Haruka Matsukura and his colleagues from Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology have invented a screen which they dubbed the “smelling screen” that allows viewers to smell what they see. The LCD screen allows viewers to smell visuals that they see on screen, for example the aroma of coffee displayed on screen.
The screen works by continuously feeding and updating the odours from vaporizing gel pellets into four fans, one in each corner of the screen. The odours are distributed across the screen with the help of these four fans. The fans move at a very gentle pace thus keeping the airflow subtle to create the illusion of aromas and smells.
Currently the screen can pump only one odour at a time, but Matsukura says that the next stage would be to incorporate a cartridge, similar to the one used in a printer which would switch between smells easily through the combination of odours. The screen would largely benefit outdoor advertising, museums and movies.