Pneumatic Tube Systems are not novel to the 21st century, the concept of pneumatic transportation can be traced back to the late 1700’s. Historically pneumatic tube systems connecting buildings were first used by the post office.
Engineer Latimer Clark was the first to design and build a tube system, which went into operation at London Telegraph Office in 1853. This system would revolutionise rapid transportation; paper telegrams could be transported rapidly between the London Stock Exchange and the London Telegraph Office – a total distance of 220 yards – through a network of underground tubes using compressed air. Popularity in rapid transportation grew quickly leading to the expansion of the tube network; the length and diameter were altered in order to connect a greater number of locations and to facilitate the transportation of larger goods including parcels.
London had almost 22 miles of underground tube by 1880. Department stores were also using air tubes in the early 1900s sending payments to the cash office and returning the change to the sales desks. Initially, metal tubing was used and compressed air.
During the 19th century, Pneumatic Tube Systems were primarily a postal service; utilised by post offices, stock exchanges and banks alike, to rapidly transport goods between two locations. Pneumatic Tube Systems were a turning point, especially within the financial sector. London’s network of underground tubes eliminated the need for frequent road travel, providing an alternative, fast and efficient means of communication. It was not long until local stock exchanges in Liverpool, Birmingham and Manchester installed similar systems.
Overtime, Pneumatic Tube Technology developed and was applied to various sectors including, hospitals. On account of the systems success, during the late 19th century other European cities began to utilise similar systems to speed up internal communication. A major tube network was constructed in Paris to be utilised for postal travel. Demand led to the extension of such networks and by the 20th century, pneumatic messages could be delivered across Paris in its entirety.
Today, Pneumatic tube systems are not utilised on the same scale as they were a century ago – likely on account of modern innovations such as the mobile phone. Nevertheless, there continues to be a great demand for Pneumatic Technology within several fields’ especially health care facilities. Dealing with hundreds of patients a day, hospitals required a quick way to transport samples and medication between locations. Despite continuing technological advances, Pneumatic Tube Systems continue to play an integral role in modern day health system.
The history of hospital Pneumatic Tube Systems
In the 1950s European hospitals began installing pneumatic tube systems sending documents, X-Rays, small pharmaceutical supplies, and other articles. Eventually, as time progressed the laboratories discovered patient samples could be sent safely by slowing down the systems to prevent haemolysis in blood samples by preventing any slopping around in transport.
The modern plastic sample vials were a game-changer for pneumatic tube systems in hospitals. The development of plastics in general throughout the 60s and 70s made pneumatic tubes systems a lot more affordable, PVC tube became available which was another turning point being a fraction of the cost of metal tubes.
Hospitals across the UK had basic point to point systems installed from Emergency departments to laboratories, reducing the dependency on medical staff or porters rushing back and forwards to the lab with urgent samples.
The next game-changer was the microprocessor in the 80s, the new and affordable technology allowed manufacturers like Aerocom to develop single zone systems with modern stations interconnected to provide more hospital site coverage. The first multitalented system AC1000 was an instant success worldwide, and UK hospitals began to install pneumatic tube networks in most general hospital sites.
The drawback with the early single-zone systems was traffic flow, if only a few station locations were interconnected they functioned well, but with every ward or department wanting to join the network, overloading became an issue unless a second or third independent system was added. The advances in computer technology in the 90s took pneumatic tube systems for hospitals into a new level of performance enhancement.
The single zones could now be controlled to interconnect with the dedicated processors, passing information to a control computer that both organises and logs all transactions, keeps statistics and allowing retrievable analysis and diagnostics. With the development of easy-to-use Microsoft Windows operating systems, the Aerocom AC3000 system took the UK hospital pneumatic tube system to a new level of performance.
The Utilisation of Pneumatic Tube Systems in Hospitals
Especially in hospitals – where resources are scarce and seconds count – pneumatic tube systems continue to play a fundamental role in day-to-day operation. Despite continued technical advances, they continue to be the best solution when transporting medical goods, offering fast and safe transportation between hospital departments; for example, wards, surgical rooms, blood banks, pathology laboratories and the hospital pharmacy.
Pneumatic tube systems have had various uses within hospital infrastructures but today these systems are principally used to transport laboratory specimens (blood/ urine samples) and pharmaceutical products (drugs and prescriptions). Therefore, features such as carrier design are extremely important to ensure that samples and prescriptions are transported without damage. Modern plastic sample vials were a simple yet ground breaking development, suitably constructed and robust enough to protect precious goods in transit.
Moreover, pneumatic tube systems increase efficiency within hospitals, reducing dependency on medical staff for repetitive mundane tasks. Instead, medical staff has more time to focus on patient care and patient therapy. Accessibility to such a system 24 hours a day has helped optimise hospital logistics.
Pneumatic Tube Systems are indispensable in modern hospitals with an estimated one million samples being sent via Pneumatic Tube Systems weekly in Britain alone. Initially, hospitals utilised a basic point-to-point system. However, Pneumatic Tube Systems were enhanced by developers in conjunction with developments in computer software. As a result, modern multi-zone systems are controlled by a central computer system, often complete with RFID tracking and diagnostics. To ensure the health sector is provided with the safest and more reliable system it is important to continue researching and developing these systems.
The Aerocom AC3000
Here at Aerocom, we recognise the importance of pneumatic tube systems within hospitals, concentrating 90% of our operation on serving healthcare infrastructures.
Initially, hospitals utilised single zone tube systems to transfer documents between wards. However, growing demand necessitated system expansion. The Aerocom AC3000 revolutionised UK hospital internal logistics. This multi-zone, multi-station tube system was designed with the capacity to control up to 500 send and receive stations at once. This system model – hosted by a Microsoft Windows operating system – provides a larger, faster and more complex operational service; complete with computerised tracking, Internet monitoring, and security protection. On account of its dedicated hardware and software, the AC3000 system continues to be the leading choice of Pneumatic Air Tube System for hospitals in 85 countries worldwide.
With graphic and RFID tracking, exportable statistics and filterable KPI or diagnostics as standard in our windows friendly software for both AC3000 and AC4000 control systems, we supply dedicated pneumatic tube systems for hospital applications. Additional security is also available to comply with ISO 15189 including bar code readers and secure delivery for pharmaceuticals. We cover all possibilities to provide the healthcare sector with safe and reliable internal logistics solutions.
The constant development of hospital pneumatic tube systems keeps our Aerocom range fully compliant with HTM 2009 and
SHTM 08-04 Health Technical Memorandums advised for Specialist services: Pneumatic tube transport systems in Hospitals.
And we have so many more additional functions, enhancements and innovations available to satisfy the most challenging of required technology.
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