Problem
When a large regional hospital in upstate New York needed to protect mission-critical equipment and processes, they turned to Productivity Partners, Inc., a power-quality product and solution provider in Fairport, New York.
When meeting with Productivity Partners, the hospital outlined a number of challenges it faced in its efforts to preserve and protect its medical imaging equipment and, more importantly, the integrity of the resulting medical images.
Medical imaging equipment is, by nature, sensitive equipment. For one, it requires a sizeable inrush of high-impulse currents during use. At the same time, the voltage feeding it must be controlled to within very narrow specifications (typically 2% of connected line voltage during peak inrush) in order to keep the high voltage components functioning properly. Last, but not least, medical imaging equipment must be noise-free (less than 0.5 volts neutral to ground) and disruption-free during utility voltage sags to avoid impacting image quality and patient diagnosis.
Solution
Robert Bianchi, president of Productivity Partners, recommended the hospital install Utility Systems Technology’s (UST’s) SureVolt™ electronic voltage regulator/power conditioners. He knew the SureVolt would provide the hospital with the broadest range of protection against voltage fluctuations, as well as the proper overload capacity for its inrush-current requirements. At the same time, it would provide consistent voltage regulation and fast correction without recurring maintenance or moving parts.
The UST SureVolt is not only providing the facility’s imaging equipment with reliable voltage regulation, it’s also eliminating the noise artifacts that can wreak havoc on medical images and the critical patient diagnoses made from those images. The SureVolt is prolonging the hospital’s imaging equipment life and reducing machine downtime, as well, ensuring that the hospital’s equipment is running at all times to keep pace with the hospital’s heavy scheduling requirements.
Results
“The hospital has had zero power-quality issues since installing the SureVolt. That has made a very positive impression on both the facilities and imaging staffs, which has led to continued requests for additional projects,” Bianchi says.
Bianchi said his customers are happy with the SureVolt for other reasons, as well.
When a medical facility buys and installs expensive imaging equipment, it is almost always required to include a large power-protection device. Purchasing that equipment from the imaging-equipment vendor usually means a hefty mark-up for equipment that often does not take advantage of the extensive inrush capabilities that can be delivered by the UST solutions. UST’s products allow for much smaller solutions in terms of physical size and are often half the cost of the alternatives.
“It’s simply a matter of accurately reviewing the imaging equipment manufacturer’s detailed specifications and matching that with the best solution,” says Bianchi.