Reprinted from American Society of Plumbing Engineers Data Book Volume 3: Special Plumbing Systems, Chapter 2: Medical Gas and Vacuum
Systems. 2000, American Society of Plumbing Engineers.
Most bulk-oxygen storage systems are furnished with vapor- The controls of the cylinder manifold will automatically shift the
izers. Vaporizers are banks of finned-tube heat exchangers that flow of the oxygen gas from the service side to the reserve side
convert the liquid to its gaseous state. The vaporizers come in sev- when the service side is depleted.
eral stylesincluding atmospheric, powered (forced-air, steam, Manifold systems can be located indoors or outdoors. When
and electric), waste-heat, and hybridand sizes. The selec- manifolds are located indoors, the engineer should observe the
tion of vaporizers should be based on demand, intermittent or following:
continuous usage, energy costs, and temperature zones. Poorly Location Preferably, the manifold should be in a dedicated
ventilated sites or undersized heat exchangers can cause ice to room on an outside wall near a loading dock and have ade-
form on vaporizers during the conversion process. Excessive ice quate ventilation and service convenience.
formations can clog and damage the vaporizer. Also, ice could Adjacent areas There should be no doors, vents, or other
allow extremely cold gas or the cryogenic liquid to enter the piped direct communications between the anesthetizing location or
system; damage the valves, alarms, and medical components; the storage location and any combustible agents. If locating
and even injure patients. Figure 1 illustrates a typical bulk-oxygen near or adjacent to an elevated temperature area is unavoid-
system schematic. able, the engineer should specify sufficient insulation to pre
Automatic controls furnished with the tanks regulate the flow of vent cylinder overheating;
liquid through the vaporizers. When there is a demand for oxygen, Fire rating The fire-resistance rating of the room should be at
the supply system draws liquid from the bottom of the cryogenic least 1 h.
storage tank through the vaporizers. The gas moves through a final
Ventilation Outside ventilation is required.
line regulator. Thus, a constant supply of oxygen at a regulated
pressure is provided. Security The room (or area) must be provided with a door or a
In case of mechanical difficulty or the depletion of the liquid- gate that can be locked and labeled.
oxygen supply, the reserve supply will begin to feed into the distri- Oxygen manifolds are sized taking into consideration the fol-
bution system automatically. lowing:
An alarm signal should alert appropriate hospital personnel 1. The size of the cylinders, 244 ft3 (6909 L) H-cylinder (see Table
when the liquid in the oxygen storage tank reaches a predeter- 4 for a sizing chart).
mined level. The alarm signals should indicate low liquid levels, 2. The hospitals usage of oxygen, in ft3 (L) per month.
reserve in use, and reserve low.
Cylinder-manifold supply systems Compressed-oxygen
systems are comprised of cylinder manifolds that allow a pri-
mary supply source of oxygen cylinders to be in use and an equal
number of oxygen cylinders to be connected as a reserve supply.
48 Plumbing Systems & Design JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2006 PSDMAGAZINE.ORG
reconstituted from oxygen U.S.P. and nitrogen N.F. must comply,
Table 4 Selection Chart for Oxygen Manifolds as a minimum, with Grade D in ANSI ZE86.I, Commodity Specifi-
Hospital Usage Duplex Manifold Size cation for Air.
Cu. Ft. (10 L) per month Total Cylinders Cylinders per Side
3
Medical compressed air can be produced on site from atmo-
5,856 (165.8) 6 3 spheric air using air compressors designed for medical applica-
9,760 (276.4) 10 5 tions. There are three major types of air compressor in the market-
13,664 (386.9) 14 7 place today: the centrifugal, reciprocating, and rotary screw. The
17,568 (497.5) 18 9 reciprocating and rotary screw are positive-displacement type
21,472 (608.0) 22 11 units, while the centrifugal compressor is a dynamic type com-
pressor. The medical air compressor shall be designed to prevent
25,376 (718.6) 26 13
the introduction of contaminants or liquid into the pipeline by one
29,280 (829.1) 30 15
of two methods: Type 1 air compressors eliminate oil anywhere in
33,154 (938.8) 34 17 the compressor. Type 2 air compressors separate the oil-containing
Note: Based on use of 244 ft3 (6909.35 L) H-cylinders.
