume droplets using a piezoelectric element and vaporizing and transporting them with an air flow.
It was confirmed that the performance of the piezoelectric element spray unit is equivalent to that of the conventional inkjet system. All parts of the unit are detachable to improve maintainability. The shape of the air channel was experimentally determined so that the sprayed perfume droplets would vaporize without adhering to the walls of the channel, and the fragrance concentration distribution would be uniform across the cross section of the exit port.
Although the realization of a desktop olfactory display based on these results was a future issue, we have prototyped a wearable olfactory display with a spray unit mounted on an HMD.

Free Research Field

工学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

バーチャルリアリティ（ＶＲ）の分野では五感情報の提示、特に触覚・嗅覚・味覚提示は重要な研究課題となっている。香りを発生させるＶＲデバイスである嗅覚ディスプレイはさまざまな方式が提案されているが、開発途上であり本命の方式は定まっていない。本研究で提案する液滴噴霧方式は、発生させる香気に含まれる香り成分の量が特定できるという特徴があり、圧電素子を用いて低コストで実現できれば、ＶＲの分野だけでなく嗅覚機能の計測への応用も期待できる。