A new, air-powered computer sets off alarms when certain medical devices fail. The invention is a more reliable and lower-cost way to help prevent blood clots and strokes -; all without electronic sensors. Described in a paper in the journal Device , the computer not only runs on air, but also uses air to issue warnings.
It immediately blows a whistle when it detects a problem with the lifesaving compression machine it is designed to monitor. Intermittent pneumatic compression or IPC devices are leg sleeves that fill with air periodically and squeeze a person's legs to increase blood flow. This prevents clots that lead to blocked blood vessels, strokes, or death.
Typically, these machines are powered and monitored by electronics. IPC devices can save lives, but all the electronics in them make them expensive. So, we wanted to develop a pneumatic device that gets rid of some of the electronics, to make these devices cheaper and safer.
" William Grover, associate professor of bioengineering at UC Riverside and corresponding paper author Pneumatics move compressed air from place to place. Emergency brakes on freight trains operate this way, as do bicycle pumps, tire pressure gauges, respirators, and IPC devices. It made sense to Grover and his colleagues to use one pneumatic logic device to control another and make it safer.
This type of device operates in a similar way to electronic circuits, by making parity bit calculations. "Let's say I want to send a message in ones and zero.