Frits Ypenburg studied BSc. Electrical Engineering in Amsterdam Holland
Worked for seven years in Switzerland involved in quality research on components and instruments at Philips.

Worked for 20 years in South Africa CSIR of which, 7 years were at defence research, involved in flight tests of guided missiles 2 years were spent at building research, involved in environmental studies in large buildings. Then a futher 11 years were spent at the physics department – airpollution. This involved studies of the environmental impact and cooling efficiency of large cooling towers used in electrical power stations.

During this period Frits became involved in repairs for underground instruments in mines. After a while Dr. A.D. Surridge and F.Ypenburg formed SAFDY Systems (ADS and FY). During 1990 they started marketing their vortex airflow meters in South African mines. They completed many tests in the CSIR windtunnels and were convinced that vortex airflow meters when working well were the superior instrument for harsh environments such as underground goldmines.

They made several useful improvements during this time to this complicated but highly stable method of flowsensing and the result is the efficient and reliable SAFDY airflow meter.