Page 4 of 4

Achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification was a priority and an overall driver of the facility's design and engineering. Tight building-automation control and comprehensive system integration contributed to the medical center's status as the world's first health-care facility to achieve LEED Platinum certification. In 2004, LEED certification for any building was considered new territory; for a health-care provider to consider it was unprecedented.

A BAS was used to integrate numerous third-party devices, such as emergency-power transfer switches, domestic-water booster pumps, hot-water generators, an underfloor air-distribution system, computer-room air conditioners, and a therapy-pool air-conditioning unit, that utilized the BACnet and Modbus protocols.

BAS integration provides the information necessary to monitor equipment properly and make complex decisions driving energy savings and efficiencies. Using BACnet to integrate variable-frequency drives and underfloor HVAC systems provides the system control necessary to drive down energy costs based on demand-control strategies.

Similar to the Banner Estrella Medical Center, Dell's BAS is configured to alarm in the event any equipment or condition, such as critical air-handler-unit fans, switchgear, or operating/isolation-room conditions, are out of tolerance. Remote-paging and notification software allows operators to receive alarms and monitoring points via cell phone and pager.

The BAS also automatically trends utility data regularly. Facility managers can use historical data to track costs and troubleshoot equipment operating in abnormal ranges. Reporting and trending capabilities can provide historical data on isolation-room pressures and operating-room temperatures and humidity readings.

This medical center also can operate from a single workstation platform to monitor and control utility data, the air-conditioning and heating system, and the utility-distribution plant, allowing Seton to limit the number of maintenance workers.

CONCLUSION

It is clear that building systems and their integration with critical patient-care and caregiver support systems play an increasingly strong role in the health-care environment, contributing to better patient and financial outcomes. Delivered by highly integrated systems, improved information and data gathering is key to proper decision making.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

The senior product manager of integrated systems for Siemens Industry Inc., Chris Hollinger joined the company in 1995. He is responsible for the development of integrated building applications, standard-protocol solutions, and integration solutions. He holds bachelor's and master's degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign. A member of BACnet International and active in the BACnet Testing Laboratories and BACnet International marketing committee, he has authored several articles and case studies on integrated building systems and the use of standard protocols.