Medical air
Instrument air
Portugal’s ACSS ET 08/2010 (V.2025) describes instrument air as compressed air used to drive surgical tools and for the final drying of medical devices, and the Canadian standard CSA Z7396.1:22 lists instrument air, with nitrogen NF, among medical support gases.
ACSS ET 08/2010 (V.2025) separates instrument air from medical air, which is used for ventilation, anaesthesia and respiratory therapy, and from hospital technical air, which may not be used to drive surgical tools or to dry sterilisable medical devices. ET 08 points to the ACSS medical gas specification, ET 03/2006 (V.2024), for both medical air and instrument air, and notes that ET 03 refers to instrument air as ACM 700 kPa. ET 08 says technical air differs from instrument air (in English, air for driving surgical tools) essentially in air quality and risk category, that clauses 5.5.1.2 and 5.5.1.3 of ISO 7396-1 define where each is applied, and that medical devices may be dried with instrument air after disinfection and sterilisation.
In NHS England guidance, HTM 02-01 (2026), the air that drives surgical tools is surgical air, at a pressure of 700 kPa or higher.
Instrument air is also distinct from hospital technical air. The ACIH system from Ultra Controlo is the industrial compressed air system of the hospital, not surgical or medical air, and its datasheet states compliance with ACSS ET 08/2010, the technical air specification; the V.2025 text of that specification excludes instrument air.
Sources
- ACSS ET 08/2010 V.2025, Especificações técnicas para ar comprimido técnico em edifícios hospitalares, sections 1, 2 and 2.2
- CSA Z7396.1:22, Medical gas pipeline systems, Part 1 (CSA Group)
- HTM 02-01 (2026) Part A, paragraph 4.79 (NHS England)
- ACIH datasheet, p. 2
Ultra Controlo figures come from its technical datasheets. Third-party facts were read at the source on the date shown.