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Key components for compactness and operating safety in the beam arm of the Wandong X-ray unit are gas tension springs from ACE. © ACE

An unprecedented lockdown and the construction of completely new hospitals in just a few days. Who will ever forget the images of Wuhan in early 2020? The challenges of overcoming the health crisis encompassed all areas. Due to the short time available to professionally treat patients with severe symptoms of Covid-19, the criteria to be met by doctors and nurses as well as medical equipment providers and their suppliers were extremely high.

Beijing Wandong Medical Technology is a supplier of digital mobile X-ray units required worldwide. © Beijing Wandong Medical Technology

Even during the test phase, the gas train springs supplied by ACE proved to be the first choice. However, when the health crisis in Wuhan reached its peak and ACE was able to supply several hundred units of consistent quality in a short space of time, Wandong was convinced that it had found the right partner. Dr. Tian Xuefeng, Managing Director of Stabilus (Jiangsu), summarizes the situation on the ground on behalf of ACE, which is part of the Stabilus Group: "We made every effort to ensure that our products reached the equipment manufacturers as quickly as possible. In the face of the severe epidemic, every minute and every second counted."

The selected GZ-28-450 gas tension springs have a positive effect on user-friendliness in many respects: They reliably hold the beam arm in the desired X-ray position and also support muscle power when raising, lowering and folding the mechanism. They work in the opposite way to conventional gas pressure springs. Their piston rod is located in the cylinder when unloaded. The gas pressure in the cylinder pulls the piston rod inwards. Designers can choose between body diameters of 15 to 40 millimetres and forces of 40 to 5,000 newtons for the maintenance-free and ready-to-install gas tension springs from ACE. Wandong's mobile X-ray solutions use models with an outer diameter of 28 millimetres and a maximum tensile force of 1,200 newtons with a stroke length of 450 millimetres. The gas springs from ACE have hard chrome-plated piston rods and integrated plain bearings and therefore offer a long service life. An additional advantage: regardless of the stroke length, the tractive force can be adjusted subsequently via a valve by allowing gas to escape or filling it with the filling case available from ACE, depending on requirements. as