ENGINEERED SYSTEMS
canisters) to move. These exhausters create a difference in air density behind and in front of the canister. This difference in air pressure enables the carrier to be pushed or pulled along the tube. The blowers are calibrated for propelling containers through the system at speeds of up to 5 metres per second. It is the computerisation rather than
the physical properties behind the control of air movement that makes the modern pneumatic tube system so hi-tech.
Powerful dedicated software Today, dedicated software can control and monitor an infinite number of ‘send and receive’ stations in unlimited zonal areas within a user-friendly Microsoft Windows package. Real-time graphics can display each carrier’s progress through multiple zone networks, using scanners to verify every RFID track-and-trace tag. As a result, every ‘transaction’ can be recorded, filed, and made accessible for future diagnostics, while added security functions can control access to the tube stations via PIN codes, swipe cards, barcode readers, and so on. As with any technology these days,
advances and improvements are being made continuously. Challenges surrounding the installation of pneumatic tube systems vary greatly from site to site. The system can be pre-designed into a new-build project far in advance, while a retrofit or upgrade project tends to be much more of a bespoke affair. For a retrofit or upgrade the surveyor will first review all departmental needs with the hospital – which may well have changed dramatically since any previous system
was installed. Then, existing building plans and on-site visits will help determine the most efficient or cost-effective placement of tubes and tube stations, always looking to utilise available ceiling apertures and service areas. In simple terms it is akin to having a house rewired or replumbed, but on a much larger scale. Last year, Aerocom (UK) was asked by
St James’s University Hospital in Leeds to connect eight tubes leading from its Gledhow Wing to a new pathology laboratory (see HEJ – February 2024), with no existing corridors or service ducts. The tube system had to travel down an embankment and across a main road to a new service duct, requiring a trench to be dug to house the traversing tube system. Notwithstanding the inevitable obstructions that were uncovered, such as high voltage cables, the underground pipes must be leak and pressure tested before burial. The polyethylene high- density (PEHD) tubing is fusion welded, which is a more suitable plastic for buried pipes, and also needed to be transformed to adapt with the PVC tubes at either end of the connection.
Replacing an older system The uncovering of ‘challenges’ can be very common when a new supplier is asked to upgrade or replace an older PTS that had been installed by another contractor. Royal London Hospital, for example, invited Aerocom in 2018 to review its 64-station PTS, which was installed by another contractor 10 years earlier. The system was suffering downtime, and the system software was regularly ‘freezing’. The site survey quickly discovered that the system controller was operating on Microsoft XP, which had been unsupported by Microsoft since 2008. The pneumatic operating system was also deemed to be too basic, with limited capacity to self-diagnose faults, and a myriad of other knock-on design and computer errors flagged. As a result, the system
was replaced in 2020. Only then did Aerocom installers discover the extent of poorly fitting tubing in the system – and ‘lost’ carriers dating back several months were discovered jammed in some of the worst sections. The newly installed system immediately reimbursed the Trust, allowing it to reduce the large number
Aerocom (UK) is one of the UK’s largest suppliers and installers of pneumatic tube systems to healthcare organisations.
of porters that had been needed 24/7 to manually carry out the tasks that should have been performed by the tube system. In our calculations, the return on investment would have paid back within the first year, and will provide several millions of pounds in manpower cost savings for at least the next decade. So, until the unlikely day that patient specimens, drugs, and other items can be ‘beamed up’ Star Trek-style – instead of physically transported – the advances in pneumatic tube systems have led to them becoming one of the most indispensable sample handling innovations in modern hospitals.
Tom Hughes
Tom Hughes is managing director of Aerocom (UK), which has been supplying and installing pneumatic tube systems in UK hospitals for almost 25 years. A qualified electrician, he plied his trade in Ireland and Australia before returning to join his uncle’s business, Aerocom (UK), in 2007. Working from the firm’s Nottingham headquarters, he was Installation manager responsible for heading a team that built some of the biggest pneumatic tube systems in Europe.
Tom was appointed assistant general manager in 2015, then became general manager in 2018. In March 2023 he was appointed as managing director, fully taking over the day-to day running of Aerocom (UK) from his uncle, John Hughes, who remains as chairman.
John Hughes originally acquired Aerocom (UK) from the German- based company, Aerocom GmbH & Co., in 2000. The firm has since successfully installed extensive pneumatic tube systems in well over 100 NHS and private hospitals. Aerocom (UK) now also supplies fire suppression devices and robotic guided vehicle systems to numerous industry sectors, including healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and retail.
September 2024 Health Estate Journal 59
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