Location: Queensland | Sector: Healthcare
The Challenge
The Royal Melbourne Hospital, one of the largest health providers in Australia, were experiencing operational issues on a 1400kW water-cooled chiller that reticulates chilled water through the Melbourne Private Hospital building on the RMH Parkville site. In collaboration with the RMH Engineering Department, Aircon Rentals were tasked to evaluate, engineer, and deploy a short-term rental chiller solution so that repairs to the existing chiller could be completed as soon as practicable.
Product
1 x 430kW nominal + 1 x 520kW nominal air-cooled rental chillers
2 x chilled water rental pumps with variable frequency drives
120m of flexible chilled water lines c/w piping fittings and adapters
160m of temporary electrical cables c/w pump and chiller switchboards
Turnaround Time
Duration
Project Steps
Assessment • Engineering
Deployment • Installation
Commissioning • Operation
Demobilisation
Project Highlights
Traffic Management – during installation and removal
6 x crane truck deliveries – during installation and removal
Temporary Fencing
The Solution
EVALUATION AND ENGINEERING
With the existing chiller and chilled water infrastructure located in a below ground plantroom, access to the chilled water piping and electrical switchboards presented some rigging and hydraulic challenges. Selecting the correct variable speed driven pumps, and flexible chilled water lines was a priority to ensure that the temporary system matched the pressure and flow requirements of the existing system. Planning for the installation, rigging, commissioning, and removal activities needed to provide minimal disruption to
patient transport services and other hospital operations.
DEPLOYMENT AND INSTALLATION
By organising multiple flatbed crane truck deliveries in the early hours of the morning, Aircon Rentals experienced technicians were able to deliver and place the chillers & associated equipment into the laydown area safely and efficiently. Working closely with the RMH Engineering team, Aircon Rentals installed a total 120m of flexible chilled water lines and 160m of temporary electrical cables. The installation was completed successfully over a 2-day period.
COMMISSIONING AND OPERATION
The project evaluation and engineering was validated during the commissioning stage with the success of this stage relying on the collaboration between the Aircon Rentals site team and the RMH Engineering team, ensuring that the most important stage of the project went off without any issues. Once commissioning was complete, the temporary chiller system was placed into
an automatic operating state, restoring chilled water flow to the Melbourne Private Hospital building.
The Impact
DE-COMMISSIONING AND DE-MOBILISATION
Once the repairs to the existing 1400kW water-cooled chiller were completed, the cooling load needed to be gradually transferred from the temporary system in stages to verify the success of the repairs. Coordination between the RMH Engineering team, Aircon Rentals, and the RMH’s HVAC contractor, the transfer was completed without any major disruptions. The successful removal of the temporary chiller system required good planning with all logistic activities complete in the early hours of the morning.
SUMMARY
A successful project like this proves that expert planning and collaboration with all stakeholders can be completed in a timely, safe, and efficient manner with minimal disruption to hospital operations.
