Author: Simon Franz
Date of first publication: 30.06.2020
Last change: 07.07.2020
Image addedAs at June 2020, many hospitals are housing far more ICU beds than normal. Many may also be using new makes or models of ventilators they are unfamiliar with. In order to work out the total amount of oxygen required under these changed circumstances, it is necessary to know how to calculate the oxygen consumption for a particular ventilator.
While the basic principle applies to most makes and models, the calculation depends on several parameters that may differ.
To calculate the estimated oxygen consumption for your Hamilton Medical ventilator, you need to take these parameters into account:
The calculation is as follows:
(ExpMinVol + Base flow + MVleak) * ((%Oxygen – 20.9) / 79.1)
Note that this calcuation provides you with an estimate only and the actual consumption may be higher.
Tip: HAMILTON-C1/T1/MR1 ventilators offer oxygen consumption as a measured parameter. When activated, the O2 consumption is displayed in the System > Info window.
See the table below for the base flow rates on Hamilton Medical ventilators.
Here you can see a calculation of the estimated oxygen requirement for a HAMILTON-C1 ventilator based on the following parameters:
O2 consumption (in l/min): (8.0 l/min + 3.0 l/min + 1.0 l/min) * (60.0 – 20.9) / 79.1 = 5.93 l/min
Total oxygen requirement (in liters) for 120 minutes: 5.93 l/min * 120 = 711.6 liters
Therefore, the estimated oxygen consumption for the planned transport duration of 2 hours is approximately 712 liters.
| Patient group | HAMILTON-C1/T1/MR1 | HAMILTON-C2/C3/C6 | HAMILTON-G5/S1 |
| Adult / pediatric | 3 l/min | 6 l/min | Flow trigger setting ≤ 2 l/min: 4 l/min |
| Neonatal | 4 l/min | 6 l/min | Flow trigger setting ≤ 1 l/min: 2 l/min |
| All | Not applicable | Not applicable | Pressure trigger or trigger off: 1 l/min |