ENGINEERED SYSTEMS


Pneumatic tube systems – the ‘invisible heroes’


An estimated one million patient samples are transported by pneumatic tube systems in British hospitals every week. Ensuring that these samples and other critical items arrive at their intended destination quickly and without fail is the job of the companies that supply and install these increasingly complex networks of plastic tubes. Here, Tom Hughes, managing director of Aerocom (UK), explains how pneumatic tube systems work, and how they have become the ‘invisible heroes’ behind driving efficiencies in the nation’s health service.


Communication technologies like mobile phones and Wi-Fi have catapulted us into an era where today’s reality is often even more incredible than yesterday’s science fiction. However, when it comes to the transportation of physical objects, we are clearly a long way from replicating the type of teleportation machines synonymous with the Star Trek franchise. So, how does a modern-


day hospital cope with the accurate and timely transfer of thousands of critical supplies – such as blood samples, patient specimens, and pharmaceuticals – across its sprawling campus? The answer lies in a technology that can be traced back around 200 years. Pneumatic tube systems (PTS) exist in almost every major UK hospital, utilising the same combination of vacuum and air pressure that was first commercially used by the postal system in the mid- 19th Century. Nowadays, a major NHS hospital PTS requires up to 5 kms of precision-extruded pneumatic tubing to transport sealed products throughout its network of floors, departments, and buildings. Aerocom (UK), one of the


UK’s largest suppliers and installers of pneumatic tube systems to healthcare organisations, has to date installed such systems in well over 100 NHS and private hospitals in the UK. The company’s most recent project involved the upgrade and replacement of the entire network of pneumatic tube systems across Bristol Royal Infirmary’s city centre hospital complex. Pneumatic tube systems are piped


networks that propel cylindrical carriers through arrays of tubes by low-pressure air


movement or partial vacuum. Comparable to a national railway network, the mainlines are separated into both long distance and localised zones, with stations either inline, where the carrier passes through, or end of line branches. Each zone operates individually, the multiple zones of the network operate simultaneously and, like railways, there are interchange stations where the carrier can cross from one zone to another. The physics is not entirely the same


An estimated one million patient samples are transported by pneumatic tube systems in British hospitals every week.


as the original postal systems used for transmitting telegrams on single tracks to nearby buildings such as Government offices or the Stock Exchange. The addition of 21st Century automation, computerisation, and robotic enhancements, mean the technology has developed from single lines to multiple station mainlines, with diversion branches and much improved traffic flow.


Making the networks largely invisible to users While the design and installation task differs depending on whether the systems are being retrofitted, or designed for a new-build hospital, the goal is to make the tube networks largely invisible to hospital users. The pipelines may be installed through ceiling spaces or down service risers, for example, or buried underground if they are required to transport items between campus buildings. Central interchange hubs may


be created within available service areas of the hospital. However, while it may first appear


to be a huge expense to install several kilometres of tubing in a hospital that may still need to remain fully operational while work is underway, the reality is entirely the opposite. In fact, tube systems save an enormous amount of time and staffing costs for the NHS. The modern PTS must be capable of dealing with several thousand specimens daily in major


September 2024 Health Estate Journal 57


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