Draeger Area Control Unit

Dräger Area Control Units are area shut-off valve units according to EN ISO 7396-1.
They allow shutting off medical gases in hospital areas in case of emergency or for maintenance purposes.
The pressure of the supplied medical gases is monitored and shown on the display unit. In case of deviation from the nominal pressure an alarm is activated. In that way the station personnel is informed of the gas supply status at any time. Equipped with the VoluCount option the Area Control Unit can also monitor the consumption of the medical gases in the supplied area.
The configuration of the Area Control Units can be customized according to the specific requirements of the hospital area in question. The basic part of the valve box consists of stainless steel. It can be mounted either flush or, with an optional plastic hood, on surface of hollow or solid walls.
At installation into a fire protected wall the optional fire protection box for the Area Control Unit will preserve the fire protection characteristics of the wall with a fire resistance of up to 90 minutes. The special flame retardant plastic material of the upper part of the Area Control Unit adds further advantage for fire protection.

The core components of the Area Control Unit are the valve groups. Beside of the shut-off ball valves the valve groups also contain a physical separation for a durable disconnection of the supplied area from the central supply for maintenance work and an emergency supply terminal with a gas-coded thread (NIST) that allows the emergency supply of the area from an external source. The pressure sensor unit of the valve group measures the operation pressure of the medical gases both via an electronic pressure sensor and an additional pressure gauge, which will indicate the pressure reliably also in the case of a power failure.
The control circuit of the display unit monitors the gases pressure values and initiates a clinical emergency alarm with a red flashing LED and a buzzer, if the operation pressure deviates for more than 20% from the nominal pressure. The display unit also controls the transmission of all alarms and measured values to external signals or alarm systems. Relay modules optionally provide potential-free alarm contacts for each alarm ‘pressure too high’ or ‘pressure too low’ signal. The optional Alarm System Interface passes all alarms and measured values of the Area Control Unit to the Dräger Alarm Management System, whether they are indicated on emergency and operation signals or transmitted by a GMS-Gateway to an existing LON-compatible Building Management System of the hospital.