KNF Pumps at Work for Health Care
Medical equipment relies on low-noise, oil- and maintenance-free pumps. Ventilators used in intensive care units in particular have been the center of attention during the COVID-19 pandemic. For decades, KNF pumps have been an integral part of many medical devices and are used in a wide range of applications. One of the earlier pump models helps make discoveries about hay fever back in 1970. At that time, the portable AL 17 diaphragm pump is used in a mobile device that collects pollen from the air.
In the late 1970s, oil-free compressed air generated with little noise is used in electrolyte devices, which in turn are required to perform serum and urine sample analyses as well as quick analyses of blood samples. The compressed air is also needed in the Airfuge ultracentrifuge. In the 1980s, great advances are made in medical device technology. At the time, KNF already has 30 years of experience with building oil-free diaphragm compressors and vacuum pumps. As the pumps become smaller and smaller, they are destined to be used in medical devices.
For instance, the Siemens dental equipment for mobile use weighs a mere 18 kilograms in those days. The N 022 ANE KNF diaphragm compressor supplies compressed air to the devices and a water tank. An inhalation device, which is also built for home use, comes with a maintenance-free, long-lasting KNF swing piston compressor – the NPK 09. In those times, the examination of the inner ear is usually carried out by introducing water into the ear, which is unpleasant and impossible to perform following ear surgery or if the patient has a ruptured ear drum. This is where KNF comes in with a newly developed diagnostic device which uses warm or cold air produced by a KNF diaphragm compressor.
Small in size, mighty in impact: KNF’s NMP 30 micropump is used as a component of blood pressure monitors in the 1980s; the NMP 30 KNDC micropump can be found in a blood pressure and heart rate monitor for cardiac stress tests.
The small N 79 KNE pump is used for eye surgery in the USA. In the 1990s, the KNF NPK 30 swing piston compressor gets put to good use in a device for daylight processing of X-ray film. The device is operated by a pneumatic system, and a compressor ensures that the compressed air is clean.
Nowadays especially, medical equipment relies on versatile, reliable, maintenance-free and quiet-running components. That is why KNF pumps are used in ventilators and dialysis machines as well as in capnography, which monitors respiratory gases. KNF diaphragm pumps can also be used in cooling circuits inside X-ray machines or in lithotripsy devices, which break down stones in the kidney, gallbladder or ureter.
KNF engineers were involved in a particularly outstanding project for Berlin Heart GmbH, the manufacturer of the only external ventricular assist device in the world which is approved for use in children and infants. This project was absolutely dependent on a compact, quiet and highly reliable pump as well as on the experience of the development team in charge of adapting the pump components to the project requirements at hand.
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