Reliable Operation in Difficult Conditions

ndd continues the cooperation with Dr. Andreas Fahlman in order to measure lung function in marine mammals at the Oceanogràfic in Valencia. In cooperation with the company g&o embedded systems, a special flow sensor was developed for these animals. The prototype uses 4 active ultrasonic flow sensors. With this setup, peak flow rates of dolphins reaching 80 l/s were successfully measured.
The graph below shows the flow/volume loop of a dolphin (blue line) compared to that of a human (red line). In a next step, the system will be further developed in order to measure flows in even larger animals (e.g., Beluga whales) reaching flow rates of up to 200 l/s, which is more than ten times the flow measured in human athletes. Thanks to the fast response time, the robustness, and the calibration-free operation of ndd’s flow sensor this will be the first time that such flow rates can be accurately measured in these animals.