No more medical shock horrors

Louise Davis

Power quality specialist REO UK has launched PROMED, a series of large electrical transformers designed to provide fully isolated power in operating theatres and other medical environments. The transformers are fully compliant with the EN 60601 medical directive, offering low current leakage and efficient isolation.

Medical devices used in healthcare environments require a consistent and safe power supply. As the Internet of Things develops in healthcare, the rising number of networked devices puts increased pressure on the electrical infrastructure of medical facilities. This multiplies the risk of faults, such as voltage distortion or current harmonics.

PROMED transformers act as a fully isolated central power supply for medical systems, protecting them from power quality problems in adjacent circuits. The transformers offer high-energy efficiency and protection against short-circuiting and overloading, with a minimal magnetic stray field to reduce the likelihood of interference.

“High power quality is essential in medical environments and isolation is the key to equipment consistently achieving that,” explained Steve Hughes, managing director of REO UK. “By isolating devices from the mains system, the risk of electric shock is dramatically reduced, making the patient environment much safer.

“Yet, while many larger clinical devices contain embedded transformers that work on an ad hoc basis, few devices that actually come into direct contact with patients do. PROMED is designed specifically for this purpose, operating from a control room to provide peace of mind to patient and practitioner, while also being providing a more cost-effective alternative.

“PROMED ensures this level of patient safety by being compliant to EN 60601 regulation, which enforces guidelines on the amount of leakage permitted from transformers in medical environments.”

The technical specifications of PROMED are similar to that of the REOMED range of compact medical transformers. However, due to its larger size the product is capable of achieving higher powers, offering a more comprehensive power supply for larger medical devices.

PROMED is available in both single and three-phase versions, in powers ranging from 3000 to 8000 voltage ammeters (VA) dependent on the specific model. REO UK offers custom voltages and higher capacities for the three-phase version upon request.