Medical

By Shannon McAfee, Pattons Medical

The air is delivered through a distribution piping system that ends with a medical air outlet within the room. Outlet requirements per room are governed by American Institute of America (AIA) Guidelines for Design and Construction of Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities. Equipment is plugged into the medical air outlet to treat the patient. Many studies have been done determining the load required for medical air compressors. The sizing can be calculated using several methods.

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20 Years of Case Studies: Plants Sharing Best Practices

Edited by Troy Dreier, Senior Editor, Compressed Air Best Practices®

For 20 years, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine has published articles focused on helping manufacturers reduce power demand, lower water consumption, and improve the performance of compressed air, cooling, blower and industrial vacuum systems. In this article, we highlight a sampling of those stories across the following industries: Plastics and Packaging Food and Beverage Automotive and Transportation Cement, Building Materials, and Mining Metals, Pulp, and Paper Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare, and Research Wastewater Treatment

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Standardization of Automation Components Pays Off at New Biotest AG Plasma Fractionation Plant

By Ralf Baumann

Blood plasma is an indispensable resource in the production of life-saving medicines. It is also in high demand on global markets. To make more efficient use of this valuable commodity, Biotest AG developed a new large-scale production plant in Dreieich, Germany, for plasma fractionation capable of obtaining five instead of the previous three products from a single liter of blood plasma. As part of its strategy, Biotest AG worked with Festo to standardize automation components used at the plant, resulting in simplified installation and maintenance.

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Verifying Compressed Air and Gas Safety and Quality in Medical Applications

By Trace Analytics

Compressed air and gases are vital to numerous healthcare facility operations. Commonly used for breathing, sedation, and the operation of medical instruments, healthcare facilities must rely on these utilities for lifesaving and therapeutic benefits. The quality of the air and gas produced by the facility’s compressed air systems is paramount to their efficacy in promoting positive outcomes for patients.

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University of Manitoba Bannatyne Medical Campus Saves 15% Annually in Energy Costs

By Ron Marshall, Marshall Compressed Air Consulting

The University of Manitoba Bannatyne Campus, Canada, upgraded its compressed air system to include variable speed drive (VSD) air compressors and the use of internal heat-of-compression (HOC) drying, replacing oil-free air compressors and refrigerated dryers that reached the end of useful life. In doing so, the campus reduced annual energy consumption by 15%, improved the quality of the compressed air to modern day instrument air standards and gained additional compressed-air capacity. The local utility also awarded the medical campus an incentive of $13,500, offsetting the cost of the initiative.

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Medical Air Monitoring and Quality Verification

By Mike Grennier, Compressed Air Best Practices^® Magazine

Compressed Air Best Practices® interviewed Norman Davis, Jr., President of ENMET, LLC. Our products include medical verification instrumentation, compressed airline monitors, and single- and multi-gas detectors along with ambient air oxygen monitors. Many of these systems are designed to ensure compliance with NFPA 99 (National Fire Protection Agency) Medical Air Systems Guidelines and OSHA monitoring requirements for Grade D breathing air.

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The Vital Role of Specialized Compressors in Helium Recovery

By Stelios Flessas, J.P. Sauer & Sohn Maschinenbau GmbH

Helium is a precious noble gas that has become invaluable for leak detection, as well as cooling down magnets in medical equipment. This is why consumption of this essential industrial resource is increasing and its price is rising rapidly. To combat a looming shortage of this increasingly scarce resource, new methods of helium recovery are becoming more important than ever – as are specialized compressors for the same purpose.

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Hospital Air System Savings

By Ron Marshall CET, CIM, for the Compressed Air Challenge®. Edited by Jan Zuercher and David Booth

Large hospitals often use compressed air for important operational related end uses. The systems that produce this air need to supply clean and dry compressed air with a high level of reliability. These systems are not immune to efficiency problems as is the case for any compressed air system.

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An Introduction to WAGD System Implementations

By Mark Allen, Director of Marketing, BEACONMEDAES

This article will examine in detail four of the five acceptable WAGD implementations under NFPA 99, along with some alternative ways they may be implemented. This article will not deal with passive implementations.

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BSA LifeStructures

By Rod Smith, Compressed Air Best Practices® Magazine

BSA LifeStructures is a full service architectural and engineering firm specializing in healthcare, higher education and technology facilities. We employ close to 260 associates and are established in two locations; Indianapolis and Chicago. Our strongest focus is on hospitals and university facilities.

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The Importance of Dewpoint for Medical Air Systems

By Chris Duffell and Mark White, Parker domnick hunter

The most abundant contaminant in any compressed air system is water. This can be in either liquid or vapour form. Atmospheric air is already very wet, and becomes saturated when compressed. This water vapour will condense when the temperature drops, after the compressor, and will damage air receivers, pipework and equipment. For this reason coalescing filters and then dryers are used to remove the bulk of this water.

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Profile: The Total Equipment Company

By Compressed Air Best Practices®

A good-size hospital with 200 beds and ten operating rooms can have a medical air system, a laboratory air system, and pneumatic air systems. The medical air systems must all follow the NFPA 99 guidelines. We follow these guidelines, from the beginning, when we assess the demand for air in a hospital.

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Supplied Air Respiratory Protection

By Jay Francis, Americas Sales Manager, Strategic Accounts & Rental Group, SPX FLOW

Hazardous breathing conditions exist in routine industrial operations, such as hospitals, abrasive blasting, paint spraying, industrial cleaning, and arc welding. In these and other operations that introduce contaminants into the workplace, supplied-air respirators are frequently used for worker protection.

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Profile: BeaconMedaes

Compressed Air Best Practices® interviewed Mark Allen (Director of Marketing) of BeaconMedæs.

In the U.S. as an example, the NFPA has taken the view that if your compressor draws in good clean ambient air, the air stays clean through the compressor, is then dried and filtered, when you deliver it to the patient it will be entirely satisfactory. After all, when you went into the hospital that’s what you were breathing and when you leave you will breathe it again!

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NFPA 99 Medical Air Dewpoint Requirements

By Compressed Air Best Practices

The NFPA 99 (National Fire Protection Agency) Standard for Healthcare Facilities (2005 Edition) is the current Code by which Healthcare facilities in the U.S. design their compressed air systems. The NFPA 99 Standard covers many requirements for medical gases, with compressed air being just a component of the Standard.

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