Amico NFPA Triplex SCD Modular Stack Mount - Manual (Page 3)

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6.1 How to Use This Section
The following section is structured in a manner such that the medical air system for a project may be established and
executed in a sound and simple progression. Examples are given whenever possible.
The basic milestones in designing the medical air system are as follows:
• Definitions – Definitions are provided in the glossary section which contains terminologies which may be
frequently utilized within the Medical Air Systems section. These terms may also be helpful in understanding
and specifying the appropriate medical air system.
• Design – General outline pertaining to the procedural involvement in designing your Medical Air Systems.
• Sizing and Selecting the Medical Air System – Step by step calculation exemplifying how to calculate the
Peak Calculated Load (PCL) Requirements for the medical facility.
• Installation – Steps to building your medical air systems.
6.2 Introduction
Medical Air Systems
The NFPA-99 standards for Medical Air Compressors define an essential foundation of Medical Air Compressors
as follows: Air should start clean and be kept clean. For that reason, the air inhaled by the patient at the very least
should be minimally equal to filtered local outdoor air.
All compressors included herein are deemed suitable for medical use under The NFPA Standards. For further
information on NFPA compliant medical systems, please consult your Local Amico Source representative.
6.2.1 The Four Essentials To Building A Medical Air System:
1. The intake air location must never be contaminated by placing the medical air systems in a poorly
ventilated area.
2. The medical air must be available at all times, including in the event of a single fault failure.
3. The air must be dry enough to ensure no liquid water can develop under any normal operating conditions
(This is not necessarily assured simply by meeting the NFPA mandated dew point).
4. Any contamination whereby the system can produce within itself under any conditions (e.g. particulate)
must be removed (e.g. by filtration) before it can reach the patient.
NFPA defines various rules for the construction of the air plant and the safety devices required for each machine
type. Additionally, good engineering practice defines crucial elements such as after coolers, drains and traps,
dryers, vibration isolation, and hundreds of other small but significant elements of good air system design. Amico
Source has pre-engineered all the medical air systems in this section to warrant that they include not only the basic
requirements of the principles, but also the many foundations behind good engineering. This section of the design
guide also permits the user to make selections of complete medical air packages for reasons specified hereafter. It
is impractical to craft a design guide encompassing all the knowledge Amico Source’s engineers have applied to
the design of these systems. Nevertheless, within this design guide, you can easily locate the necessary information
to ensure you can apply these systems with confidence and provide for your client a fully satisfactory medical air
system. Medical Air in smaller systems may be provided by manifolds in lieu of compressor systems. The sizing
criteria are the same for either source type.
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