Medical gas,answered.

What is Ultra Controlo?

Ultra Controlo is a Portuguese company that designs and manufactures medical gas systems for hospitals.

Its range covers on-site medical oxygen plants (ULTRAOX), medical air plants (ULTRAAR), medical vacuum systems (ULTRAVAC), anaesthetic gas scavenging systems (ULTRASEG) and the pipeline components that carry each gas to the bedside. Every product is assembled and tested in the company’s factories in Portugal, and its systems are installed in more than 80 countries. Ultra Controlo has 40 years of experience and also supplies compressed air, vacuum and oxygen systems to industry.

Where are Ultra Controlo systems made?

In Portugal: Ultra Controlo designs its systems and assembles and tests every product in its own factories there.

ULTRAOX plants leave the factory pre-wired, parameterised and tested, ready to start on site, and on large plants Ultra Controlo’s factory technicians supervise installation, start-up and staff training. The headquarters is at Avenida dos Combatentes 52, Abrunheira (Sintra), Portugal, and the company also has an office in Lima, Peru.

Where are Ultra Controlo systems installed?

Ultra Controlo systems are installed in more than 80 countries, on five continents.

Its oxygen plants serve hospitals for ministries of health, United Nations agencies and Global Fund programmes, in places as demanding as deserts, islands, Patagonia and the Amazon. Recent projects include the ULTRAOX plant at the Polyclinique des Armées de Kati, Mali, inaugurated in September 2026; the on-site oxygen plant at Dr. Agostinho Neto Hospital in Praia, Cabo Verde’s largest hospital; the handover of Zango Hospital in Angola in May 2026, the sixth hospital completed in that project; and the ULTRAOX facility in Manatuto, Timor-Leste, opened with the Global Fund in February 2026.

What certifications does Ultra Controlo hold?

Ultra Controlo is certified to ISO 13485:2016 for medical devices, ISO 9001:2015 for quality management and ISO 14001:2015 for environmental management.

ULTRAOX oxygen plants carry CE marking as Class IIb medical devices through notified body 1639 (SGS), with the whole plant certified as a single medical device, and are built to EN ISO 7396-1. For tenders, Ultra Controlo provides its certificates, CE declarations of conformity and technical dossiers.

Does Ultra Controlo supply industry as well as hospitals?

Yes. Alongside its medical range, Ultra Controlo supplies compressed air, vacuum and oxygen systems to more than 30 industries.

Its industrial line includes the ULTRAOX VSA oxygen plant and ULTRASCREW rotary screw compressors, and it distributes and services Gardner Denver, Elmo Rietschle, Thomas, Speck Pumpen, Speck Triplex and RIX Industries. Its industrial work spans glass, automotive, printing, plastics, electronics, textiles, cardboard, food and pharmaceuticals.

What is a PSA medical oxygen generator?

A PSA (pressure swing adsorption) oxygen generator makes medical oxygen on site from ambient air, which is about 21% oxygen and 78% nitrogen.

Compressed, filtered and dried air flows into a column of zeolite molecular sieve that holds back nitrogen under pressure, so oxygen-rich gas passes on to a buffer tank. Two columns take turns: while one produces oxygen, the other depressurises and releases its nitrogen, so the supply does not stop. Ultra Controlo’s PSA plants are called ULTRAOX; each is built around ULTRACON oxygen concentrators with two molecular sieve columns.

What purity is PSA oxygen, and is it medical grade?

Single-stage PSA plants such as ULTRAOX produce Oxygen 93, a medical oxygen with its own monographs in the European Pharmacopoeia (Oxygen (93 per cent), 2455) and the US Pharmacopeia (Oxygen 93 Percent).

It contains 90.0% to 96.0% oxygen by volume, the rest mostly argon and nitrogen. ULTRAOX SC and ST plants deliver 94% (±1%) oxygen to European Pharmacopoeia quality; their datasheets give residual contents at initial operation of CO2 below 300 ppm, CO below 5 ppm and a working dew point of −46 °C. Oxygen made by cryogenic distillation, delivered as liquid or in cylinders, follows a different monograph, Oxygen (0417), at 99.5% or more.

Is PSA oxygen approved for hospital use?

Oxygen 93, the grade single-stage PSA plants produce, has its own monographs in the European and US pharmacopoeias, and the World Health Organization published technical specifications for PSA oxygen plants in June 2020. Where it may be used depends on national rules, so hospitals should confirm them with their health authority.

ULTRAOX plants are CE-marked Class IIb medical devices (notified body 1639). ULTRAOX SC measures purity continuously with one or two zirconium oxide analysers, and if production leaves the limits set by the hospital, the network’s automatic changeover moves the supply to the secondary source.

