The European Pharmacopoeia treats medical air as a medicine, with strict limits for gases, oil and water. Ultra Controlo designs and builds complete medical air plants in Portugal to meet them.
Oil-free compressor
Air receiver
ULTRAMED treatment
Final filters
How it works
A medical air plant takes in the air around it and turns it into a medicine. ULTRAAR does it in five steps, automatically.
Compress.Oil-free compressors draw in ambient air and compress it. With two or more, they take turns, so they wear evenly and one can be serviced while the others run.
Store.The air receiver, a tank of 200 litres to 6 m³, stores the compressed air before it goes on to treatment. An automatic electronic drain removes the condensate.
Treat.Filters and two adsorption columns take out water, particles, oil vapour and gases, to the limits of the European Pharmacopoeia. The columns change over by dew point, which saves purge air.
Regulate.Duplex pressure reducers set the network pressure, and sterile filters guard the air going in. Test valves let you take samples.
Watch.Ultragest monitors the dew point of the air going into the network, around the clock. Alarms report to a central alarm network or the building management system.
The system
Every plant is designed, built and tested by Ultra Controlo in Portugal, so its parts work together, and one team looks after all of it.
Complete medical air plants, sized to the hospital and its pipeline.
Gardner Denver rotary screw compressors with treatment certified to the European Pharmacopoeia. Also built complete inside a container.
View ULTRAAR METhe compressors inside, also supplied on their own.
Oil-free scroll compressor, from one skid up to eight on a single controller.
View ULTRACECO SC
Oil-less piston compressor. The first service comes at 10,000 hours.
View ULTRACECO ESW
Oil-injected rotary screw compressor. The variable speed version saves up to 35% energy.
View ULTRASCREWDryers and purifiers that turn compressed air into medical air.
Medical air treatment in six stages, to the European Pharmacopoeia. It upgrades existing plants without a new control panel.
View ULTRAMED
Breathing air purifier that makes breathable air from any compressor, in seven stages.
View ULTRATECH
Adsorption dryer, with a pressure dew point of −40 to −70 °C and desiccant in easy-change cartridges.
View ULTRADRY
Refrigeration dryer with an aluminium heat exchanger, for inlet air up to 70 °C.
View ULTRASEC
Activated carbon towers that take oil vapour down to 0.003 mg/m³.
View ULTRAKA separate supply for the building, and gas at the bedside if a network fails.
Why ULTRAAR
Installed
Medical air is part of the complete medical gas systems we deliver. Here are some of the latest.
Milan, Italy · July 2026A complete medical air plant in one container, shipped to a hospital in Milan.Read the story
UltraCare
On medium and large plants, our factory technicians supervise installation, start-up and staff training, and UltraCare keeps the plant running for the years after.
Medical air is compressed air supplied through the hospital pipeline, breathed by patients and used to drive medical equipment, and the European Pharmacopoeia treats it as a medicine. ULTRAAR SC plants are specified to its parameters: CO2 below 500 ppm, CO below 5 ppm, SO2 below 1 ppm, NOx below 2 ppm, particles below 1 μm, oil exempt and a working dew point of −46 °C. Read more
An oil-free compressor puts no oil into the air it compresses, so no compressor oil reaches the medical air network. ULTRAAR SC uses oil-free scroll ULTRACECO SC compressors. Where screw compressors are specified, ULTRAAR ME adds air treatment certified to the Pharmacopoeia parameters and an oil/water separator for the condensate. Read more
No. Hospital standards prohibit using medical air for industrial purposes, so autoclaves, drying, valve actuation and other pneumatic equipment need a separate supply. Ultra Controlo builds it as ACIH, with Gardner Denver rotary screw compressors of 15 to 720 m³/h each. Read more
A refrigeration dryer cools the air so its water condenses and drains away; an adsorption dryer passes it through a desiccant and reaches much lower dew points. ULTRASEC is the refrigeration dryer, for inlet air up to 70 °C. ULTRADRY is the adsorption dryer, with a pressure dew point of −40 °C to −70 °C. Read more
In critical areas, an ULTRAGEC emergency cabinet connects to the secondary network upstream of the area. It holds 2 or 4 B50 cylinders of oxygen and medical air, a 40 m³/h vacuum pump and a monitor that watches primary and secondary network pressures. Read more
