Sensor Measures Oxygen Saturation from Breath
“Fraunhofer IPM in Freiburg has developed a noninvasive sensor in an effort to enable painless and yet ultra-accurate measurements in the future. Attached to a breathing mask or ventilator tube, it will surpass the current state of technological advancement in terms of accuracy and cost-effectiveness, replacing existing measurement systems. . . . . “We use the quenching effect for the O2 sensor we developed.” In this method, a fluorescent coating deposited on an aluminum substrate is exposed to short-wave light, which causes the layer to glow. The light emitted is longer in wavelength than the light that is “exciting” the fluorescent substance, which means it is lower in energy. Then, when oxygen molecules come into contact with the coating, the fluorescent light is markedly diminished. The weaker the light, the higher the oxygen concentration. “Our measuring method is so fast and precise that we can measure oxygen concentrations down to the level of individual breaths,”. . . . MORE
Image Credit: Fraunhofer IPM