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DIY TSA HOW TO Make a

Safety spectrometer
By Phillip Torrone November 18th, 2008 2:43 pm Category Arduino, Craft,
Electronics, Science

Make a device that identifies dangerous liquids by analyzing light By Eric

Rosenthal

After air travel security banned bottled water and baby formula, I began
wondering why they didnt use a device to determine the contents of
liquids. If a liquid was detected to be safe, security could allow it on the
plane. Spectrometers can identify the chemical makeup of a material by
shining light on it and analyzing the precise mix of colors that bounce back.
These devices are usually very expensive, but Ive designed a simple and
inexpensive one that can identify liquids. You can also adapt it to determine
the color of a swatch of paper or cloth or to identify a gem or semiprecious
stone.
I spent less than $100 on this project and it took just a few days to design,
fabricate, and test the hardware, plus another two days to write and debug
the source code. Collecting the liquids and building the database took one
evening, and it was fun!
MATERIALS

Arduino board from sparkfun.com. Use the Arduino NG or the latest USB
version, the Arduino Diecimila.
LEDs (5) blue, green, yellow, red, and infrared Infrared
(IR) phototransistor
-watt resistors: 220 (5), 1K (2), 2.2K, 18K
Serial display I used a Crystalfontz 634 Serial LCD; you could also use the
Matrix Orbital LK 204-25, or similar products from seetron.com.
Power supply 6V12V DC, 1A 1.5A
7805 5V voltage regulator and heat sink to drop the 12V to 5V for the
displays backlight
Case from vellemanusa.com
Push-button switches (2) momentary, normally open
Soldering iron and solder
Wiring diagram Download from
makezine.com/14/diyscience_spectrometer or follow the one in this article.

SCHEMATIC DIAGRAM OF SPECTROMETER

An all-controlling Arduino board drives 5 colored LEDs from output pins,

along with a serial LCD display. Digital inputs from buttons switch between
learn and identify modes, and analog input from the phototransistor is
analyzed to identify the sample. A 7805 voltage regulator powers the LCD
backlight.
A LITTLE SCIENCE BACKGROUND

A spectrometer measures the properties of light over a specific portion of

the electromagnetic spectrum. Because all materials have a unique spectral
signature, spectroscopic analysis can identify materials from the light that
they reflect or emit. Mixtures of materials produce combined spectra, and by
measuring the intensity of light at each wavelength, a spectrometer can
determine the overall chemical makeup of a material under investigation.
When material burns, a spectrometer can detect and analyze the light it
emits to determine the materials composition. In astronomy, highly
specialized spectrometers are used to determine the composition of the
gases that are ionizing and emitted as light energy from a star.
HOW ITS DONE

1. 1. An Arduino board sequentially illuminates 5 different colored LEDs

(light emitting diodes): blue, green, yellow, red, and infrared.
2. 2. As each LEDs light passes through a vial of liquid, we measure the
intensity of the light detected by a phototransistor. See the wiring

diagram above to wire together this part of the spectrometer.

3. 3. Our spectrometer has a learn mode and an identify mode. In the
learn mode, a known sample is placed in the unit and sampled at each
wavelength emitted by the LEDs. The sampled values are stored in the
Arduino memory. In the identify mode, an unknown sample is spectrally
scanned, and the software in the Arduino compares the values of the
scan with the values stored in the database.
4. 4. A simple algorithm makes a best guess to identify the liquid, which is
then displayed on a serial LCD. I think youll be impressed by its
accuracy.
Go online to get the wiring diagram, source code for the Arduino, parts
list, and other info at creative-technology.net/MAKE.html.
See the spectrometer in action and get a peek under the hood at
makezine.com/14/diyscience_spectrometer.
More photos at makezine.com/go/spectrometer.
Eric Rosenthal is president of Creative Technology, LLC (CTech), a company
specializing in new and advanced imaging technology consulting and
development.
References:

Make: Arduino
Arduino Starter Kit
Getting Started with Arduino
http://creative-technology.net/MAKE.html
http://www.make-digital.com/make/vol14?pg=136
http://makezine.com/14/diyscience_spectrometer
http://makezine.com/go/spectrometer
http://seetron.com
http://sparkfun.com
http://vellemanusa.com

Make 14 Optics

From MAKE 14 Page 134. To get MAKE, subscribe or purchase single

volumes.

PHILLIP TORRONE

Followthisstory

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