Wycombe Hospital has reportedly reduced its electricity bill for a single piece of plant by over £5,000 over a year, after installing an EMPOWER intelligent plant control system from SHJ Hospital Pipelines that has taken over primary control of a threecompressor medical air system.
SHJ said: “Controllers traditionally call for two compressors when pressure drops, but only bring one on load, thus wasting valuable electrical power. However, the new controller’s intelligent loading algorithm is clever enough to call for a second compressor should hospital demand require it. “The medical air plant’s sensors, actuators, and differential gauges, can be tightly monitored by the EMPOWER controller, and, should any of them ‘go critical’, the correct level of plant alarm is activated.” The cost benefits of installing the EMPOWER unit could not, in fact, be forecast when the system was installed a year ago because it was the first of its kind. However a recent independent consultant’s check showed “a surprising cost saving in kilowatt hours”. SHJ added: “This saving in real terms means a typical installation can achieve a three-year payback.”
