For a safe hospital
When health or even human lives are at stake, technology must function particularly safely and reliably. Hospitals today use a large number of electronic systems, both in the administrative area and for the treatment of patients. Many of these systems cannot afford either a power failure or a malfunction due to an inadequate power supply. This is why uninterruptible power supplies have become the norm in the medical environment. The range of applications includes office and back-office systems as well as laboratory equipment, air conditioning and lighting systems, medical aids and diagnostic equipment. All applications fundamentally require high availability and safety, but the systems that come into direct contact with patients in particular must meet stringent requirements for reliability and protection. Requirements that are perfectly met by the WISUS-ME/MS family from Wöhrle power supply systems.
One UPS for many applications
UPSs can be found in different locations in a hospital. There is, of course, the classic data center, where long backup times and high energy efficiency are particularly important. Wöhrle has various systems on offer here that achieve efficiencies of up to over 97%. UPSs for medical devices, on the other hand, must be flexibly configurable, depending on the power requirements. Special medical devices are often controlled by conventional PCs. In principle, standard UPSs can be used to protect them, provided they have the necessary approvals. At Wöhrle, important certifications such as CE, UL and IEC/EN standards are also available for selected products for the medical sector. Electromagnetic compatibility, a decisive key value in the medical sector, is guaranteed, as is optimum input/output isolation through isolating transformers.
Reliability first and foremost
The situation is more complex for UPSs that operate the medical device itself, for example a computer tomograph or a laboratory system. In this case, there are extreme demands on reliability. In the event of a power failure, it is essential to avoid the patient having to remain in the CT tube until the power supply is restored. In addition, examinations with highly complex equipment are expensive. An interrupted procedure incurs high costs and postpones subsequent appointments. The UPS must therefore always be able to meet the power requirements of the device, which, especially in the case of a tomograph, means enormous demands on peak load capacity. The WISUS-ME/MS family is optimally equipped for such requirements thanks to its modular design with selectable power reserves and high control dynamics. In addition, the modular design allows users to build up any level of redundancy, effectively preventing failures. If a module does fail, it is simply replaced by a new one. The MTTR (Mean-Time-To-Repair) can therefore be kept extremely short.
Grow with us and save
The modular concept - one system can provide redundant protection of between 10 and 4,000 kVA - is also ideal for growing environments. As more and more systems in hospitals are networked and integrated as part of the IT, it pays off in the medium term if the UPS system can grow with increasing load requirements. By combining several individual systems, the WISUS-ME/MS can achieve a total output of up to several MVA. Another advantage of UPS systems from Wöhrle is their flexibility in terms of input voltage and frequency. If the mains voltage drops during high utilization, Wöhrle UPSs do not have to switch to battery operation for a very long time. This increases the service life of the energy storage units and also improves energy efficiency.
Integration into the management system
In this way, the facility management receives alarms and status messages and can proactively monitor the UPS characteristics. To do this, the UPS must be able to master various communication standards, from simple two-wire interfaces to SNMP and ProfiBus/Modbus through to BACS for integration into the building management system. At Wöhrle power supply systems, all required interfaces can be implemented via plug-in cards.
Conclusion
In a hospital or medical environment in general, the demands on the reliability of a UPS are extreme. When the lives and health of patients are at stake, there is no room for error. The UPS systems of the WISUS-ME/MS family are specially designed for this environment, withstand high dynamic peak loads and meet practically any redundancy requirement thanks to their modular design. This means that users in hospitals, medical research and laboratories are always on the safe side.