The monitor consists of a breath inlet system developed at Battelle, Inc., a mass spectrometer from Teledyne, Inc., and the dose analysis software developed by the national laboratory. The subject breathes into a breath inlet mouthpiece for one or two minutes. This allows the researchers to collect numerous data points, sampling the breath stream as often as every 1.5 seconds. The breath passes through the MS, which collects data on compounds and their concentrations. Currently, the system can detect up to 168 chemicals in a person's breath.
Results are available in minutes rather than days or weeks.
The system monitors not only exposure, but dose. The system can calculate the dose to a particular organ system. It eliminates the need for blood or urine samples. Trall said that the device could be used in IAQ investigations because of its sensitivity and portability. However, she stresses, it would only measure exposure to VOCs and not to other contaminants such as mold or fungus.