Product category:
Power Supplies and Uninterruptible Power Supplies
News Release from: Cummins Power Generation | Subject: Generating sets
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 20 June 2006
Gensets secure vital medical services
In its latest phase of development, The Asker og Baerum Hospital has chosen generating sets from Cummins Power Generation to provide an uninterruptible power supply for its vital medical services.
In its latest phase of development, The Asker og Baerum Hospital has chosen generating sets from Cummins Power Generation to provide an uninterruptible power supply for its vital medical services Having gone through multiple expansions over the years, it is now a large county hospital with over 53,882m2 of physical treatment area
Until now, different parts of the hospital development were served by multiple power generators.
This time, the hospital wanted one generator set to provide nearly all the electrical load in the new addition.
It was also seeking a power system that would provide trouble-free operation with high reliability that was supported by a local distributor.
Based on previous experience with Cummins, the hospital chose the 713DFHB, 50Hz standby generator set with PowerCommand controls and AmpSentry fault protection.
The generator set is rated at 891kVA (713kW) and is intended to supply a larger percentage of the new wing's loads compared with power systems that had been installed for other additions to the hospital.
Fuel for all the generators on-site is supplied by an external fuel tank with a capacity of 30,000 litres.
This on-site fuel storage provides the hospital with 60 to 70 hours of running time if the utility has an extended outage.
"Our modern methods of medical treatment cause us to be much more dependent on electrical and technical equipment which demand a stable source of energy", says Bjarne Olaussen, General Technology Director for Asker og Baerum Hospital.
"With this new wing, we have chosen an emergency backup power system that provides coverage for nearly all our electrical loads".
"We chose the Cummins system this time based on our previous good experiences with a similar Cummins system that we had used in the past", says Olaussen.
In the past, only critical areas of the hospital wing were provided with standby power - operating rooms, anesthetics equipment, patient monitors, basic lighting.
A decade ago, the testing laboratories conducted the majority of tests manually.
Now most tests are handled by computers and even doctors' reports are being handled electronically.
In short, this and other modern hospitals are almost totally dependent on a constant source of electric power.
The Cummins model chosen has additional advantages being digital as there is no delay in having power restored, whereas previous analogue systems meant there was often a momentary loss of power when the utility power was shut off and the generator set is connected.
This brief loss of power is enough to cause lights to blink and for computer systems to lose data if they are not protected by an uninterruptible power supply.
In emergency power outages, the generator sets will come online within eight to ten seconds.
Actual utility outages happen about two to three times per year, says Olaussen.
"These usually occur during the summertime, and during those outages, all the generator sets come online to supply power to various parts of the hospital".
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