RIT College of Engineering
Multidisciplinary Senior Design
P10054-Monitoring Device for
Human Smoking Behavior
Final Product Review
19 February 2010
Project Manager
Frank Forkl
Mechanical Engineer
Michael Kraft
Mechanical Engineer
Brian Gilbane
P10054
Systems Engineer
Rich Steen
Electrical Engineer
Derek Ng
Objective:

Create device which measures natural human smoking behavior
Major Requirements:


Subjects will need to carry device for up to one month in the field
Subject will use device for every cigarette smoked
 Device must be as unobtrusive as possible

Data to capture:
 Flow Rate through cigarette
 Total Lung Volume to measure Deep Inhalation Puff
•A self-contained battery operated device that
measures ambulatory smoking behavior with time
and date tags assigned at cigarette
insertion/removal.
•Onboard memory is used to store all measures
for up to four weeks without requiring interaction
with study staff.
http://www.plowshare.com/products/portable/index.html
Major Problems:
•Extremely obtrusive which does not allow for natural smoking behavior
•Unable to capture entire smoking event (Deep Inhalation Puff)
•Performs poorly at bottom of flow rate resolution (less than 17.5 mL/s)
•Does not output Flow Curves, just aggregate data
•Extremely expensive (~$2000)
Remote Handheld Smoking Device
Deep Inhalation Puff Sensor Belt
Belt Clip Central Unit
Ergonomic Handheld
(Frank)
Flow Meter
(Brian)
DIP Respiratory
Belt
(Mike)
5V DC Power
0-5 VDC Signal
Belt Output Voltage
Belt Clip
5V DC Power
0-5 VDC
Signal
Conditioning
(Derek)
5V DC
Power
Arduino Microcontroller
(Rich)
Control
Interface
(Rich, Frank)
Digital I/O
+12 VDC
Clock Time, Signal Voltages
MicroSD Card
Shield- Data
Storage
(Rich)
Battery
(Derek)
Post Collection Data
Processing
(Rich, Mike, Brian)
CSV on
MicroSD Card
Ergonomic Foam Mock Ups
Finished Handheld Designs
The deep inhalation puff is the
breath of “clean” air after taking an
initial draw on a cigarette. This
“clean” air includes side stream
smoke or commonly known as
second hand smoke.
By capturing the deep inhalation
puff, the device will provide more
accurate data than the CReSS
device on how a human smokes a
cigarette during an entire smoking
event.
SLP Inc. Inductive Bands
•Closed loops of conductive wire
woven in an elastic band
BioPac Strain Gauge Belt
• Linear strain gauge attached
to an adjustable elastic band
•Flow of the current is limited by
a change in magnetic flux
•Strain from tension is
converted to a voltage signal
http://www.sleepsense.com/pages/product
http://www.biopac.com/ProductImages/tsd201.jpg
The signal-to-noise ratio from the BioPac belt was
of a notably higher fidelity before amplification.
Criteria for Selection
•Cost
•Digital and Analog Inputs
•Digital Outputs
•Flash Memory
Arduino Duemilanove
•Most economical
Conclusions
•Real Time Clock (RTC)
•Storage
•Auto-Reset
Serial interface rather
than parallel

~0.5 second per write
operation

Unreliable operation

 Disposable battery would
 Requires frequent replacement
 Process more complicated for the
customer.
 Two main factors
 capacity of the battery
 cost.
 Other factors:
 size
 weight
 amount of voltage supplied
 Requires external jumper
 DIP belt signal was too weak to
be read properly
 INA128 Biomedical Amplifier is a
higher fideltiy
2
1
 Inaccuracies of either
correlation
 Experimental noise
 Leaks in the pressure
sensor system
 Air taken in by the
smoker but not going
through the cigarette
Feature
Cigarette Detection (Infrared or other method)
Wireless Communication Between Device Components
Rationale
Time, Lack of EE Expertise, Deemed Bell/Whistle
Not necessary, possibly not actually desirable (losing pieces),
lack of EE/CE expertise
Wireless Communication for Data Transfer
Time, Lack of EE/CE Expertise, Deemed Bell/Whistle
Internal Permanent Connection Between Board and Battery
Time, Lack of EE Expertise
E-cigarette Adapter
Time, Deemed Bell/Whistle
Flow Path Optimization
Time, Lack of CFD expertise, will begin this work
Onboard Zeroing Sensors
Very challenging problem, solution is being attempted but is not
guaranteed
Time, Deemed Bell/Whistle, not wholly necessary
Custom DIP Belt Design
Time, Lack of Expertise/Understanding in a timely manner, Cost
Embedded Software Upgrades: Power Management, Data
Processing, Automated Calibration
Time, Lack of CE Expertise, team will make software functional
and as advanced as possible
Cigarette Vent Hole Issue
Battery Life Improvements
Case Design Upgrades for Moldability
Further Ergonomic Testing and Improvements
Lack of EE expertise. Incremental improvement, our design will
be adequate but could be improved
Time. Necessary for ramp up, will get done if possible
Time: incremental improvement achieved through additional
focus group
Adding Retractable Wire Mechanism to Device
Difficulty locating vendor of appropriate pre-fabbed mechanism.
Will likely need custom design or custom part from vendor.
Improved Durability
Limited time to design case internal structure. Will meet
minimum level but cannot guarantee beyond that
All pictures used under educational fair use