US 12,699,069 B1Granted

Olfactory sensing device and a method of detecting an odorant using an olfactory sensing device

OwnerKordel Kade Franceinventor

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Abstract

An olfactory sensing device is presented herein. The device includes a housing with at least one inlet or outlet port to facilitate a flow of air through an interior area. At least one olfactory processing unit (OPU) is disposed within the interior area and includes at least one base, several chemical detection sensors, a potentiostat configured to sense an electrochemical response of an odorant in the flow of air, and a processor. Each of the chemical detection sensors are tuned to detect a particular chemical compound. The OPU is formed in such a way to facilitate an effective flow of air through the interior area such that the sensors are effectively exposed to the chemicals in the air. A main controller is communicative with each of the OPUs and includes its own processor to fuse sensor data from the sensors to generate a chemical profile in the air.

Claims16

Dependent claims

An olfactory sensing device, comprising:

a housing defining an interior area,
at least one olfactory processing unit disposed within said interior area of said housing, said at least one olfactory processing unit comprising:
at least one base,
a plurality of chemical detection sensors disposed on said at least one base, each of said plurality of chemical detection sensors being configured to detect at least one chemical compound,
at least one potentiostat configured to sense an electrochemical response of an odorant in the flow of air, and
at least one processor,
an inlet formed on said housing to facilitate a flow of air into said interior area of said housing,
an outlet formed on said housing to facilitate the flow of air out of said interior of said housing,
wherein said at least one base of said at least one olfactory processing unit comprises a centrally-disposed opening through which the flow of air flows during operation of said olfactory sensing device said plurality of chemical detection sensors being disposed around said centrally-disposed opening and in communication with the flow of air,
wherein said inlet and said outlet are both disposed on a same side of said at least one olfactory processing unit such that the flow of air enters said interior of said housing through said inlet, flows around an outer edge of said at least one olfactory processing unit through a space formed between said outer edge of said at least one olfactory processing unit and said housing until the flow of air is drawn through said centrally-disposed opening formed through said at least one base and expelled through said outlet, and
a main controller communicative with said at least one olfactory processing unit, said main controller comprising a processor configured to combine sensor data from said plurality of chemical detection sensors to generate a chemical profile in the flow of air.

8 more elements

An olfactory sensing device, comprising:

a housing defining an interior area,
a plurality of olfactory processing units disposed within said interior area of said housing, each of said plurality of olfactory processing units comprising:
a first side and a second side, said second side being opposite said first side,
a plurality of bases, each comprising an opening formed there through,
at least one connector assembly formed between adjacent ones of said plurality of bases, wherein said connector assembly comprises cooperative data transmission connectors allowing selective addition of another base to and removal of at least one of said plurality of bases from a corresponding one of said plurality of olfactory processing units,
a plurality of chemical detection sensors disposed on at least one of said plurality of base, each of said plurality of chemical detection sensors being configured to detect at least one chemical compound,
at least one potentiostat configured to sense an electrochemical response of an odorant in the flow of air, and
at least one processor,
an inlet port and an exhaust port disposed on said housing on a said first side of each of said plurality of olfactory processing units, said inlet port being configured to facilitate a flow of air into said interior area of said housing, said outlet port being configured to facilitate the flow of air out of said interior area of said housing,
wherein the flow of air enters said interior area of said housing through said inlet port on said first side of each of said plurality of olfactory processing units, flows around an outer edge of at least one of said plurality of olfactory processing units through a space formed between said outer edge and said housing to said second side of said at least one of said plurality of olfactory processing units until the flow of air is drawn through said opening formed through each of said bases and expelled through said outlet, and
a main controller communicative with each of said plurality of olfactory processing units, and
wherein said plurality of olfactory processing units and said main controller are communicatively arranged to form a physical artificial neural network.

9 more elements

A method of detecting an odorant via an olfactory sensing device, the method comprising:

collecting a flow of air through an inlet of an olfactory sensing device, the olfactory sensing device comprising a housing and a plurality of olfactory processing units disposed within said interior area of said housing, each of the plurality of olfactory processing units comprising a centrally-disposed opening formed there through, each of said centrally-disposed openings collectively forming an inner channel through the plurality of olfactory processing units,
maintaining the flow of air within an interior area of the housing for an amount of time, the air flowing over and around the plurality of olfactory processing units,
drawing the flow of air through the inner channel formed via the centrally-disposed openings disposed within each of the plurality of processing units, and expelling the air through an exhaust port formed in the housing, wherein the inlet and the exhaust port are both disposed on a same side of the plurality of olfactory processing units,
sensing, in parallel, at least one chemical compound in the flow of air via a plurality of chemical detection sensors disposed around the opening of each of the plurality of olfactory processing units, each of the plurality of olfactory sensing units further comprising at least one potentiostat and at least one processor communicative with corresponding ones of the plurality of chemical detection sensors,
communicating sensed data from each of the plurality of olfactory processing units to a main controller, and
fusing, at the main controller, the sensed data to generate an accurate chemical profile in the flow of air.

3 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.