Environics produces a range of gas mixing and delivery systems which are extremely useful in researching hypoxia. They have been used both to investigate the effects of hypoxia as well as the potential benefits of induced hypoxia in clinical diagnosis.
.jpg)
Image Credit: Environics
The ROBD2 system, which has been licensed from the U.S. Navy under U.S. Patent Application No. 10/959.764, and various customized Gas On Demand (Blends) like the ReDO2 are some very popular systems among these.
Several studies using these powerful tools have been published, such as the recent “Uncovering Latent Deficits Due to Mild Traumatic Brain Injury by Using Normobaric Hypoxia Stress" , and another article which reviews how the ROBD2 can help airlines to assess whether commercial flight passengers require supplemental oxygen. These are available at the company’s research applications page on their website.
.jpg)
Image Credit: Environics
The RODD is yet another custom-built application developed to help decide the flight fitness of fighter pilots soon after LASIK procedures. This used variable oxygen levels to test mannikins fitted with an oxygen sensor in one eye socket and a hygrometer probe in the other, so that the test evaluated the effects of low oxygen in humid and non-humid conditions, using a built-in humidifier.
The system is designed to deliver oxygen from concentrations of 4.4% to 21%. It is equipped with a pulse oximeter as well as oxygen analyzer. It also has an emergency switch for oxygen dumping, to deliver 100% oxygen. The system can be customized as required.
Features
Flexibility
The Environics systems are built to blend and dilute gases under automated controls, to achieve precision in oxygen concentration levels, which can be set by the user anywhere from 21% down to 4.4%.
.jpg)
Image Credit: Environics
Accuracy
The Environics gas mixing systems center around technology to ensure highly accurate control of thermal mass flow controllers which determine the gas flow. While typical accuracy for such controllers is within +/- 1% of full-scale flow, the high-precision calibration and computer-assisted regulation of Environics systems enables an astonishing accuracy to within +/- 1% of setpoint. The ten-fold increase in precision of thermal mass flow controllers with Environics regulating technology is documented in the Full-scale error vs. Setpoint error paper.
Environics gas mixer/delivery systems also show a high repeatability of within +/-0.05% of full scale.
Customization
With thousands of Environics systems already in place in the field, the company has a huge database of gas mixing/delivery applications and solutions. Any of these can be tweaked or adopted to meet the client’s unique needs. There are other add-on features such as the alarms, both visual and audible, to alert the operator if the gas level crosses a specified concentration.
This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by Environics, Inc.
For more information on this source, please visit Environics, Inc.