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.
, 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.
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. An air-powered computer uses differences in air pressure flowing through 21 tiny valves to count the number of ones and zeroes. If no error in counting has occurred, then the whistle doesn't blow.
The IPC device monitoring is only one application for air computing. For his next project, Grover would like to design a device that could eliminate the need for a job that kills people every year -- moving around grain at the top of tall silos. Air-powered computing is an idea that has been around for at least a century. People used to make air-powered pianos that could play music from punched rolls of paper. After the rise of modern computing, engineers lost interest in pneumatic circuits.
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