The above diagram provides a graphic representation of the basic design of an infrared analyzer which is used to measure breath alcohol concentrations. The design is based on the fact that specific wavelengths of infrared energy are absorbed by ethyl alcohol molecules. In its simplest form, the instrument's detector measures the change in the amount of a specific wavelength of infrared energy that passes from the infrared source (lamp), through the sample chamber and filter wheel to the detector. The change in response on the detector, as a breath sample is submitted to the sample chamber , is monitored and analyzed by a processor in the instrument. The change in the signal is used to calculate an alcohol concentration.
The difference between the amount of infrared energy that reaches the detector when the sample chamber is free of compounds that absorb the infrared energy and the amount of infrared energy that reaches the detector when a subject's breath sample is within the sample chamber, provides an indication of the concentration of the absorbing substances in the sample . If ethanol was the only molecule found in a breath sample that would absorb energy at the wavelength being recorded by the detector, the calculated difference in infrared energy reaching the detector could be used by itself to establish the concentration of alcohol in the breath sample. Unfortunately this is not always the case.
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