嗅覚感度増強装置の開発―薄膜吸着剤の使用に関する基礎的検討

抄録

Here we report on the development of an olfactory amplifier device that collects airborne odor molecules and presents condensed odors to the user. In the proposed device, gaseous chemicals contained in the air are collected onto an adsorbent. By adding heat to this adsorbent, the chemicals accumulated on its surface are desorbed, and thus, concentrated odor vapor is generated. The user can sense trace odors as if his/her olfactory sensitivity were enhanced. However, one of the problems of our first prototype system has been its lengthy odor desorption time. It takes at least several minutes to fully heat up the granular adsorbent packed in a tube in the prototype system. Our initial investigation on the use of a thin-film adsorbent is reported here. The results show that the odor intensity amplification by a factor of six can be achieved even by a small-volume thin-film adsorbent while reducing the odor desorption time to several seconds.