AlcoScan AL-5000 Information

Product Synopsis

AlcoScan Al-5000 is a handheld, portable breath alcohol tester to check a subjects breath alcohol concentration with reliable accuracy.

Proposed BAC Detection Procedure

• Module warm-up times: On initial power-on: 20 seconds, thereafter, 10 seconds until the power is turned off.
• After warm-up, 7 seconds of blowing time. Processing/Analysis for 4-6 second. (Module analyzes even if user did not blow)
• Module is turned off after the analyzed data is received. Analyzed data is displayed for 10 seconds.
• Warm-up, blowing, and display times above are optimized for the best accuracy. Reducing any of these values can result in loss of accuracy.

Other Notes

• Module Power-on Power Requirements: Selectable between 2.0~5.0V, but total power usage is about 500mW in all cases.
• Breathalyzer case requirements: on/off switch for the module and software for signal transmission (Module's standard signal transmission protocol is I2C).
• Signal Processing within the module: Sensor signals should be calculated numerically and be outputted to I2C protocol format.

What is Calibration?

All breathalyzers indicate BAC (Breath Alcohol Contents) level based on the information stored in the sensor's memory. Exact values of certain BAC levels are stored so that the sensor can provide the most accurate readings. Over time, however, these stored values loses accuracy as more tests are conducted. The sensor itself and the stored sensor values deteriorate over time and with more tests, affected by external variables. In order to restore the sensor readings to maintain better accuracy, all breathalyzers must be recalibrated to refresh the sensor values and to allow the breathalyzer to obtain accurate readings.

How often does the breathalyzer require Calibration?

It varies depending on the breathalyzer but it is recommended for breathalyzers to be calibrated every 300 tests or 6~12 months.