PANDEMIC RELIEF EFFORTS
via remote teleconferencing support. We approached companies in our existing supply chain, and, in the end, had specially assembled and built for us externally, two different concentrator designs – both with a 500 litre / min output, one – of which we produced two units – based on a German machine, with which we had considerable help with parts from the manufacturer, INMATEC’s German agent, Horizon, and the second series – of which we had six built, based upon a UK design. The parts for the German machine were sourced from all over the world. The latter six concentrators, however, were of a more straightforward design, with, for example, fewer monitoring features, and large single, rather than multiple, buffers, but were more suitable for deployment in the field. Three of these machines were dispatched to Delhi from Belfast International Airport at around mid-day on Friday 7 May on a massive Antonov An-124, said to be the world’s biggest cargo plane,” Nigel Keery continued. “On landing in Delhi at about 8.30 am local time on Sunday 9 May, the plane, with its Russian crew, was reportedly unloaded of all its cargo (which also included 1,000 CPAP systems from a British manufacturer), and ‘cleared’ by the authorities within three hours. From there the concentrators and ventilators were transported by road and rail straight to a number of regional hospitals.”
Sourcing a variety of parts Returning to the concentrators, and Nigel Keery explained that the six concentrators assembled to a UK design, and with UK-sourced parts, were based on a machine from UK manufacturer, Precision CPX. He said: “To be able to assemble these concentrators, we had to, for instance, source different air compressors from those in the original design, due to a worldwide shortage of such equipment as a result of the pandemic. We also had ‘bespoke’ medical
Left to right: Natasha Keery, Northern Ireland Heath Minister, Robin Swann, and Nigel Keery, on the announcement that the oxygen generators would be going to India.
gases pipework fabricated locally in Northern Ireland by CA Services. We used the CPX oxygen control panel, which is the ‘brain’ of the production system, and is simple to use and accurate, deciding – probably a bit naively at the start – that, provided we could get the necessary parts, we could build the concentrators. We discovered, having originally successfully obtained parts for the first two concentrators based on the German machine, that we subsequently couldn’t source the components for any more, and this factor, and the fact that the CPX units provided all the capacity and features we believed our hospitals required, determined our decision to develop and go ahead with six of the latter.”
I asked how complicated the concentrators were to assemble. Nigel Keery said: “Initially we found it a considerable challenge to fit them into the 40 ft containers that house them in a sensible way that helped the operator manage the process. The concentrators
based on the German design, with all their additional electronics, and a duplex arrangement rather than single compressors, provided a particular challenge to the space and the operator processes. As we went on, we recognised that with their duplex design, maintaining these two concentrators out in the field would be really difficult – and an additional complexity that would not be appreciated considering all the other challenges being faced – so we separated them up into more manageable, maintainable configurations. In essence, to accommodate the eight concentrators, we took standard extra height 40 ft shipping containers, added louvered grilles, door access, and insulation, and kitted them out comprehensively; each is like a self-contained plantroom.”
The first oxygen generators being manufactured at Alternative Heat in Banbridge. 40 Health Estate Journal June 2021
Built on a very large site The construction of the container units was undertaken by a company called Alternative Heat in Banbridge, about 30 miles from Belfast in County Down. Nigel Keery elaborated: “Alternative Heat built the containers on its very extensive site, and we then put together a project team, working for the Trust under our existing retained contracts. This included mechanical, electrical, and building contractors, WJM Building Services, led by Glen Meikle. He acted as the project manager for all the sub-contractors involved. He not only arranged for Alternative Heat – whose past work for the Trust has included building modular boiler houses and modular substations – to build the containers to our ‘specification’, but also oversaw the installation of all the equipment, and specialist transportation. We used a Lisburn-based medical gases company, CA Services, to undertake all the installation connection of the medical oxygen services, and organise the testing
©M Cooper
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