San Pedro Hospital - Where Old and New Meet
At the hospital of San Pedro in Vila Real, Portugal, the "old" and "new" come together in a synthesis of efficiency and economy thanks to fluid handling technology from ITT Lowara unit. What is old is the water supply and water distribution system, built in the early sixties to serve the medical and general users in the various hospital wards. What is new is Hydrovar, the innovative frequency converter from ITT Lowara, that provides variable speed control and energy efficiencies to pump systems handling the hospital’s water.
Due to the increasing demands of providing a modern healthcare infrastructure, the San Pedro hospital recently underwent a general refurbishment to upgrade the hospital’s systems. The modernizing work was necessary to solve a series of problems associated with the age of the water supply and distribution system. Topping the list of problems were high energy consumption and the inability of the old piping system to guarantee efficient operation of the pressure units so that interruptions in the water flow and swings in the working pressure occurred frequently.
The problems were effectively solved through the installation of four 7.5 Kw Hydrovar HV 3.7 devices supplied by Lowara on the existing pressure units. Hydrovar is the world’s first pump mounted, microprocessor based pumping system controller. Hydrovar does much more than just change motor speed. It truly manages a pump’s performance to match a wide range of system conditions and requirements.
As a result of the Hydrovar upgrade, the old fixed speed pump operating system became a variable speed one, at costs decisively lower than those for the installation of a new system with the replacement of the old pumps.
Above all, the installation of Hydrovar has brought countless advantages, all measurable. Coupled with a frequency inverter, the automatic Hydrovar system is able to vary the speed and performance of the four electric pumps according to the fluctuation and effective demand for water. An increase in the pump's working speed is triggered automatically when the demand for water from the hospital users increases, and vice versa.
In this way, Hydrovar makes it possible to obtain significant savings, not only because it reduces energy consumption, but also as it reduces mechanical wear, therefore lowering maintenance costs for the electric pumps while prolonging their working lives. Furthermore, by exercising control over the pump speeds, the four Hydrovar devices installed in the San Pedro Hospital maintain a constant working pressure of 4-bar for all the users, at every moment.
Among the many frequency converters available on the market, ITT Lowara's Hydrovar was chosen for its versatility: it is in fact the only device that can be installed on any standard asynchronous electric motor. The Hydrovar was also chosen because of the efficiency of its performance and its programming versatility. In units with several pumps, as is the case in the San Pedro Hospital, it maintains a constant supply pressure by means of its incorporated microprocessor, starting or stopping the four pumps in a sequential manner depending on the demand for water.
Thanks to the innovative assembly system, the installation of Hydrovar at this Portuguese hospital facility was completed very quickly and quite easily. It is the first application carried out by ITT Lowara Portugal on existing systems.
Lowara Technology Enters Monza’s San Gerardo Hospital
Continuing its centuries-old tradition of providing healthcare Monza's San Gerardo hospital has never ceased to project itself towards the future. Founded in the Middle Ages it is the health point of reference for over 300,000 inhabitants of Monza and the Brianza area and is also the seat of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of Milano-Bicocca University. It is no surprise, therefore, that it is one of Lombardy's eleven highly specialized hospital institutions of national importance.
In addition to its historical premises, the San Gerardo also comprises a second facility, built recently in Monza's inner suburbs. The construction of a new facility also obviously entailed the realization of a plumbing system for distributing water for health and sanitation uses in the various hospital wards. Technology from ITT Lowara unit was able to provide the hospital with solutions for these applications.
Lowara supplied a series of variable speed pressure booster units for installation in various stations in the San Gerardo to fully equip the hospital.
Each of the nine installed units was dimensioned on the basis of needs in order to guarantee constant working water pressure of 5 and 8-bar and a total flow rate of 90 m3/h or 110 m3/h, depending on the station.
After a thorough assessment, ITT Lowara's SV16 series multistage vertical electric pumps were found to be the most appropriate for these needs. At the technological cutting edge, they guarantee high hydraulic performance, great flexibility and the maximum reliability. In particular, the pumps supplied have a maximum flow rate of 24 m3/h. The main components on the pressure booster units have intake and output manifolds in AISI 304 stainless steel, guaranteeing long life.
In detail, the Lowara supply to the San Gerardo comprised:
- A type GVD40/SV1606F55T pressure booster unit composed of 4 SV16 series vertical electric pumps, each with a power of 5.5 Kw, and heads from 100 metres to 43 metres, equivalent to a total flow rate of 90 m3/h
- Three type GVD50/SV1606F55T pressure booster units with 5 SV16 series vertical electric pumps, each with a power of 5.5 Kw, and heads from 100 metres to 43 metres, equivalent to a total flow rate of 110 m3/h
- Three type GVD50/SV1608F75T pressure booster units composed of 5 SV16 series vertical electric pumps, each with a power of 7.5 Kw, and heads from 133 metres to 57 metres, equivalent to a total flow rate of 110 m3/h
- Two type GVD40/SV1605F55T pressure booster units with 4 SV16 series vertical electric pumps, each with a power of 5.5 Kw, and heads from 83 metres to 35.8 metres, equivalent to a total flow rate of 90 m3/h.
Characterized by cyclical pump changes, each unit installed in the San Gerardo is equipped with the Hydrovar control system, an automatic device coupled with a frequency inverter which allows the speed of the pressure booster units to be modulated on the basis of the demand for water from the users.
Basically, when there is a greater demand for water in the hospital, the working speed of the pumps increases, thereby not only guaranteeing the distribution of water on the basis of the higher demand but also a constant working water pressure for all the users, at any time of the day or night.
The advantages deriving from the use of the variable speed systems can also be measured in economic terms. This is because the effective use of the pumps reduces energy costs. When demand from users is low the pumps operate at lower speeds and therefore power consumption also drops.
Commissioning and final testing of the units installed in the San Gerardo were completed by specialized ITT Lowara engineers in March 2003.
Nombre de la organización: ITT-Lowara
País: USA
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