ULTRAVAC keeps suction at every terminal unit of the hospital, fully automatically. Ultra Controlo designs and builds it in Portugal on Elmo Rietschle pumps, alongside anaesthetic gas scavenging and dental suction.
A medical vacuum system is the central plant and pipeline that provide continuous suction for clinical use across the hospital.
A vacuum plant works the other way round. It pulls air from the hospital, stops liquids and bacteria on the way, and sends the rest outside.
Clinicians draw suction from the terminal units by each bed, from the operating room to the ward, whenever they need it.
Every bedA transparent liquid separator catches liquids before they reach two bacterial filters, which hold back bacteria. Gauges show the pressure drop across each filter.
2 bacterial filtersA vacuum vessel of 24 to 6,000 litres keeps a reserve between the network and the pumps, at a normal vacuum of −0.85 bar.
24 to 6,000 LOne to twelve Elmo Rietschle pumps, of 3 to 1,600 m³/h each, run automatically. The QuVAC touch-screen controller rotates them and starts them progressively.
1 to 12 pumpsThe pumps discharge through dedicated exhaust pipes, and a translucent trap collects condensate from the exhaust.
Dedicated exhaustClinical vacuum, anaesthetic gas scavenging and dental suction, each built for its job.
Fully automatic medical vacuum plant. Pumps can be oil-lubricated vane, dry-running vane, liquid ring, side channel or dry-running claw.
View ULTRAVAC Clinical vacuumOil-free, contactless claw pumps. At variable speed they can use around 40% less energy, with one oil change every 20,000 hours.
View ULTRAVAC CLP DentalCentral wet suction for dental clinics and schools, from one to several hundred chairs. The first, for 64 chairs at the Faculty of Dental Medicine of Lisbon, was installed in 1992.
View ULTRAVAC DENTAL BackupEmergency cabinet for critical areas, with a 40 m³/h vacuum pump and oxygen and medical air cylinders.
View ULTRAGEC
AGSS stands for anaesthetic gas scavenging system: the system that captures waste anaesthetic gases from the patient’s breathing circuit and removes them from the operating room, protecting staff from long-term exposure.
Medical vacuum provides clinical suction at a stronger vacuum, while an AGSS removes anaesthetic gases at a much lower suction level, and its disposal system has its own standard, EN ISO 7396-2.
In 2026, medical vacuum plants were handed over with complete medical gas systems at hospitals across Angola.
Ultra Controlo completed the delivery, installation, commissioning and handover of the full medical gas infrastructure at Zango Hospital: an ULTRAOX PSA oxygen plant, medical air and vacuum centrals and a complete MGPS distribution network.
The systems handed over include an ULTRAOX PSA oxygen generation plant, a medical air plant, a medical vacuum plant, and the corresponding accessories, all installed and validated to international standards.
A medical vacuum central went into operation with an ULTRAOX PSA oxygen plant, a medical air central and the complete pipeline. The project was developed by the United Nations Development Programme for the Ministry of Health of Angola and is financed by the Global Fund.
EN ISO 7396-1 covers the vacuum pipeline. EN ISO 7396-2 covers anaesthetic gas scavenging.
ULTRAVAC is built to ISO 7396 and HTM 02.
ULTRASEG complies with EN ISO 7396-2.
ULTRAVAC and ULTRASEG are designed and manufactured under ISO 13485:2016.
ULTRASEG AGSS plants carry CE marking under Notified Body 1639 as Class IIa medical devices (Directive 93/42/EEC).
Questions hospitals ask us about the pipeline and the service around it. More on the medical gas answers page.
A medical gas pipeline system (MGPS) is the network that carries medical gases and vacuum from the central supply to every point of use in a hospital. It includes the supply sources, copper pipework, manifolds, area valves, pressure regulators, alarm and monitoring panels, and the terminal units on bed-head units, wall outlets and ceiling pendants. EN ISO 7396-1 sets the requirements for its design, installation, testing, commissioning and documentation, for gases such as oxygen, nitrous oxide, medical air and carbon dioxide, and for vacuum. Ultra Controlo supplies the central plants and a complete range of MGPS components.
EN ISO 7396-1 includes requirements for the monitoring and alarm systems of a medical gas pipeline, alongside its supply and distribution. Ultra Controlo supplies master alarm panels, alarm relay panels for zones, valves and second-stage units, low pressure switches and Siemens digital pressure displays, plus the QuGas monitoring system and the QuAir alarm panel. On ULTRAOX plants, every alarm also has a potential-free contact for remote signalling.
A medical gas emergency cabinet keeps gases flowing to a critical area of the hospital if the network that feeds it fails, without anyone having to intervene. Ultra Controlo’s ULTRAGEC connects by derivation to the secondary network upstream of the critical area and holds 2 or 4 B50 cylinders of oxygen and medical air, a 40 m³/h vacuum pump, and a supervision monitor that watches primary and secondary network pressures. ULTRAGEC MOBILE puts the same cabinet on wheels.
UltraCare is Ultra Controlo’s technical assistance programme for its medical gas systems, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It covers preventive maintenance and monitoring, corrective service, original spare parts and rental equipment while a unit is serviced. Ultra Controlo selects and trains technicians in each country and runs post-installation monitoring under ISO 13485. UltraCare also services the partner brands Ultra Controlo distributes.
ULTRAVAC and ULTRASEG arrive pre-assembled, set up and tested in the factory. On medium and large plants, factory technicians supervise commissioning and staff training.