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. This was also the case for Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co Ltd, a medical imaging specialist known worldwide under the Wandong brand name. Thanks to networked and intelligent manufacturing and service processes, the company was able to deliver large quantities of products in a short space of time. However, for the urgently needed digital mobile X-ray machines, additional support from the supplier was required to deliver industrial gas springs quickly.

The Huoshenshan and Leishenshan emergency hospitals in Wuhan were built within a few days in three-shift operation and each have over 1,000 beds for COVID-19 patients and up to 30 intensive care units © ACE Shock absorber GmbH

Mobile X-ray machines for digital radiography (DR) are important technical aids for doctors because they are not only robust and reliable and their images achieve the quality of fixed DR machines. Even more important is their flexibility, as they help medical staff to look inside the human body at virtually any examination site to obtain images of the condition of the patient's lungs. At the same time, they reduce radiation exposure for everyone involved compared to previous solutions.

When it comes to life and death, an X-ray system must be able to be brought directly to the patient to prevent waiting times in overcrowded hospitals. Space-saving, complete digital solutions enable X-rays of extremities as well as the thorax, spine, abdomen and pelvis © ACE Shock absorber GmbH

ACE confirmed as first choice also in terms of supply capability
Before the pandemic and to further increase the user safety of the mobile solutions, Wandong had already explored the market for gas springs and tested products from various manufacturers to reduce the operational risks when moving the beam arm of the device: As the medical staff has to lift and precisely position this arm to achieve a certain control position, which can vary each time depending on the patient's anatomy, the quality and reliability of the industrial gas springs are very important in maintaining the holding force during mobile X-ray operation. Already during the test phase, the gas 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 very short time, Wandong was convinced that it had found the right partner. Dr. Tian Xuefeng, Managing Director of STABILUS (Jiangsu) Co, Ltd, 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 device manufacturers as quickly as possible. In the face of the severe epidemic, every minute and every second counted."

Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co Ltd, a Chinese specialist for imaging systems, is not only a reliable supplier of digital mobile X-ray units needed worldwide during the corona pandemic © Beijing Wandong Medical Technology Co. Ltd

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 mm to 40 mm and forces of 40 N to 5,000 N for the maintenance-free and ready-to-install gas tension springs from ACE. Models with an outer diameter of 28 mm and a maximum tensile force of 1,200 N with a stroke length of 450 mm are used in Wandong's mobile X-ray solutions. All ACE gas springs are characterized by hard chrome-plated piston rods and integrated plain bearings and therefore offer a very long service life. A major 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.

Even before the coronavirus pandemic, ACE was the top-performing manufacturer of gas traction springs at Wandong in tests and confirmed this position during the crisis with exemplary delivery reliability and quality © ACE Shock absorber GmbH

Both at the height of the crisis in the newly built clinics in Wuhan and in the calmer clinical routine afterwards, ACE's industrial gas springs have lived up to their reputation as problem solvers. The mechanical helpers have increased the safety of Wandong's mobile digital X-ray machines and their user-friendliness by literally taking the strain off medical staff. They can concentrate on their most important task, and not just in the uniquely hectic times of the pandemic: Saving lives.

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