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Reliable Power for Ulster Hospital

Having a 24/7 emergency backup power system in place at hospitals and healthcare facilities can literally mean the difference between life and death. As part of this project AJ Power were commissioned to design and build two standby generators. Our experience allowed us to provide a backup power system to meet the ongoing demands of new ASB project.

Belfast, N.Ireland

Overview

The Ulster Hospital is the major acute hospital in Northern Ireland which delivers a full range of acute services. The hospital has undergone extensive redevelopment in order to bring state of the art facilities which will in turn help transform patient care for the 21st century.

Back in January 2014, construction commenced on the new Acute Ward Block. A new 8 story facility which would accommodate an extensive range of services including: Emergency Department, Radiology, Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, Generic and Specialist Wards including Acute Assessment, Stroke, Renal and Gynaecology among others such as staff changing, FM Facilities and Kitchen and Dining.

The Project

The mechanical and electrical installation at the new Acute Services Block (ASB) at the Ulster Hospital, as part of the wider ASB project worth £95 million.

AJ Power Standby Power Solution

Having a 24/7 emergency backup power system in place at hospitals and healthcare facilities can literally mean the difference between life and death. As part of this project AJ Power were commissioned to design and build two standby generators. Our experience allowed us to provide a backup power system to meet the ongoing demands of new ASB project.

After discussions with the customer and the strict load acceptance requirements in the event of a mains power failure in a hospital environment we decided that the best option for their needs was two AJ2310 diesel generators with 16V4000 MTU engines and Newage Stamford alternators.

These were to be installed within two genset rooms within the basement area of the new Acute Services Block.
The installation was also supplied with 8 hour day tanks, silencer systems and inlet & outlet attenuators to reduce noise levels during operation. The gensets were supplied with set mounted control panels, remote panels and a master control panel.

Challenge

The unique challenge with this project was the installation as it involved lowering the gensets 1.6m into the genset room once it was already inside the building by using mobile gantry cranes which was a first for us.

The Generator Room

Each genset room was supplied and installed with an AJ2310 generating set which comprised of a 4500 litre capacity, eight hour running on full load day tank. Leakage alarms were connected to the Building Management System (BMS).

The day tank was supplied with level switches to automatically signal for a refill from the bulk tank or low level alarms in the event of a transfer pump failure. A weight operated fuel value was installed on the fuel feed line and connected to the fusible link above the gensets to cut off fuel and shutdown the generators in the event of a fire.

The twin silencers were designed for noise levels 65bda @ 1m from the flue exit. In the case of the hospital genset room the flue exit was at roof level approx. 30 metres from ground level. The primary silencer was 5500m long and the secondary silencer was approx. 3000 metres long

The generator room cooling air inlet and outlet attenuators were designed for noise levels at 72 dba at 1 metre with generating sets running on full load. The air inlet was fitted with an electric operated louvre to maintain the generators room temperature aiding rapid genset start up in the event of a mains failure and to close on receipt of a signal from the building fire alarm system.p>

Before the gensets left AJ Power factory they undertook a factory test. This consisted of a four hour load run at 100% and a cold start up at 75% load acceptance on first step after 10 seconds. This demonstrated that the genset to genset paralleling and load sharing. Finally it went through the alarm and shutdown simulations.

Control Panel

The generators control and protection was via a set-mounted ComAp Inteli Gen BB controller with separate Inteli Vision 5 display touch screen.

The wall mounted panel with ComAp repeater displays was mounted outside the generator rooms. There was also a master panel containing ComAp controllers and display units for:

• Mains Incomers
• Generator Incomers
• LV Switchboard bus coupler.

Finally there was 17inch full colour Intellivision HMI touch screen.

Installation

The challenge with this project as previously mentioned was the installation as it involved lowering the gensets 1.6m into the genset room once it was already inside the building by using mobile gantry crane.

This project has now been successfully completed by AJ Power and the gensets have been installed and commissioned.

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