Background
When hospital construction reached the final stages at a large hospital in the Netherlands, both medical equipment suppliers and power quality expert and ADF partner, 4Top, began to recognize electrical problems, such as broken and malfunctioning equipment. Although having a stable energy supply is crucial for many industries, when it comes to hospital care and medical equipment, people’s lives depend on it.
While it was noted that medical equipment was not functioning as expected throughout the hospital, when measurements were taken to test the voltage it was confirmed that the voltage did not comply with the European standard for power quality. The problem worsened when emergency power was needed during a grid blackout.
Challenge
Due to the electrical instability and voltage insufficiency, the medical equipment suppliers refused to offer a warranty for their equipment. Eager for a solution to meet the standard (EN 61000-2-4) and maintain the warranties on valuable medical equipment, the hospital sought a solution that would eliminate electrical disturbances (harmonics), ensure a back-up in case of a failure (be redundant), and be able to be controlled and monitored from a remote location.
Additionally, being able to expand the solution in the future was key since hospitals are constantly growing and evolving, and therefore constantly updating their equipment. Last but not least was the need to operate the solution in all circumstances, such as during grid operation, emergency power, etc.
Solution
An ADF solution was implemented in December 2014. The solution included six ADF P300 units placed in three separate locations throughout the hospital—all operating with full redundancy,
The modular structure of the units were well-suited for the hospital due to both the flexibility they provide, as well as the opportunity to easily expand in the future by simply adding additional modules if needed. And the fact that all units are able to be monitored and controlled remotely via a computer meant that all of the hospital’s requirements for a power quality solution were able to be met with ADF.
Result
Since the installation of the six ADF P300 units, the harmonics in the voltage have reduced by more than 70%, putting the hospital well within the European standard and greatly increasing energy efficiency on site. In fact, in order for the hospital to have met the standard, the voltage harmonics needed to be reduced by 50%, but since the ADF solution has exceeded that, the hospital even has room to grow. Additionally, during emergency power, the ADF units enabled stable voltage quality, whereas without the solution the voltage quality tended to decrease by 50%. Lastly, the solution was so effective that all medical equipment suppliers gained enough confidence in the system to offer active warranties for all equipment.
It is also important to note that since the solution is completely redundant, the hospital is able to be fully operational, even if one ADF P300 fails or is under maintenance. The hospital can now run 24/7 with complete peace of mind when it comes to power quality.