Christian Deselaers is the winner of the FAFNIR Prize 2012. The 24-year-old graduate engineer from the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH) received the award, which includes a cash prize of €1500, on Friday, 16 March 2012. The prize was presented by Dr Wolfgang Schrittenlacher, FAFNIR GmbH associate, in the presence of Dr Arne Jacob, Dean of Electro-technology, Information Technology and Mathematics at the TUHH, during an awards ceremony.
Christian Deselaers, who was born in Hamburg, developed an innovative pulse oximeter for simultaneous measurement of the oxygen concentration and the pulse rate of patients in his degree thesis. The thesis was prepared at the Institute for Microsystem Technology under the supervision of Dr Jörg Müller and graduate engineer Klaus Dembowski.
Pulse oximeters have been used in mobile and clinical applications for many years for non-invasive monitoring of the most important parameters such as heart and circulatory functions and the concentration of oxygen in the blood. Energy-saving measurement systems with extremely low energy consumption are especially important during rehabilitation. This requirement demands a fundamentally different approach in many sectors of measurement electronics, especially with regard to the software for the evaluation.
FAFNIR initiated the prize for outstanding degree theses in the field of sensor technology in 2008 for the purpose of supporting talented young engineers at the TUHH and of emphasising the significance of intense cooperation for both academics and business.