25 September 2024
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Temperature control specialist ICS Cool Energy needed to overcome logistical challenges to upgrade critical cooling systems for a hospital in Scotland.
Reliable temperature control systems are critical to the smooth operation of any healthcare facility, ensuring that essential medical equipment, sensitive medications, and hospital environments are maintained at precise temperatures.
The challenge
The outdated cooling infrastructure serving the operating theatres was posing a risk to ongoing operations. The hospital urgently needed a reliable and efficient replacement system to avoid potential issues. The hospital specified a cooling capacity requirement of 80kW for chillers located indoors in a 30℃ ambient temperature. However, the plant room's location on the upper floors of the building created logistical challenges for equipment dismantling, transport and installation of the new one.
The solution
ICS Cool Energy developed a plan to remove the old equipment and install new chiller systems in the hospital's covered plant room. Due to limited access and the challenge of transporting large equipment to the upper floors, several site visits were conducted to assess the layout, identify potential obstacles, and establish an effective work process.
Two i-Chiller 80kW chillers were transferred from ICS Cool Energy's central storage in Totton to their workshop in Bradford, where the units were de-gassed, disassembled and flat-packed onto pallets for easier transport. The components were then shipped to the hospital's loading area, from where, they were transferred manually to the fourth-floor chiller plant room via internal lifts. A manual lift and shift team then laid out the components for on-site reassembly by ICS Cool Energy engineers.
After reassembly, the system was recharged with refrigerant, tested and commissioned following the completion of pipefitting, fluid filling, electrical supplies and ducting. Waste Transfer Notes were also issued for the redundant equipment, refrigerant and oil.
Sales Engineer Al Sorley said: "One of the primary challenges was transporting and installing the new chillers. Due to the restricted access to the fourth-floor plant room, we had to disassemble the chillers for transport and then reassemble them on-site. This complex logistical process required precise planning and coordination to ensure minimal disruption to hospital operations, especially in critical areas like the operating theatre.”
