Team of Guido Verbeck’s at the University of North Texas started in 2015 to produce a portable mass spectrometer to examine air quality.
To make it much easier to carry around, the setup was developed into a Ford Fusion Energi PHEV sedan, and the car might then be driven around to conduct experiments and take measurements.
But the genuinely handy usage for the modern Fusion was unveiled only after a while: the UNT team had actually developed was an effective drug-sniffing tool, best to be utilized by police.
The vehicle was constructed as a collaboration with Inficon of East Syracuse (NY), which constructs gas analyzers and particle detectors. With the Fusion’s passenger seat eliminated making room for the equipment, the vehicle picks up chemical trademarks as far away as a quarter mile from the source, and can pinpoint the specific place of the suspected drug laboratory.
The recent variations of the mass spectrometer are little sufficient to fit inside a case, so it can be utilized in a standard-issue police vehicle. The “nose” of the car’s sniffing devices is currently located beside the passenger-side outside mirror.
It says something about the spectrometer’s sensitiveness that it was actually calibrated in Antarctica as their air quality is the cleanest on the planet. There’s no word yet whether it will be taken up by the police, however it’s one of those modern solutions that’s too excellent to hand down.
