PAMANTASAN NG LUNGSOD NG MAYNILA

(University of the City of Manila)

Written Report in Instrumentation and Control (Project 1)

Submitted by:
Capinianes, Ian Earl A.
Bantiles, Cristine Joy G.
Velarde, Ronald I.
Jutoy, Jerald Christian
Sapugay, Kimverly
BS Mechanical Engineering V

Submitted to:
Engr. Thaddeo Garcia

November 27, 2019

The effects of consumption of alcohol even in small amounts are noticeable. When
consumed in large quantities, alcohol can act as a sedative and can depress the central
nervous system.

Alcohol is very quickly absorbed in to blood and the amount of alcohol in blood
reaches peak after an hour of drinking an alcoholic beverage. Hence, blood alcohol test is the
easiest and fastest way to determine whether a person is in legal levels of consumption or
intoxicated. The main reasons for testing blood alcohol level are: to check the alcohol content
in blood of legally drunk suspects, to test for alcohol content in blood when consumption is
prohibited like in under aged people and other medical reasons like finding the cause of
altered mind.

Breath Alcohol Tester is a device that is used to indicate or estimate the blood alcohol
content of a person. The general term for this device is Breathalyzer or Breath Analyzer. Law
Enforcement Organizations often use breath alcohol testers to find consumption levels of
alcohol by drivers.

In this project, a simple DIY breath alcohol tester is designed. It can be used the
levels of alcohol consumption with the help of LEDs from very less consumption to
intoxicated.

II. Objectives

The objective of this research is to make a circuit that shows the input, the function
and reaction of the sensor, and its output with a chosen sensor, in this case, a MQ3 or and
Alcohol Sensor in fulfilling the requirements of the subject in Instrumentation and Control. It
is also required to have 5 different inputs to show 5 outputs via the sensor. It is also required
to show the circuit diagram, and the flowchart of the system, if available.
III. Methodology

This section is divided into four parts, the materials, the components description, the
procedure itself, and the circuit diagram. The wires and connections must be placed correctly,
and a little knowledge in circuit analysis and where to connect the wires to the components
are needed. Also, one must follow the circuit diagram to the note, and using subtitutes are
alright as long as the substitute functions exactly like the original. Not more than 5V must be
used, as it can cause failure of this circuit.

A. Materials
1. 1 pcs. MQ - 3 Alcohol Sensor
2. 10 pcs. 470 Ohms Resistor
3. 1 pcs. 2000 Ohms Resistor
4. 1 pcs. 3900 Ohms Resistor
5. 1 pcs. 20000 Ohms Potentiometer
6. 1 pcs. LM – 3914 IC
7. 5V Power Source
8. 10 pcs. LED lights (Color is dependent to the user)

B. Components Description
1) MQ – 3 Alcohol Sensor
- MQ-3 is an alcohol sensor that can be used to measure or detect breath alcohol
concentration. It is a highly sensitive sensor with fast response time. MQ-3 can also
detect Benzene, Methane, LPG, Carbon monoxide and Hexane. MQ-3 alcohol sensor
is a 6-pin device out of which 4 pins are used to fetch signals and other 2 are used to
provide current to heater coil.
2) LM3914 IC
- LM3914 is a dot/bar display driver IC. It senses the analog voltage levels and
drives 10 LEDs accordingly. It can be used to drive LEDs, LCDs and vacuum
fluorescent displays.It can also drive low current incandescent lamps. Several
LM3914 ICs can be chained to from 20 to 100 segments.
C. Procedure
1. Prepare all the materials.
2. Make sure they are all working before using or putting it in the breadboard. Also,
check the breadboard for damages, and have it replaced immediately.
3. MQ-3 has 6 pins and the data pins can be interchanged. The heater terminals of the
sensor are connected to supply and ground respectively.
4. Two similar data pins (A or B) are connected to supply and other two similar data
pins are given to one end of voltage divider network. The other end of voltage divider
consists of a 470Ω resistor and 20 KΩ POT. The common point is given to pin 5 of
LM3914.
5. Pins 2 and 3 of LM3914 are supply pins. They are connected to Vcc and Gnd
respectively. Pin 9 is mode selection pin. For normal usage, it is connected to pin 3.
6. Pins 4 and 6 are divider low and high pins. Pin 4 is connected to ground and pin 6 is
connected to pin 7. Pins 7 and 8 are reference voltage pins. Pin 7 is connected to one
end of voltage divider network formed by 2.2 KΩ and 3.9 KΩ. The other end is
connected to ground. The center of voltage divider is connected to pin 8.
7. Pins 1, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11 and 10 are the output pins in sequence i.e. pin 1
is output 1 while pin 10 is output 10. They are connected to 10 different LEDs of
different colors.
8. Test the sensor if it detects the alcohol, by looking at the reaction of the LED lights, if
there is no reaction, something is wrong with your circuit, if there is a reaction, the
test can begin.
9. Put different types of alcohol with varying alcohol content.
10. Record the datas collected.
11. Try up to 3 trials for accuracy.
D. Circuit Diagram
IV. Working Principle

Breathalyzers are very useful devices in estimating the blood alcohol content of drunk
drivers. Police officers often use more advanced and sophisticated testers with digital
readings and with printer facility that prints results instantly. In this project, a simple breath
alcohol tester is designed which indicates the levels of alcohol through a set of 10 LEDs. The
working of the circuit is explained below.

MQ-3 is the main module in the project. It is an alcohol sensor whose conductivity
changes according to the concentration of the alcohol. The output is given to the signal pin
(pin 5) of LM3914, which is an analog voltage sensing IC. According to the value at pin 5,
the outputs are activated. For voltages between 0 and 5V, the outputs are activated from 1 to
10.

When the concentration of alcohol sensed is very less, the analog value will be
slightly greater than 0V and hence only first few LEDs will glow. When the concentration
increases, the number of LEDs turning on also increases. When the concentration of alcohol
is at intoxicated level, all the LEDs will be turned on. The sensitivity of the module can be
adjusted by the potentiometer.

NOTE

 Consumption of alcohol is injurious to health. The purpose of this project is to

This section consists of the Block Diagram and the Flow Chart of the project. It is to
show the reaction and the block diagram of this project.

a) Block Diagram
b) Flow Chart
VI. Data Analysis and Graph

This part contains the datas collected in the project and its graphical representation.
Note that there are 3 trials done, the first, second, and third trial. The results of the first and
third trial is the same, so it is not considered in the input.

1. Data

NO. OF LIGHTS ON FOR 5secs

TRIAL 01 TRIAL 02

Beer
2 2
(7%)

Wine
2 1
(11%)

Brandy
4 4
(30%)

Gin
4 4
(40%)

Alcohol Isoprophyl
5 5
(70%)
 2. Graph

4
NO. OF LIGHTS ON FOR 5secs

0
Beer (7%) Wine (11%) Brandy (30%) Gin (40%) Alcohol
Isoprophyl
(70%)
ALCOHOL TYPE (ALCOHOL CONTENT)

TRIAL 1 TRIAL 2
VII. Documentation

This section contains the photo of the finished product, with their front, side, and top
views.

(Top View)
(Side View)

(Front View)
VIII. Conclusion

To conclude, this type of sensor is an open – loop system, because it only has an
input, the sensor, and the output. The input is detected by the sensor, while the corresponding
output is released. The Breathalyzer is a type of circuit that senses alcohol, and determines its
content, which is very useful to the police, especially if determining if a driver or a person is
drunk.