ATLAS Copco says the John Hunter Hospital in Newcastle is a good example of how optimising compressors’ energy consumption can result in substantial savings.
Atlas Copco has been supplying John Hunter Hospital with air compressors, control equipment solutions and advice for four years. The air compressors are used to ensure a seamless supply of oil and contaminant free medical air throughout the hospital.
The hospital was originally equipped with two reciprocating compressors which were over-sized, very inefficient, unreliable and expensive to run. The hospital decided to use Atlas Copco’s fail-safe, contaminant- and oil-free air technology.
Atlas Copco delivered two ZT 45 compressors and one variable speed drive ZT 50 VSD compressor. The variable speed drive in the ZT 50 VSD primary compressor allows the unit to cycle in line with demand to deliver the required amount of air.
According to Atlas Copco, this reduced running costs, increased reliability and reduced the maintenance costs.
Atlas Copco continues to deliver post-sales service to maximise the compressors’ performance, engage in preventative maintenance, and manage the three compressors cycle times via an automatic control unit.
Atlas Copco says the installation of two air-cooled 45 kW ZT 45 oil-free rotary tooth compressors and the 50 kW ZT 50 Variable Speed Drive version gave the hospital a 200% redundancy factor and reduced energy consumption by over 35%.
To switch from the primary variable speed drive ZT 50 compressor to the ZT 45 backup compressors, Atlas Copco supplied the ES 130 central controller which has unlimited control capacity and artificial intelligence processing.
The ES 130 was hardwired to each of the three compressors. The control unit’s touch screen and software then allowed the hospital’s maintenance personnel to programme a run cycle to automatically switch from the ZT 50 VSD to the ZT 45 compressors for 12 hours, once a week.
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