In addition to drunk driving inspections, many production, operation, and construction sites have strict regulations for inspecting employees working under the influence. Preventing employees from working while intoxicated is both a commitment to employee safety and a key measure to reduce workplace accidents. Therefore, breathalyzers are commonly used in pre-job testing for commercial vehicle drivers and those performing high-risk tasks.

    Why can breathalyzers detect alcohol levels?

    This is because breathalyzers are equipped with an alcohol vapor sensor, which acts like a gas-sensitive resistor. Its resistance changes with the alcohol concentration in a person's exhaled breath, causing changes in the current and voltage in the circuit.

    Breathalyzers evolved from existing intoxication testers, testers, and portable alcohol detectors. The first breathalyzer was developed as early as 1954. Since then, breathalyzers have rapidly developed, and alcohol sensor technology has also continued to improve.

    Currently, five main sensor technologies are used in commonly used breathalyzers: semiconductor detection, fuel cell technology, colorimetric technology, infrared detection, and gas chromatography. For various reasons, fuel cell technology and semiconductor detection technology are currently the most widely used.

Fuel Cell Alcohol Sensor

    Breath Alcohol Testers use a fuel cell alcohol sensor as the gas sensor. The fuel cell alcohol sensor uses platinum electrodes. The sensor's combustion chamber is filled with a special catalyst that fully burns the alcohol entering the chamber and converts it into electrical energy. This generates a voltage across the two electrodes, which is proportional to the alcohol concentration in the gas entering the chamber.

MQ-E2-C2H5OH-13×13

MQ-E2-C2H5OH Electrochemical Alcohol Sensor

Semiconductor Alcohol Sensor

    Semiconductor-type breath alcohol detectors typically use a tin oxide semiconductor sensor. The gas-sensing properties of the tin oxide semiconductor sensor cause the resistance to decrease as the concentration of the sensitive gas increases.

MQ-K3B Semiconductor C2H5OH Sensor

MQ-D3B Alcohol Gas Sensor

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