PSA, cylinders or liquid oxygen: what is the difference?

The difference is where the oxygen is made and how it reaches the patient: a PSA plant makes it on site from air, while cylinders and liquid oxygen are made elsewhere and delivered by truck.

How much does a PSA oxygen plant cost, and what can it save?

Ultra Controlo sizes and quotes each ULTRAOX plant for the hospital’s oxygen demand and site.

Ultra Controlo states that on-site generation with ULTRAOX can cut oxygen costs by up to 70% over 10 years compared with cylinder or cryogenic supply, because the hospital stops paying for deliveries, cylinder rental and the oxygen left in returned cylinders. Electricity is a major running cost, and pressure drives it: each extra bar of compressor pressure adds about 7% to electricity use, which is why ULTRAOX takes in air at about 7 bar and delivers oxygen at 6 bar.

How long does a PSA oxygen plant last?

ULTRAOX is designed for a minimum life cycle of 150,000 hours, about 17 years of continuous operation.

Its PSA cycles are widely spaced, which means fewer valve operations and less wear, and in good conditions the zeolite can last 10 years or more before it needs replacing. Service intervals depend on the compressors: ULTRAOX SC, with oil-less ULTRACECO compressors, needs one service every 10,000 hours.

What capacities do ULTRAOX plants cover?

Each ULTRACON oxygen generator in an ULTRAOX plant produces from 0.32 to 164 m³/h of oxygen (5.3 to 2,734 L/min) at 93% purity, depending on the model, delivered at 6 bar.

Plants are modular: one or more generators and compressors are combined to match the hospital’s demand, and capacity can be added later without replacing what is already installed. To size a plant, Ultra Controlo needs the oxygen flow required in m³/h or, for cylinder filling, the size and number of cylinders to fill per day.

What is the difference between ULTRAOX SC, ST and CO?

They share the same PSA oxygen generators and differ in how the air is compressed and where the plant is housed.

ULTRAOX SC uses oil-less ULTRACECO compressors. ULTRAOX ST uses ULTRASCREW rotary screw compressors. ULTRAOX CO is a complete plant built inside a shipping container, for sites with no technical room or no space for civil works. ULTRAOX treats the air before the PSA with a water separator with electronic drain, micro and sub-micro filters and an activated carbon filter.

What happens if the oxygen plant stops?

The hospital stays on oxygen: an ULTRAOX plant connects to the network as one source among others, and if its production leaves the limits set by the hospital, the network’s automatic changeover moves the supply to the secondary source, such as a cylinder bank. Ultra Controlo states the switch takes under 2 seconds, with no operator action.

Inside the plant, the Siemens controller switches compressors and generators in cascade to keep pressure stable. Every alarm has a potential-free contact for remote signalling, and an optional control box passes information to the building management system (BMS).

What does an ULTRAOX plant monitor?

The ULTRAOX touch screen, run by a Siemens PLC, shows oxygen purity, flow and total volume produced, oxygen pressure, air quality, equipment status, the next maintenance due, a record of every contingency, and alarms.

On ULTRAOX SC, purity is measured by one or two zirconium oxide analysers. For more parameters, Ultra Controlo’s QuPHARM wall-mounted analyser, launched in May 2026, monitors up to four at once: oxygen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and moisture.

Can a PSA oxygen plant fill oxygen cylinders?

Yes: an ULTRAFIL filling station connects to an ULTRAOX plant and fills medical oxygen cylinders using an ULTRACECO HP high-pressure oxygen compressor, at up to 200 bar depending on the model.

The filling rack takes 2 to 24 cylinders, as specified. The ULTRAFIL datasheet puts the cost of a refill at about one tenth of the cost of buying the gas.

What is a containerised oxygen plant, and when is it used?

A containerised oxygen plant is a complete PSA plant built inside a shipping container and delivered ready to connect; Ultra Controlo’s version is ULTRAOX CO.

It suits sites with no technical room or no space for civil works. The site provides level ground reachable by a crane, a drain for condensate, anchoring and three-phase power, and the plant can run from a diesel generator. Ultra Controlo builds medical air the same way: an ULTRAAR ME containerised medical air system left its factory for a hospital in Milan in July 2026.

Does Ultra Controlo make oxygen plants for industry?

Yes: ULTRAOX VSA is Ultra Controlo’s industrial oxygen plant, delivering 75% to 95% oxygen at 50 kPa, with an optional oxygen booster for higher pressures.

Its life cycle is calculated at 150,000 hours. It comes on a skid or in a container, can replace liquid oxygen tanks or run as the main supply, and is designed for aquaculture, wastewater treatment, hydrogen sulphide (H2S) reduction, gold leaching in mines, pulp bleaching and industrial furnaces.