In the UK electricity costs continue to rise and can be one of the biggest burdens on a medical facility budget. In older buildings legacy infrastructures and power protection systems provide opportunities for upgrades to improve energy efficiency.
Power Protection Plans
Hospitals will generally have both a centralised and decentralised power protection plan that uses a combination of uninterruptible power supplies, intelligent PDUs and standby power generators. A large centralised UPS system may be used for patient record IT systems with decentralised UPS used to protect individual networks and medical equipment including scanners and laboratory equipment.
A key factor in any medical power protection plan is resilience in the form of N+X. Large monoblock or modular UPS systems may be deployed in a parallel arrangement. Standby power generators may be installed in an N+1 or N+2 arrangement. Within the facility, medical grade UPS systems and pendants may be used to provide the level of protection required.
Typical Medical Systems
- Patient care systems
- Laboratory devices
- IT networks
- Server rooms
- Datacentre operations
- Telecoms systems
- Emergency lighting
- Access security
Medical care relies on a fully integrated IT system that allows patient record access from hospitals to regional care facilities and doctors surgeries. Most surgeries operate their own IT server rooms or closets requiring power protection to ensure uptime.
Regular testing and maintenance is vital within a medical environment. UPS systems and their batteries can age, Generators require a monthly start-up and six-monthly inspection to ensure that they will automatically start-up when required.
Energy Efficiency Projects
Medical facilities and hospitals are a specialist form of building relying on core infrastructures including lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning. As these consume the largest amounts of power they are a first point to inspect during a site survey. Hospitals also tend to have other facilities on-site that can offer opportunities for energy savings. These include canteens and laundries which can consume large amounts of power.
Synchronised Power can work with hospital engineers to identify areas of high energy usage and systems that could benefit from the use of voltage optimisation, variable speed drives and power factor correction. Renewable power is another source to consider and there is a growing interest in local energy storage systems to provide even greater grid independence.
Typical Hospital Energy Saving Areas
- Motor driven loads including lifts
- Access and energy usage controls
- Lighting and emergency lighting systems
- Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems
- Environmental monitoring and management systems
- LV switchboards and building incomers
- Uninterruptible power supply system upgrade
The larger the medical facility, the greater the potential to uncover energy saving opportunities. Some may be easy to implement through improved working practices or the use of hardware accessories e.g. blanking plates in rack cabinets to improve cooling air flow efficiency. Lighting is an example of a more extensive project where LED lighting can generate large energy savings.
Your Medical Power and Energy Partner
Secure power and energy efficiency is vital to the smooth and cost-effective running of a medical facility whether it’s a large NHS hospital or private doctor’s practice. At Synchronised Power we provide a comprehensive power protection and energy saving service.
At Synchronised Power we provide free of charge site surveys for installations within the medical and healthcare field. Our energy consultants and power engineers will work closely to provide you with a fully costed proposal using the latest technologies and pricing.
- A fully independent service: our outstanding reputation is based on us delivering projects that solve client problems. When we design a power protection or energy management solution we select the most appropriate products and are not tied to any brand or manufacturer.
- Comprehensive product and service portfolio: to deliver outstanding products we need an outstanding supply chain. We only work with market leading manufacturers and their engineering and service teams who can demonstrate product and service excellence. Our product and service portfolio are extensive allowing us to solve any power problem and improve a building’s energy performance.
- An extensive and fast-growing knowledge bank: we work within two fast-paced sectors and continually invest in our systems, processes and people to ensure we keep up to date with the latest thinking and technologies. We also must ensure backwards compatibility and the future-proofing of designs to ensure we continue to develop long-standing relationships with our growing client base.
Your account manager is dedicated to ensuring we meet your needs no matter how large or small your operation. What matters to us is delivering the best possible power solution and helping our clients to reduce their energy costs and usage.
