Diesel Generator for Hospitals

The emergency load of a hospital

Not every load in a hospital is on the emergency supply. The operation theatre, the intensive care, the emergency lighting, the fire pumps, the lifts that serve the wards, the laboratories, the pharmacy refrigeration and the water pumps are. The set has to carry that group alone, which is normally between 30 and 25 percent of the total connected load of the building.

Start within ten seconds

Hospitals are the classic case where the time between the failure and the load matters. The transfer has to be automatic, and it has to be complete within ten seconds. That means the set sits in auto mode permanently, with the fuel system full, the coolant above 30 °C and the batteries on float charge. We set the control panel for the site’s start delay and the transfer parameters and write them into the quotation, so the panel arrives on site ready to work.

The weekly test is part of the design

A standby set that has not run is an unknown machine. Most hospital regulations ask for a weekly test under load and a monthly test without load, with the result recorded. That is a design question as much as a maintenance one: the fuel quality, the battery, the cooling and the starting battery all age whether the set runs or not. A float charger, a fuel polishing and an oil heater are quoted with the set, and the service visit is scheduled so that the test hours are never the surprise.

The noise and the exhaust decide the position

A hospital campus is a quiet place, and the plant room is often next to the ward block. A bare engine at full load is far too loud there, so the silent canopy set with acoustic lining and a discharge silencer is the normal choice, at roughly 70 dB(A) at 7 m. The exhaust has to leave the building above the air intakes and away from the ward windows; where the site is tight, the set goes outside in an enclosure and the cable run comes back to the plant room.

The fuel autonomy and the fuel quality

Emergency fuel ages: water condenses in the tank and the diesel goes off. The autonomy is quoted from the fuel tank level, as ISO 8528 requires, and 8 to 24 hours at full load is the normal band. A day tank with a transfer pump, a level alarm and a bunded base tank, and a fuel line that can be cleaned, keep the fuel usable. Where the hospital buys its own fuel, we recommend a rotating stock and a monthly sample, and we say so in writing.

The fuel tank and the fire safety

Above ground fuel tanks are bundled, vented and kept away from the escape routes; below ground tanks need the fire service and the building authority to agree the venting and the access. We supply the tank, the pump and the pipework with the set and draw the layout, so the civil work and the machine arrive together.

What we deliver

Open frame or silent canopy, 50 Hz or 60 Hz, ATS or no ATS, with the fuel system, the heaters, the battery charger, the float charger and the remote monitoring written into the same quotation. Every set is run at full load in the factory before it is loaded, and the test record travels with the machine.