High speed ventilation with a radial blower made of VICTREX® PEEK™ for anaesthetic respiration

The ever increasing demands on a modern anaesthesia work station have resulted in the development of Zeus by Dräger Medical AG&Co.KGaA, based in Lübeck. The Zeus anaesthesia work station combines an ergonomically time-tested design concept with the very latest technology. One of its components is the new, electrically powered E-Vent™ Plus ventilator, which has a radial blower made of Victrex® PEEK™ Polymer, that offers a respiration quality similar to that of an intensive care respirator.

The ventilation technology used in the E-Vent™ Plus is based on an electrically powered radial blower, that reaches speeds of up to 42,000 rpm in less than 200 ms and therefore checks and constantly ventilates the patient. Enormous centrifugal forces occur at this speed, which means that the blower wheel must offer a great deal of resistance to prevent its fins from bending and must also offer high seam strength. To achieve this sort of acceleration, the moment of inertia and the weight of the blower wheel must also be as low as possible. These strength requirements were some of the reasons why the blower wheel was made with a diameter of approx. 50 mm and a wall thickness of just 0.3 mm using a non-reinforced PEEK™ Polymer in an injection moulding process.The wheel nevertheless has a tensile strength of approx. 100 MPa at a temperature of 23°C and also offers the purity required for clinical use.

From a production point of view, the wheel placed high demands on the manufacturer, SGT Spritzgießtechnik GmbH, based in the Franconian town of Weidenberg. The blower wheel is made in a tool with 23 slide bars in an injection moulding process. It must form a homogeneous, partly crystalline structure. Special attention was given to the parting system and the geometric placement of the ejectors to maintain the tight tolerances required for high balancing quality and to minimise warping in the connection between the shaft and the hub.

Using the experience of SGT Spritzgießtechnik, the electrically powered radial blower was developed for Dräger Medical using the partly crystalline, non-reinforced PEEK™ polymer. It can achieve maximum flow rates of up to 150 l/min with an excellent response dynamic and does not require any more working gas. As a result of this technical innovation, operating costs were considerably reduced.

Reader enquiries

Helen Swarbrick
Victrex plc
Victrex Technology Centre
Hillhouse International
Thornton Cleveleys
Lancashire FY5 4QD
United Kingdom

Tel +44 1253 897700
Fax +44 1253 897701
United Kingdom
+44 1253 897700
info@​victrex.com
www.victrex.com

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Notes for editors

Victrex plc, which has its sales, technical and production headquarters at Thornton Cleveleys in Lancashire, UK, had a turnover of more than £59m in the last financial year. The company exports 97 percent of its Victrex® PEEK™ polymer output to OEMs in the automotive, industrial, medical, food and electronics market sectors in Europe, North America and Asia Pacific.

Information on products, technical support services and sales and distribution contacts worldwide, can be accessed through the company’s web site: www.victrex.com

The PEEK™ Trademark

For many years Victrex plc has been using the PEEK™ trademark to refer to its brand of Polyetheretherketone. Victrex plc is the sole manufacturer and supplier of the Victrex® PEEK™ brand polymer world-wide. PEEK™ is a trademark of Victrex plc.