A new device that can quickly detect fine particles of explosives on people’s hands and boarding passes with 99 percent accuracy has been developed and will undergo trials at airports soon, it has been learned.
The detector instantaneously collects particles by expelling a jet of air at a speed of 10 to 20 meters per second when the device scans a boarding pass.
The air travels back into the device and is swirled around to create a mini tornado, thereby amassing the air’s particles in its center. The device determines if any particles are explosive by measuring the weight of their molecules. The process takes only a few seconds and the device can inspect about 1,200 passes per hour.
The device was developed by Hitachi Ltd., Yamanashi University and other entities.
Explosive compounds are often sticky, making it difficult to completely remove them from, for example, wrinkles on a finger. The device needs just one nanogram of particles to conduct its analysis. Tests have shown the device has a 99 percent rate of accuracy. Trials of the device will be conducted at airports and other places in the near future.
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