Drinking and driving and drunk driving are like "invisible killers" lurking on the road, and the threat to traffic safety is shocking. Authoritative data shows that when people are driving in a slightly drunk state, the probability of a traffic accident is as high as 16 times that of being sober. As early as 2018, the European Transport Safety Council (ETSC) made a decisive decision to launch a forward-looking new measure-installing an alcohol lock system in the car, striving to curb the risk of drunk driving from the source.

   In fact, the concept of alcohol lock has gone through a long development process since its birth. This device is essentially a professional alcohol detection device connected to the car engine. Before starting the car every time, the driver must first pass the breath test. If the detection value exceeds the safety standard, the alcohol lock will immediately activate the "defense mechanism" to cut off the car's starting circuit, so that the vehicle cannot be started smoothly, thereby fundamentally eliminating the occurrence of drunk driving.

    At present, the core technologies used in alcohol locks are mainly divided into electrochemical sensor technology and semiconductor sensor technology, and the two have their own advantages in working principles and performance:

Electrochemical sensor technology

    The breath alcohol detector based on electrochemical sensor technology uses an electrochemical alcohol sensor as a key gas-sensitive element. When the driver exhales into the detector, alcohol molecules and oxygen will undergo a series of precise redox reactions on the working electrode and counter electrode of the sensor. In this process, the charge is released and a current is formed, and the strength of this current is strictly proportional to the alcohol concentration, completely following Faraday's law. The detection system can quickly and accurately determine the alcohol concentration in the driver's exhaled gas by accurately testing the current size. This technology has strong stability and high sensitivity, can maintain good detection performance under complex environmental conditions, has a wide range, fast response speed and good repeatability, and is therefore favored in professional fields such as traffic law enforcement; however, its complex internal structure also brings problems such as high maintenance costs and inconvenient component replacement.

MQ-E2-C2H5OH-13×13

MQ-E2-C2H5OH Electrochemical Alcohol Sensor

Semiconductor sensor technology

     The core component of the breath alcohol detector using semiconductor sensor technology is the semiconductor alcohol sensor. This type of sensor uses semiconductor materials with low conductivity in clean air as gas-sensitive media. Once alcohol gas appears in the environment where the sensor is located, the conductivity of the semiconductor material will increase significantly with the increase in the concentration of alcohol gas. With the help of simple circuit design, the change in conductivity can be converted into a corresponding output signal, thereby realizing the detection of alcohol concentration. This technology has low cost and simple structure, which is convenient for large-scale production and application; but in terms of detection accuracy and stability, there is a certain gap compared with electrochemical sensor technology, and it is easily affected by ambient temperature, humidity and other volatile gases.

MQ-D3B Alcohol Gas Sensor

MQ-K3B Semiconductor C2H5OH Sensor

For more alcohol detection sensor solutions, please contact us:

Web: www.tensensor.com

Email: [email protected]

Tel/WhatsApp: 86 18335818384