A reliable gas supply with technical gases is essential for the smooth operation of production. Failures in the gas supply due to errors in the ordering system or organisational errors in container management mean rejects in production during ongoing processes or unexpected costs. This can lead to downtime, which increases the delivery times for orders. For this reason, it is essential to constantly monitor the gas supply. A distinction is made between gas supply systems:

Decentralised gas supply: The gases used are supplied directly to the consumer.

Centralised gas supply: The individual consumption points of a company are supplied via a pipeline network.

Regardless of whether the gas supply is centralised or decentralised, it is important to know the required quantities of the gases used in order to design the supply hardware and the pipeline network. The following forms of supply can be considered in the design:

• Supply with individual cylinders
• Supply with cylinder bundles
• Tank supplies
• Drum or drum battery supplies

To ensure a continuous gas supply, a two-sided cylinder or bundle battery with switchover is often used, where one side is in operation and the other serves as a reserve. If one side becomes empty, the gas supply switches to the reserve side and while the consumers are being supplied, the empty cylinder or cylinder bundles can be replaced with full containers.

The physical, chemical and physiological properties of the gases are of great importance for the correct selection of the supply hardware. A distinction is made between the following groups of gases:

• Inert gases
• flammable and self-igniting gases
• oxidising gases
• corrosive gases
• Poisonous (toxic) gases
• Test and calibration gases

Depending on the gas and gas properties, appropriate regulations and safety precautions must be taken for operation. Furthermore, the properties of the gases used determine the choice of materials, the connection technology and the purging processes.