Emerson Back-Up Power Technology Keeps Hospitals Operating
The Mt. Zion Medical Center at the University of California–San Francisco takes power outage planning seriously. One of four sites making up the nationally recognized UCSF Medical Center, the Mt. Zion campus is known as one of the world’s premier cancer facilities for state-of-the-art research. Each year, patients from around the globe come to Mt. Zion to receive cutting-edge care at the dozens of specialized clinics and surgery services offered in its eight operating rooms, five-story outpatient center and 90-bed inpatient unit.
Whether caused by a bolt of lightning, a severe windstorm, aging electrical infrastructure or a squirrel running along a wire, power outages can spell disaster for unprepared businesses, large and small. Each year, U.S. power outages rack up at least $80 billion in costs, with businesses bearing 98 percent of the financial losses, according to a 2005 study funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
But for some businesses, power outages mean more than financial loss. In healthcare settings like at Mt. Zion, a power outage can halt life-saving medical procedures and disrupt sensitive equipment used for patient care. With an increasing emphasis on electronic medical records, a hospital’s information technology infrastructure is also dependent on reliable power..
Like any data center, a hospital’s data center must be “always on,” driving home the importance of back-up power supplies. Yet, downtime remains a challenge. A 2010 healthcare IT survey conducted by Emerson Network Power found 32 percent of IT and facility managers in this sector reported experiencing unplanned downtime to their IT systems, while 29 percent said that their data centers either did not deploy a redundant power system or they didn’t know what type of distribution strategy was being used.
In addition to data protection, hospitals require extensive backup-power and power-transfer-switching technologies to meet constant electrical needs in intensive care units, operating rooms and other critical locations.
At Mount Zion Medical Center, having an emergency power system capable of handling the highest electrical loads during an outage is a top priority.
The facility’s existing emergency power system needed an upgrade to manage routine maintenance checks, evolving technology standards and growing capacity needs. The hospital embarked on a comprehensive, future-ready back-up-power program that allowed technicians to inspect, test and operate the emergency system without interrupting power to critical, power-sensitive equipment.
After a close review of Mt. Zion’s needs and existing infrastructure, engineering consultants from Emerson Network Power recommended, designed and installed a power control system. Central to the design were 11 ASCO bypass-isolation switches that temporarily transfer power to back-up, semi-automatic transfer switches while the main automatic transfer switches undergo testing. The system also contains three diesel-engine generators rated at 350 kW and 260 kW for enough back-up energy to power three and a half middle schools.
Emerson Network Power’s ASCO technologies have given the medical center’s facility operations staff greater control over their backup power systems, allowing them to conduct thorough investigations more efficiently. Emerson experts also service the system once a year and are on call in case an emergency response is needed. When the new system faced its first real-life outage test -- an electric circuit breaker tripped -- the system worked flawlessly. The generators turned on and all the protected electric loads seamlessly transferred over to the back-up power system.
Power outages can spell disaster for an unprepared business or service facility. Emerson works with businesses around the world to ensure they have access to backup power to continue serving their customers under any condition.
