Engineered Systems - April 2008 - (Page 16)

CaseInPoint logical samples and experiments. Hundreds of simultaneous research projects must be maintained within stringent environmental conditions. Any changes in temperature and humidity could inﬂuence the accuracy of long-running experiments, resulting in the loss of years of data, at costs running into millions of dollars. In addition, potentially lifesaving advances in treatment could be delayed. FAILURE ON THE WORST DAY Three cooling systems serve the center’s central freezer farm. On one of the hottest days of the year in Seattle — one system failed. The freezer farm has more than 100 freezers at -80°C, containing extremely valuable research. Maintaining -80°C is a complex operation and if the ambient temperature rises too high, the freezers become overstressed. With one cooling system down and the outside temperature reaching up to 80°F, there was cause for concern. As the facility staff went into action, the ambient temperature in the freezer farm began to creep upward, threatening millions of dollars of ongoing research. The A/C manufacturer reported that it would take about a week to get the needed parts. Something needed to be done immediately. Robert Cowan, director of facilities engineering at the Hutchinson Center, had previously implemented a contingency plan for the freezer farm. As part of that plan, he called NC Power Systems, the Cat® rental dealer in Seattle. NC Power had worked at the campus before and knew its systems. The center had purchased and rented standby electrical generators from NC Power, which also maintains the center’s generators and had developed contingency planning for events like Y2K. NC Power had provided a 525-ton rotary screw backup cooling system earlier that same summer when the center’s 600-ton back-up chiller failed. “Even though it was their standby chiller, the data and research at this institution is so valuable that they had to have redundant chilling capability,” said Dan Thomson, marketing manager for NC Power. This, however, was the ﬁrst time Cowan and Thompson had worked together for air handling. PUTTING THE PLAN INTO ACTION On the day the cooling system failed, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center contacted NC Power rental salesman Charlie Tomsett. It was clear the center faced a FREE INFO: 56 This facility houses hundreds of cancer research projects that must be maintained within stringent environmental conditions — any changes in temperature and humidity could influence the accuracy of long-running experiments, resulting in the loss of years of data, at costs running into millions of dollars. Fortunately, the facility’s staff had a plan in place when its cooling system failed. critical situation. Tomsett immediately made calls to arrange for delivery of a 30ton, 10,000 cfm chiller from the NC Power inventory. As part of the contingency plan, the rental team knew that the equipment would have to be set up on the engineering department’s loading dock. Tomsett also arranged for a 100 kW XQ100 sound-attenuated generator to power the temporary chiller. The NC Power team quickly packaged, delivered, and set up the equipment. Then they connected it to the building HVAC system with portable 20-in. ducting. Just four hours after the cooling unit failed, NC Power had the emergency cooling system online. As soon as the turnkey system was started, the temperature inside the building began to fall, cooling the building and protecting its valuable inventory of scientiﬁc knowledge. The rental system ran without trouble for a week while the building’s A/C unit was repaired. While technical help from NC Power was readily available, the center did not need any work or maintenance on the temporary system during its operation. Thomson, for one, was pleased that everything worked out well. “You’re never going to duplicate that research,” he stated. 16 En gi neer ed S y stem s April 2008 http://www.elodriveusa.com http://www.elodriveusa.com

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Engineered Systems - April 2008 Contents Editor’s Note Back2Basics HVAC Challenge Case In Point Commissioning Building Automation Energy Wiz HVACR Designer Tips This Time, Water Cooled Was All Wet Cleanroom Design In 10 Easy Steps It's Not The Heat, It's The Humidity Issues & Events Computers and Software Products Glossary Classifieds Advertiser Index Tomorrow’s Engineer

Engineered Systems - April 2008

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