Systems and methods for pneumatic tube delivery using multiple subsystems

A method for delivering items in a pneumatic delivery system, comprising:

• receiving delivery information corresponding to an item to be delivered from a first workstation of a plurality of workstations to a second one of the workstations;
• configuring a first one of a plurality of blowers and a corresponding workstation diverter corresponding to the first workstation to create a path from the first workstation to the first blower;
• operating the first blower to generate suction drawing the item to the first blower;
• configuring a subset of a plurality of diverters of the system to create a continuous path from the first blower to the second workstation;
• and
• routing, when the first workstation is in a first subsystem and the second workstation is in a second subsystem of the pneumatic delivery system, the item through an inter-subsystem exchange unit so that the item is delivered to the second workstation using only the first blower, the inter-subsystem exchange unit including first and second pluralities of exchange diverters, each of the first exchange diverters having an inlet coupled to an inlet of a corresponding one of a first and a second inter-subsystem blower side diverter, each of the second exchange diverters having an inlet coupled to an inlet of a corresponding one of a first and a second inter-subsystem workstation side diverter, each of the first exchange diverters having an outlet coupled to a corresponding outlet of each of the second exchange diverters.

An exchange unit for delivering items within a pneumatic delivery system including a plurality of subsystems, the exchange unit comprising:

• transmission tubing coupling a first subsystem of the plurality of subsystems to a second subsystem of the plurality of subsystems via the exchange unit, each of the first and second subsystems including a plurality of blowers and corresponding blower diverters, a plurality of workstations and corresponding workstation diverters, blower-side inter-subsystem diverters and workstation-side inter-subsystem diverters;
• a plurality of first exchange diverters having exchange inlets coupled to inlets of the blower-side inter-subsystem diverters of each of the first and second subsystems;
• and
• a plurality of second exchange diverters having an inlet coupled to an inlet of a corresponding one of the first and second inter-subsystem workstation side diverters, each of the first exchange diverters having an outlet coupled to a corresponding outlet of each of the second exchange diverters.