Introduction
Korean-based company, Samsung Medical Center (SMC) has installed four PCS100 active voltage conditioners (AVCs) at its facility. The installation process was successfully carried out by the Power Electronics team at ABB.
The main reason for installing these AVCs was to protect the costly cancer treatment equipment against voltage distortion. When exposed to swells and sags in voltage, these machines are prone to shutting down. If a shutdown occurs during a treatment cycle, therapy is disrupted and the patient is directly affected. Installing the PCS100 AVC, with its small footprint and high efficiency rate, can eliminate the risk of such a power disturbance occurring.
The medical industry is increasingly dependent on state-of-the-art machines and technologies for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. These machines are significant contributors to medical intelligence, and without them, medical research and science would be compromised in terms of curing diseases.
Samsung Medical Centre
Based in Seoul, Korea, the SMC was established in 1994 and includes a cancer treatment center and a hospital. The hospital is situated in a cleverly designed building with a floor space of more than 200,000 sq.m over 5 floors underground and 20 floors above ground. It accommodates 1,306 beds, 10 specialist centers, 40 departments and 120 special clinics. The separate cancer center has a floor space of more than 100,000 sq.m and accommodates 655 beds, with 8 floors underground and 11 floors above ground. This tertiary hospital employs around 7,400 people including more than 2,300 nurses and 1,200 doctors. SMC has developed and implemented a sophisticated model and intends to become a patient-centered hospital (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Samsung Medical Center (SMC) has successfully implemented an advanced management model with the philosophy of becoming a “patient-centered hospital,” a new concept in Korea
Insight into the future
Samsung’s specialist hospital opted for the PCS100 AVCs to protect the cancer treatment machines - core components of the hospital. To help realize SMCs goal of becoming a leading medical center, it was critical to ensure that the machines were protected by advanced power protection technology. To promote additional growth, the Samsung Cancer Center and Samsung Cancer Laboratory were opened in 2008 and 2009, respectively. Furthermore, the Samsung International Medical Center is set to open in 2015. It was therefore important that SMC invested in power protection technologies to prepare for the future.
ABB’s technology and solution
SMC was particularly concerned about their cancer treatment machines because supply voltage fluctuations could lead to premature failure of the machines’ components. In fact, power fluctuation events were affecting the operation of the cancer scanning and treatment machines, compromising the quality of service offered to patients. Such disruptions would eventually add to operational costs and require unscheduled downtime so that maintenance could be carried out to restore the machines. Installing the PCS100 AVCs counteracts this risk by protecting against disruptive sags and swells in the supply voltage.
ABB’s PCS100 AVCs are three-phase machines that are designed to sustain single and three phase voltage sags. The units offer an efficiency rate of more than 98%, which makes them highly reliable in protecting the cancer treatment machines against voltage fluctuations that occur in the AC supply network.
The PCS100 AVC installed at SMC is the largest medical application to date. As the project was a retro fit, the PCS100 AVCs, with their small footprint and high power density, were selected because they can provide the voltage protection required within the limited installation space available.
Conclusion
According to Mr Kim of Woojin Electrical Machinery, SMC is quite happy with the installation of PCS100 AVCs because they provide the required protection and a highly energy efficient solution that is line with the intelligent building concept. The small footprint design of the PCS100 AVCs makes them perfect for installing in limited spaces.
About ABB
ABB is a leader in power and automation technologies that enable utility, industry, and transport and infrastructure customers to improve performance while lowering environmental impact. The ABB Group of companies operates in roughly 100 countries and employs about 140,000 people.
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