The North Estonia Medical Centre has been going through massive reconstruction and expansion to become the most modern hospital in the Baltic region. The Centre is one of the top healthcare providers in the country, employing more than 3,500 doctors, nurses, caregivers and specialists. The hospital consists of seven clinics and 31 specialist centres and offers medical care in all specialist fields apart from ophthalmology and obstetrics.
One phase in the project, which is now two-thirds completed, involved rebuilding a substation that accepts a medium voltage power input and provides a low voltage supply to other parts of the site. Another was a new ER (Emergency Room) block called X-Block - an innovative diagnostics and active treatment complex, where the hospital’s most technology-dependent treatments are administered. The most recent and largest phase concerns the renovation of the centre’s C-Block that houses clinical units, logistics and a waste centre as well as other staff and technical facilities.
The centre's 100% digital environment contains many types of sensitive medical equipment, X-ray machines, large numbers of laboratories with specialist equipment, and refrigerators holding medicines. Clearly, loss of power to such devices cannot be tolerated.
Furthermore, while being reliable and safe for everyday hospital work, the system had to be highly cost-effective to operate. This meant low maintenance costs and high energy efficiency. Maintenance should be easy to manage, while built-in intelligence and communications capabilities should allow ready access to system status, and rapid diagnosis of actual and potential fault conditions.
Sergei Kedrov, Electrical Development Engineer for the centre, turned to Eaton for a solution, partly because of the protection, efficiency and intelligence capabilities of the company's distribution, backup and switchgear components, but also through the essentially consulting role that Eaton had fulfilled over several years during the earlier projects. 'Eaton’s proposals have always been the best fit for the requirement, rather than the cheapest or easiest for them to sell,' said Kedrov, 'while their knowledge of installers and their track records have been equally useful.'
The electrical distribution system is a complete multi-level hierarchy extending from Power Xpert FMX medium voltage switchgear systems, which are based on environmentally-friendly SF6 free technology, through various levels of low voltage panels for floors and departments, down to consumer units located close to points of use around the Block. Backup for the medical and IT equipment is provided by a pair of Power Xpert 9395 uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems, while emergency lighting is supported by an Eaton system based on CEAG technology including a centralised battery and comprehensive monitoring functionality. Ultimate backup is available from a pair of large-scale generators.
The main 9395 UPS system, which protects the medical equipment, has six units, with enough spare capacity to provide at least n+1 redundancy. Another 9395 UPS unit protects the server used for the Block’s IT system. UPS battery service life, at the centre’s request, is warranted for an extended period of at least 12 years. In the event of a power failure, battery autonomy is for 30 minutes, compared with a more usual 10 to 15 minutes of protection.
In addition to the backup systems, reliability is enhanced by redundancy throughout the system. The main FMX medium voltage system configuration comprises 6 + 6 panels, while a second FMX installation with 3 + 3 panels in a separate room supports the generators. The low voltage distribution units also have electrical redundancy, with physical separation and firewalls used in key areas.
Troubleshooting and maintenance is made easier and lower-cost for the centre through Eaton’s intelligence and communications capabilities at both low voltage distribution and consumer unit levels. These allow the centre’s staff to monitor the breakers‘ status in terms of alarm, errors, load currents, overload warning, trip signals and causes in real time.
The hospital consists of seven clinics and 31 specialist centres and offers medical care in many specialist fields
In designing their electrical distribution system, the centre’s team faced a demanding set of challenges; extreme reliability, protection and safety were absolutely essential, together with easy maintenance and low capital and operating costs. Eaton’s technology and support ensured that they achieved this. Carefully balanced advice led to appropriate equipment specification and the right installers for a cost-effective installation, designed to maximise uptime and reliability.
