Technology
HitachiHigh-Technologies developed a small mass spectrometer that can detect stimulants and
narcotics. It is less than one tenth of the existing standard mass spectrometer in
terms of price and weight, and it can examine drugs in urine at a concentration
of one ten millionth. It is the world’s first portable analyzing device that supports the investigations of Drugs of Abuse. Using its self-developed algorithm,
the company allowed the device to tell the existence of drugs in a sample in
less than five minutes. If drugs are detected, it displays the names of the
detected drugs automatically on the screen. That is, no expertise is required,
and investigators can handle the device easily in the field. At present, no
device capable of detecting drugs in the field is available.
The company
developed this device in alliance with Hitachi, University of Yamanashi, Kobe Gakuin University, and National Police Agency. The research team successfully
downsized the device by reviewing the sizes of ionization sources and the
analysis module. The number of illegal drugs is on the increase lately, but the
device can increase the number of illegal drugs that it can support only by
adjusting the database. The company plans to commercialize it in 2012 and put
it on the domestic and foreign markets in 2013. It weighs 10 kg. The unit price is
scheduled to be about 10 million yen.
A new portable mass spectrometer capable of detecting
stimulants and narcotics in five minutes from Hitachi
High-Technologies
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