section from the compression chamber. Examples of a type 1 com-
Nitrous oxide (N2O) The common source of nitrous oxide is a pressor are the liquid ring, rotary screw, and permanently sealed
cylinder-manifold system. High-pressure manifold systems con- bearing compressor. Type 2 compressors have extended heads.
sist of two banks of cylinders, primary and reserve. (See discus- A positive-displacement compressor is normally rated in actual
sion under Oxygen, above.) cubic feet per minute (acfm). This is the amount of air taken from
System demands for nitrous oxide can be more difficult to deter- atmospheric conditions that the unit will deliver at its discharge.
mine than they are for other medical gases. The number of surger- Within a broad range, changes in inlet air temperature, pressure,
ies scheduled, the types and lengths of surgery, and the admin- and humidity do not change the acfm rating of either the recipro-
istering techniques used by the anesthesiologists cause extreme cating or the rotary screw compressor. The centrifugal compres-
variations in the amount of nitrous oxide used. Because of this sors capacity, however, is affected slightly by the inlet air condi-
variation, considerations must be given to the size and selection tions due to the nature of the compression process. For example,
of the nitrous-oxide manifold system. as the air temperature decreases, the capacity of the dynamic
Avoid locating the nitrous-oxide manifold system outdoors in compressor will increase. The capacity of a centrifugal compres-
areas with extremely cold climates. Nitrous oxide is supplied lique- sor is normally defined in inlet cubic feet per minute (icfm) . In an
fied at its vapor pressure of 745 psi (5136.6 kPa) at 70F (21.1C). effort to obtain an apples to apples comparison of various com-
At extremely cold temperatures, the cylinder pressure will drop pressors, many manufacturers specify their capacity requirements
dramatically, reducing the cylinder pressure to a point where it is in standard cubic feet per minute (scfm). This sometimes causes
impossible to maintain an adequate line pressure. This is due to a much confusion because many people do not fully understand
lack of heat for vaporization. how to convert from acfm or icfm to scfm. The design engineer
For nitrous-oxide manifolds located indoors, the same precau- specifying scfm must define a typical inlet air condition at the
tions previously listed for oxygen systems must be observed. building site and their set of standard conditions (normally 14.7
The following should be considered when selecting and sizing psia [101.4 kPa], 60F [15.6C], and 0% relative humidity). Typi-
nitrous-oxide manifolds and determining the number of cylinders cally, the warmest normal condition is specified because as the
required: temperature goes up scfm will go down.
1. The size of the cylinders: 489 ft3 (13 847 L) K-cylinders (see To convert from acfm to scfm, the following equation is used.
Table 5).
Equation 1
2. The number of anesthetizing locations or operating rooms. Pi (Ppi %RH)
3. Provide of 1 cylinder per operating room for in-service and scfm = acfm Tstd
Pstd (Pp std %RHstd) Ti
reserve supplies. where
Table 5 Sizing Chart for Nitrous Oxide Cylinder Manifolds Pi = Initial pressure
Ppi = Partial initial pressure of water vapor in 100% humid air at
Duplex Manifold Size the temperature in question
Indoor Outdoor RH = Relative humidity
Number of
Operating Cylinders per Cylinders per Pstd = Pressure under standard conditions
Rooms Total Cylinders Side Total Cylinders Side Pp std = Partial standard pressure of water vapor in 100% humid
4 4 2 4 2 air at the temperature in question
8 8 4 10 5 RHstd= Relative humidity at standard conditions
10 10 5 12 5 Tstd = Temperature at standard conditions, F (C)
12 12 6 14 7 Ti = Inlet temperature, F (C)
16 16 8 20 10
Note: Based on use of 489 ft3 (13.85 103 L) K-cylinders.
Example 2
A facility is located at 5000 ft (1524 m) above sea level and the system
demand is 29.4 SCFM. Take the 29.4 scfm and multiply it by 1.08
(correction factor from Table 5) to get the adjusted scfm require-
ment of 31.8 scfm at 5000 ft above sea level. Therefore, a medical-air
system of greater capacity is needed at higher altitudes.
Another handy formula for compressed-air systems is the fol-
lowing: to convert scfm to L/min multiply by 28.31685.
Each compressor must be capable of maintaining 100% of the
medical-air peak demand regardless of the standby compressors
operating status. The basic compressor package consists of filter
intakes, duplex compressors, after-coolers, receiving tanks, air
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