Medical oxygen | Stirling Cryogenics
Medical oxygen where and when you need it
No modern hospital can manage without medical oxygen. In certain circumstances however, the medical oxygen may be difficult to obtain or may only be available under unfavourable conditions.
Medical oxygen can be generated on-site, in any hospital, clinic or health centre using air separation techniques and cryogenic cooling for bulk storage virtually anywhere. Stirling Cryogenics liquid oxygen production plants (StirLOX) combine the production, liquefaction and storage of medical oxygen, making it available to you at all times ensuring you can meet peak demands.
StirLOX principle
The StirLOX equipment is quite easy. Oxygen gas is obtained from free ambient air by means of a PSA air seperator. This system produces oxygen gas with a purity of 93 -95% in accordance with the Pharmacopea rules and regulations. In a standard hospital system part of this gaseous oxygen will be fed directly into the hospital oxygen network, whereas the surplus of the gaseous production is liquefied and stored by the StirLOX liquefaction system.
This system is based on the Stirling cycle and is a highly efficient way to liquefy oxygen gas. The liquid oxygen is stored in a dedicated storage tank and will remain there till additional oxygen is needed (due to higher peak consumption) or when medical oxygen is needed during a power outage.
During a power outage the PSA system is not able to produce, however the medical oxygen stored as a liquid is still available. Since the storage is at a higher pressure the liquid oxygen is fed through to the liquid evaporator without the need for any power requiring equipment. This unit evaporates the liquid oxygen to gaseous oxygen again. The pressure from the evaporation process will maintain a steady flow of oxygen to the hospital's medical oxygen supply system thus resulting in long time uninterupted supply.
Rugged reliability
Continous supply is also guaranteed by the reliability of the equipment. In the last 50 years Stirling technology has proved to be extremely durable and trouble-free. The simple design and construction needs very little maintenance and helps to ensure a long service life.
Stirling Cryogenics' medical oxygen plants give reliable service after decades of use. The entire plant is designed to be environmentally friendly; it does not cause ozone layer depletion in any way, does not contribute to the greenhouse effect and does not discharge any harmful or toxic gas. Stirling's units make the user self-supporting guaranteeing a constant supply of medical oxygen and remove the reliance on bulk suppliers.
Products
For use in applications as described the following Stirling Cryogenics products may be considered: