Technical guidance: HVAC and chiller systems
Keeping one’s cool when things hot up
Hospitals and healthcare facilities use a variety of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment for a wide range of applications. Here, in our latest technical guidance article, presented in a ‘Question and Answer’-type format, Adam Spolnik, director, and Richard Metcalfe, sales director, of temperature control specialist, ICS Cool Energy, focus on some of the key priorities, maintenance-wise, to get the optimum performance from chillers and HVAC components, and identify the units that perform best for particular healthcare applications. They also consider how careful stewardship and proper maintenance of such equipment can help cut carbon footprint, and highlight some of the key regulations that estates teams operating such plant need to ensure they are familiar with.
Where are the particular ‘niche’ areas for HVAC equipment and chillers used in hospitals and other healthcare applications? Adam Spolnik: “HVAC equipment and chillers are used in healthcare for a multitude of applications to fit various design criteria – apart from the obvious need for human comfort. Operating theatres and ‘spaces’ incorporating laboratory equipment are probably the two principal areas where healthcare facilities have niche requirements for cooling equipment. Each application requires a different machine; for example, MRI and CT scanners tend to use individually processed chillers that support the machines, whereas heating, ventilating, and cooling equipment ensure comfort, and maintain stipulated temperatures, in operating theatres.”
How different are chillers and HVAC equipment, and their maintenance for optimal performance, in hospital and other healthcare applications? RichardMetcalfe: “With HVAC equipment, a lot of the comfort applications, e.g. for operating theatres, have variable loads. In summer, units operate at a high load, as they are using a lot of fresh ambient air, which needs to be cooled, as the outside air is a lot hotter at this time of year, and considerably more power is needed to cool it. There are increased benefits from the utilisation of ranges which contain Turbocor technology, and those which use multiscroll (the engine of a chiller unit) products that you wouldn’t see in other applications. In applications with part load
ICS Cool Energy says: “Maintaining chillers and HVAC equipment in healthcare facilities is essentially a question of good practice, and, although many of the considerations are much the same as in data centres and other industries, the difference is the sensitivity around, and importance of, patient care.”
demands, we are able to increase massively on the system’s annual efficiency – you can see upwards of 30% to 40% in savings. “The size of the application often
dictates which technology would be best to use. It is also important to consider the removal of large volumes of refrigerant in cooling systems, such as R22, and replace them with a chilled water-based system. This not only reduces the potential for large quantities of refrigerants to leak into the atmosphere, but also allows user organisations to install more efficient and more cost-effective equipment in terms of running cost and maintenance.
‘smoothly ticking over’ “Maintaining chillers and HVAC equipment in healthcare facilities is essentially a question of good practice, and although many of the considerations are much the same as in data centres and other industries, the difference is the sensitivity around, and importance of, patient care. “This makes it arguably more important
Keeping equipment
to keep the HVAC equipment smoothly ticking over, especially when the equipment is supporting critical applications such as surgical procedures and patient comfort. You wouldn’t want to
Health Estate Journal September 2013
21
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 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120 |
Page 121 |
Page 122
