Medical UPS: Delta Electronics Health Experience

Recently, medical technology has changed a lot. High-tech equipment has become widely used: magnetic resonance tomographs, expert-class ultrasound and X-ray machines, centrifuges, gas analyzers, hematological and other diagnostic systems. These devices have significantly improved the quality of medical services.

Uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) are used to protect high-precision equipment in medical centers, hospitals and clinics. In addition, these devices provide quality service to data centers where patient records, medical records and data processing applications are stored. They also support the power of intelligent building management systems.

According to the results of studies conducted by the Public Scientific Library, power outages in medical institutions adversely affect all work: from providing basic medical care to maintaining the performance of complex equipment.

The most common causes of power outages are natural disasters: showers, snowfalls, hurricanes ... In recent years, there have been more such situations around the world, and, according to the medical journal The New England Journal of Medicine, no slowdown is expected.

It is especially important for medical institutions to maintain high fault tolerance in emergency situations when thousands of patients may need help. Therefore, the need for reliable UPSs is greater than ever.

Clinics of Russia: the issue of choosing a quality UPS

Most medical institutions in Russia are state-owned; therefore, equipment is procured on a competitive basis. In order to choose a reliable UPS and avoid unnecessary expenses in the future, in preparation for the tender you need to go through 5 steps.

1. Risk analysis. In order to avoid breakdowns and costly repairs, it is imperative to protect valuable medical equipment, laboratory facilities in research centers, and refrigerators where biological materials are stored using UPS systems.

Special rules are set for operating units. Here, each device is duplicated in case of breakage, and the room itself is provided with a guaranteed stable power supply.

The operating grid should be completely independent. This is achieved by installing a transformer. The most common mistake is replacing the transformer with a double conversion UPS. In bypass mode, such UPSs do not break the neutral (working zero), and this contradicts medical GOSTs and SNIP requirements.

2. The choice of power and topology of the UPS. Medical equipment does not have any special requirements for these parameters, so you can use the UPS of any vendors that have international certificates of electromagnetic compatibility.

You only need to decide on the power consumed by the equipment by choosing single or three-phase UPS. For not very expensive equipment, it is enough to purchase simple redundant UPSs, for critical - linear-inert or created according to the topology of double conversion of electricity.

3. The choice of UPS architecture. This step is skipped if it is decided to install single-phase UPSs - they are monoblock.

Among the three-phase devices, modular options are optimal, where power and battery units are installed in one or more cabinets connected by a common bus. They are great for operating rooms, but require more upfront costs. Nevertheless, modular UPSs fully pay for themselves and are highly reliable in redundancy according to the N + 1 scheme. In the event of failure of one power unit, it is easily dismantled on its own and sent for repair without compromising the performance of the system. When ready, it is mounted back without shutting down the UPS.

Repair of monoblock three-phase devices requires a qualified service engineer to visit the installation site and can last for days or even weeks.

4. Choosing the brand of UPS and batteries. Questions to clarify when choosing a supplier:

• Does the manufacturer have its own factories and research center?
• Does the product have ISO 9001, 9014 certificates?
• What guarantees are provided?
• Is there an authorized service partner in your area to assist with the installation and commissioning of equipment, and subsequent maintenance?

The array of batteries is selected taking into account the requirements for the duration of battery life: the larger it is, the greater should be the battery capacity. In medicine, two types of batteries are usually used: lead-acid batteries with a life of 3–6 years and more expensive lithium-ion batteries, which have significantly higher number of charge-discharge cycles, less mass and temperature requirements, and a resource of about 10 years.

It is advisable to use lead-acid batteries if the network is high-quality and the UPSs are almost always in buffer mode. But if the power supply is unstable, there are limitations in size and weight, lithium-ion batteries should be preferred.

5. The choice of supplier. The organization is faced with the task not only to buy UPS, but also to bring, install and connect. Therefore, it is important to find a supplier who will become a permanent partner: competently carry out commissioning, organize technical support and remote monitoring of the UPS.

This issue needs to be given special attention, because the conditions of purchase do not spell out installation and commissioning. There is a risk of being left with nothing - to buy equipment, but not get the opportunity to use it.

Professionals who are engaged in engineering infrastructure should interact with both the financial department and the medical staff, since the purchase of a UPS is most often planned together with new medical equipment. Proper planning and coordination of expenses is a guarantee that there will be no problems with the purchase and installation of the UPS.

Cases Delta Electronics: experience installing UPSs in medical organizations

Delta Electronics, together with the Russian distribution company CJSC Tempesto, won a tender for the supply of equipment for protecting electrical systems of the Scientific Center for Children's Health of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences. It provides world-class service and serious medical research.

The SCC RAMS has the latest equipment and high-precision equipment, which is very sensitive to power outages and voltage surges. To maintain the high quality of service for young patients and to prevent injuries to medical staff due to equipment malfunctions, the task was to replace the electrical protection systems.

In the premises of the scientific center, laboratories and refrigerators, UPSs of the Delta Modulon NH-Plus 100 kVA and Ultron DPS 200 kVA series are installed . In the event of a power outage, these dual conversion topology solutions reliably protect medical equipment. The choice was made in favor of this type of UPS, because:

• Modulon NH-Plus and Ultron DPS units feature industry-leading AC-AC conversion efficiency;
• have a high power factor (> 0.99);
• characterized by low harmonic distortion at the input (iTHD <3%);
• provide high return on investment (ROI);
• require a minimum of operating costs.

The modularity of the UPS provides the possibility of parallel redundancy and quick replacement of equipment that has failed. System failure due to power outages is ruled out.

Subsequently, Delta equipment was installed in the clinics of the diagnostic and consultation centers at the SCCH RAMS.