WAMPSVILLE, N.Y. (June 16, 2004) – DHD Healthcare, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of respiratory care products, has received help from the NASA-funded Space Alliance Technology Outreach Program (SATOP) that will allow the company to increase the accuracy of its spirometers beyond the current industry norm.

Incentive spirometers help patients perform and monitor their own post-surgical breathing exercises.  Patients inhale through the spirometer, measuring lung performance to ensure that the lungs are being fully utilized to prevent the onset of pneumonia or other respiratory conditions.

Spirometers are just one of a wide family of respiratory products produced by DHD Healthcare, a 30-year-old, 118-person company that has gained a reputation for developing innovative products for the respiratory care market.  One of DHD’s research and development goals has been to increase the accuracy of its spirometers above and beyond that of the industry in order to give patients a more precise measure of their lung function.

Based on a recommendation from the Central New York Technology Development Organization (CNYTDO), Doug Crumb, DHD Vice President of Operations, decided to utilize SATOP to investigate the incentive spirometer project.  SATOP provides free engineering assistance to small businesses with technical challenges through the donations of expertise from 49 Space Alliance Partners

SATOP put DHD in contact with Alliance Partner Design by Analysis, Inc. (DBA), where Senior Technologist Mehdi Golafshani, Ph.D., volunteered to address the technical challenge.  “Mehdi’s background in the field of experimental and computational fluid dynamics made him the ideal person to address DHD’s technical challenge,” said Ryan McLaughlin, SATOP New York Engineering Manager.

Golafshani conducted an extensive design review supported by a limited fluid dynamics analysis of the spirometer. “Based on this review and analysis, it was found that there were unique opportunities to further enhance the air flow path and fine tune the performance of the device,” Golafshani said. “Recommendations were made to address the critical points and therefore guarantee a low turbulence and highly streamlined flow path.”

Crumb said that his engineering staff is reviewing Golafshani’s report and is looking forward to putting his proposals into practice. “Mehdi came up with new creative suggestions aimed at optimizing the device’s performance. It was the fresh perspective on the challenge that we needed,” he said. “We are excited at the prospect of implementing his recommendations.”