Drunk driving costs countless lives and destroys families around the world each year. Efforts to combat it include public service announcements as well as enforcement of the law. The breathalyser test is central to these efforts. Test equipment must be perfectly calibrated for evidence to stand up in a court of law. And when the police tell you what they want from their calibration systems, it doesn't pay to argue with them!
Testing the testers...
The Dutch police had a very clear idea of what they wanted from the system: ease of use, stability, foolproof calibration and portability. This suggested the socalled 'dry' calibration method precisely measured amounts (450 mg/m3) of high purity ethanol in nitrogen. The only drawback was dosing the ethanol in cylinders small enough for police cars to carry their own calibration system. We weren't about to argue with the police choice but we did have to develop a completely new filling process.
"...the impossible takes a little longer."
The resulting system allows accurate, consistent calibration in police stations and in cars, and has been in use in tens of thousands of breathalyser tests.
Helping the police with their enquiries...
Helping the Dutch police 'get a result' involved a new challenge for our Specialty Gas people. It meant reevaluating our systems, looking afresh at the accepted rules and then using a fair dose of lateral thinking. And it worked!
Its success is one example of a HiQ® solution. Used for analytical, synthetical and environmental applications, they are a line of superior quality gases and gas supply systems for customers who demand the best the highest purities and mixing accuracies, low mix concentrations, multiple components and a service to match.
If you think your project deserves the HiQ treatment, please let us know.