| TECHNICAL NOTE |
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| Year : 1995 | Volume
: 41
| Issue : 1 | Page : 27 |
Preventing distortion of quick couplers of hoses of central pipe lines--a cheap and simple method.
SK Kamath, AV Patil
Dept of Anaesthesiology, KEM Hospital, Parel, Bombay.
Correspondence Address:
S K Kamath
Dept of Anaesthesiology, KEM Hospital, Parel, Bombay.
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
PMID: 0010740701 
A cheap and practical approach of steel chains attached to the station outlet quick couplers helps in maintaining the shape of the quick couplers and ensures their effective functioning over a long period of time and avoids mishap of connection due to damage of these couplers.
Keywords: Anesthesiology, instrumentation,Human, Nitrous Oxide, administration &dosage,Operating Rooms, standards,Oxygen, administration &dosage,
How to cite this article:
Kamath S K, Patil A V. Preventing distortion of quick couplers of hoses of central pipe lines--a cheap and simple method. J Postgrad Med 1995;41:27 |
How to cite this URL:
Kamath S K, Patil A V. Preventing distortion of quick couplers of hoses of central pipe lines--a cheap and simple method. J Postgrad Med [serial online] 1995 [cited 2023 Jun 8];41:27. Available from: https://www.jpgmonline.com/text.asp?1995/41/1/27/469 |
The hospital piping system for oxygen and nitrous oxide consists of: a) a central supply with control equipment: b) a network of piping which delivers the gases to location., and c) station outlets mounted on the wall where the piping system terminates.
Hoses are used to connect the anaesthesia machine and an apparatus to the fixed station. Each end of the hose has a permanently attached non -interchangeable connector: The outlet connector (at the end of the hose which will be attached to the anaesthesia machine) is a quick coupler with a pin index safety system while the connector at the end designed to connect to the station outlet is in form of simple quick couplers. The couplers encourage making connections and disconnections at the station outlet and at the back of the machine, so that if there is a leak in the hose it will not leak when the apparatus is disconnected.
However it was found that the quick couplers connected to the station outlet got distorted in shape due to slipping on the floor under pressure when disconnected. The distorted couplers prevented proper fitting to station outlets leading to leakage and wastage of gases.
In the past to prevent slipping of quick couplers at the station outlet, we used to fix them with tapes on either side, which needed repeated changing. These tapes were also often found to be cut or disconnected. To prevent disconnection of quick couplers from station outlets a 55 cms steel chain with two rings on either side of 3 cms and 2 cms internal diameter were used. The steel chains were not used at the machine end to fix the couplers with a pin index system, because often the machines had to be moved to other operation theatres.
[Figure - 1] illustrates the steel chains fixed to the station outlet. The wider ring (internal diameter 3 cms) is fixed to the proximal end of the station outlet. As shown in [Figure - 2], the small ring (internal diameter 2 cms) is fixed to the base of the quick coupler. This prevents the quick coupler from slipping down.
The cost of each chain amounted to Rs 15/-.
Thus this cheap and practical approach of steel chains attached to the station outlet and quick couplers has helped in maintaining the shape of the quick couplers and ensuring their effective functioning over a long period of time, and has avoided mishap of misconnections due to shortage to these couplers.
Figures
[Figure - 1], [Figure - 2]
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