ELECTRICAL SUPPLY
Power quality’s importance to research facilities
David Evans, Public Sector Segments leader at Schneider Electric UK&I, explores the ‘important, but often underestimated’, issue of power quality in medical research facilities. While patient-facing facilities are often front of mind when discussing healthcare, research facilities have proven their worth over the past year, and in an increasingly digital future, he argues that ‘uninterrupted power is non-negotiable’.
In a year that will go down in clinical research history, it’s become clear that efficient, unhindered scientific research is vital to addressing some of humanity’s biggest challenges. In the 2020 Budget, the Government announced the largest ever expansion of support for basic research and innovation. Initially, over £10 billion has been allocated to BEIS programmes and partner organisations from 2020 to 2021, with future investment set to reach £22 billion per year by 2024/25.
Without doubt, technology has transformed the academic research landscape. In 1968, the statistics software, SPSS, was created. The software, which is still used today, removed the need for researchers to perform linear regressions (a common type of predictive analysis) by hand. Fast forward to 2021, and technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics, and automation, have provided scientists with new analytical capabilities that go beyond what is humanly possible. To provide research at the highest level, medical researchers need their buildings and equipment to also perform at the highest level – without interruptions or delays.
As the operator or facility manager of a research facility, streamlining processes and reducing operational costs without compromising data reliability and validity are vital. A key element in achieving these outcomes – although at times overlooked – is the power environment.
Sensitive and critical tests The equipment and instruments within a laboratory rely upon the power supply to conduct tests, some of which can be sensitive and critical. Alarmingly, 90% of the electrical disturbances that impact the integrity of the power flowing through the sensitive instruments in laboratories are invisible. The impact of poor power quality can be catastrophic to research facilities, impacting vital and time- sensitive processes, damaging valuable electrical assets, and putting entire studies at risk. Unsurprisingly, the
DNA fragmentation. A dye marker on agarose gel used to separate DNA by a female scientist.
criticality of these applications is directly linked with the financial impact that they can cause to key stakeholders, not least the NHS.
Energy consumption has never been under such high scrutiny as it is currently. Not only is there concern about the cost of energy consumption, particularly in facilities which are only part occupied, but most organisations have ambitious Net Zero Carbon sustainability targets. Generally, the more critical the facility, the higher the energy demand. Medical universities and research facilities cover a wide variety of use cases. In terms of their power requirements, there are many low demand areas – such as libraries, lecture theatres, and study rooms, as well as power-intensive environments such as research laboratories and data centres. While the electrical supply in all of the areas listed
can be optimised through power analysis and remote operations, power quality in critical environments is especially important due to the sensitive nature of equipment and research activity.
Trends and challenges affecting the power quality environment For facilities with critical power needs – such as hospitals, research facilities, data centres, and airports – ensuring high power efficiency and availability remains a very challenging prospect. There are many reasons for this:
1: A more dynamic grid
Utilities are adding renewables and other distributed energy sources. In the longer term, this promises to help improve grid stability and efficiency, but integrating ‘green energy’ is causing challenges in some parts of the world, with countries
October 2021 Health Estate Journal 23
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