MEDICAL GAS SYSTEMS
The RVI’s medical gas plant room.
site uses considerably less air, requiring a compressor drive output of 15-22 kW. The RVI’s old plant would have consistently used 37 and 55 kW, when in fact just 11 kW may have been needed – equating to a wastage of around 80 kW of energy, on a regular basis. The RVI’s new plant was configured
to combine medical and industrial air plants to achieve maximum efficiency, in a system where fixed-speed compressors are employed to maintain a system base load, with the option to call on selected variable speed technology that adapts to different outputs and site demands. The use of dewpoint temperature control as part of the process of drying air reduces energy wastage. In addition, an AI-based remote monitoring system is continuously collecting data to further optimise system performance, conduct predictive maintenance, and estimate and quantify the net impact of the system.
Three driving factors There were three main factors that drove the change at the RVI: energy efficiency, resilience, and reliability.
Energy efficiency NHS Net Zero targets were a major factor when the Engineering team at the RVI was considering the site’s future medical gas requirements. Large machines use
‘‘
a lot of energy; therefore if you can optimise their running, you can potentially halve your energy usage. Even though medical air is generally being used less in hospitals, HTM calculations still concluded that the plant must be able to manage 7,000 litres, where realistically the common demand is only around 3,000 litres. While to remain compliant, hospitals need to be able to accommodate a certain amount of demand, the new system from SHJ now allows the use of smaller compressors to deliver only what is actually required.
Resilience Staff at the RVI were keen to increase the resilience of any future medical gas plant, and move away from the existing reliance on one compressor feeding the entire plant, meaning that if it were to fail, to they would no longer have air being fed to their industrial air plant. Now factored into the new plant are many more ‘points of failure’ that can occur before the hospital is in crisis. By utilising four compressors, should any fail, there is still medical air supply, and in the worst case, if all four were to fail, there are controllable valve arrangements that enable the 55 kW units to feed the entire site on their own. Ian Clayton said: “In common with all areas of the NHS, we in Estates are
The system has been constructed so that if anything fails, there are back-up failsafes, so that in future, they will never lose the supply of air to any part of the hospital
Professor Gaoyong Luo, SHJ’s chief scientist, who has developed and led the project from the AI remote monitoring perspective.
under constant pressure to improve productivity, reduce costs, and cut carbon emissions. We must achieve all these things while maintaining the high level of service expected by our patients. By monitoring numerous parameters, SHJ’s Empower system will recognise if all is not well, and will adjust the plant operation to address any issues, as well as letting let us know what has happened, and what needs to be done. This then gives us time to implement the required remedial action and ensure continuity of service. It can often allow us to rectify minor issues before they develop into a major, costly breakdown.”
As part of the system, there are two
dryers, eight compressors, and two control panels. The system has been constructed so that if anything fails, there are back-up failsafes, so that in
The key benefits of SHJ’s Empower system graphically illustrated.
November 2022 Health Estate Journal 59
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72
