Tiny Olfactory Display Using Surface Acoustic Wave Device and Micropumps for Wearable Applications

Olfaction is expected to provide reality and immersive feeling in multimedia contents. Thus, an olfactory display, a gadget to present scents to one or more user(s), has been developed for a past decade. A wearable olfactory display has advantage from the viewpoint of reducing the odorant diffusion into the atmosphere and is appropriate for virtual reality applications. In this paper, we developed a portable olfactory display using a surface acoustic wave (SAW) device and micropumps. To realize a miniaturized olfactory display, we implemented a signal generator into field programmable gate array and we designed the dedicated unit combining micropump with odorant reservoir. To evaluate the olfactory display, we used a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) gas sensor. In the experiment, we found the proper angle of the olfactory display and the maximum distance at which the user can certainly sniff scents. In addition, we confirmed that the olfactory display can present intended concentration of the odorant. Furthermore, it was found that the olfactory display can atomize even a low-volatile odor compound with the micropump providing insignificant amount of odors to the SAW device.