We often talk about the various ways compressed air comes into contact with our everyday lives, though it’s not every day that we make a connection between compressed air and our health. Yet, from the cup of yogurt for breakfast to the carefully designed blister packs housing our daily vitamins, compressed air plays a supporting role in a variety of health industries.
Consider pacemakers. These small, implantable medical devices use electrical pulses to prompt the heart to beat and help control abnormal or irregular heart rhythms. According to some reports, there are over three million people in the world with pacemakers and hundreds of thousands more are implanted each year. To meet the strict health requirements of doctors and patients, manufacturers of pacemakers need to use the purist air possible during the manufacturing process.
And in hospitals, compressed air is used in a variety of medical air applications including mechanical ventilation of patients on life support; anesthesia; drug delivery via nebulizer; and medical device testing and drying. In surgical air applications, compressed air operates pneumatic surgical tools for surgical tasks including drilling, sawing and dissecting.
Because compressed air comes into direct contact with people and devices in medical settings, the air has to be 100% free of oil and any additional particles, even tiny specks of dust. And, because these applications directly affect patients, the compressors also need to be extremely reliable.
Atlas Copco offers oil-free air compressors and medical air equipment that comply with ISO air purity standards in addition to other demanding standards and regulations required by the medical sector. That’s just one of the reasons why Atlas Copco was chosen to supply medical air and vacuum during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
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