If it were not already evident that good quality healthcare is of paramount importance, the pandemic demonstrated it amply, over the course of many months in which the tremendous effort made by medical workers had to be underpinned by the reliability of their equipment. Hospital environments must have the security of an adequate electrical installation, and this is where uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems play a vital role.
Caring for hospitalised patients also means guaranteeing the continuity of the electrical supply, and that is where UPS systems come in. This is also made clear in the Regulation on Low Voltage for the Hospital Environment, which stipulates that operating theatres, treatment rooms and ICUs are to be equipped with supplementary supply systems (usually low voltage equipment of up to 10kVA) capable of providing a minimum of two hours’ backup time for emergency lighting and vital medical equipment. Other hospital departments also require a continuous power supply, such as the integrated building management system (IBMS), the health management information system (HMIS), the diagnostic imaging systems, and various other systems such as ventilation and climate control.
The UPS must be able to lend continuity to the power supply: in other words, it must provide reliability, in order to enable maximum availability. Additionally, it also needs to be extremely efficient, in order to minimise energy costs. Lastly, the power provided must be of sufficient quality to correct disturbances in the mains supply, such as overvoltages, voltage dips, flickers, imbalances, noise and harmonics, among others.
The UPS systems that are suitable for hospital environments include VFI (on-line double-conversion) models, which generate an output waveform for the load with voltage and frequency that are independent of the primary mains supply. VFI UPS systems are further divided into monolithic and modular types: the latter stand out for their greater ease of maintenance, improved system efficiency management, and higher levels of reliability and availability.
Modular UPS systems consist of a set of identical modules that work in parallel to meet the total power demand. They are not as common as other systems on the market, as they require the use of more advanced technology. Consequently, only specialist companies with extensive market experience, such as Salicru, are able to offer a wide range of modular UPS systems.
Salicru’s on-line double-conversion UPS systems increase efficiency - a weak point for these devices - by improving management processes. As a result, the Smart-ECO mode makes it possible to achieve performance levels of 99% or higher, while the Sleep mode reduces consumption by enabling the system to operate at the optimum working point.
Salicru’s wide range of UPS systems for hospital environments includes the following on-line three-phase series: SLC ADAPT (modular, up to three units in parallel, with power ratings from 10-500kVA); SLC CUBE3+ (up to four units in parallel, with power ratings from 7.5-200kVA); SLC CUBE4 (up to four units in parallel, with power ratings from 7.5-80kVA); and SLC X-PERT (up to six units in parallel, with power ratings from 80-400kVA).
All of these systems have demonstrated their outstanding performance in numerous leading Spanish hospitals, such as Vall d’Hebron (Barcelona), 12 de Octubre (Madrid), Clínico Universitario (Valencia), Doctor Trueta (Girona) and Reina Sofía (Murcia), to name just a few. Salicru’s UPS systems are also used in countries such as the UK, where the National Health Service (NHS) and its emergency services decided to install various systems as part of the ambitious plan to renew the NHS’s power electronics equipment in 2021.
MONTAWEB.com