Clinique Saint-Jean, a 44,215 m² complex in the center of Brussels, needed a complete upgrade of its power supply systems.“The old installation dated back to 2004 and no longer met continuity standards,” explains Ivo Coltura, project engineer at Clinique Saint-Jean. “There were several power grids with no central overview, let alone central management. We needed more transparency.” Cegelec, SDM-Projects and Siemens have joined forces to deliver a power supply that exceeds all requirements.
Clinique Saint-Jean gets a new electric heart
For a modern hospital like the Clinique Saint-Jean in Brussels, a reliable and efficient power supply is something like the lifeblood. In addition to technical performance, it is also important to ensure the long-term availability of the systems.
Safe-guarding reliability and availability
Smart monitoring
The new system had to be robust, but also smart, and that’s not just a buzzword. Siemens chose SIVACON S4 power distribution boards and SENTRON 3WA circuit breakers for the power distribution system. Thanks to the data flow these components provide, the entire power distribution system can now be monitored in Desigo CC.
Both the digital and the real world
Siemens Solution Partner SDM-Projects was responsible for design, engineering and installation. This was achieved using a digital twin, as installation had to be done quickly and correctly the first time. You can’t cut off a hospital’s power supply for four weeks, much the same as you can’t detect faults when the power is on for obvious reasons of personnel safety. So the team validated the entire installation virtually and detected every conceivable fault.
Installation ten times faster
SDM-Projects even went one step further: After virtual validation, it was necessary to combine the virtual world and the real world, so the real switchgear was connected to the virtual power sources. With live operation of the switches and their feedback transmitted to the digital twin, the result was absolute certainty that there were no bugs in the switchgear either, which was confirmed by more system validation later on. Even Siemens was amazedSDM could do this.
The results are impressive. Not only is everything perfectly secure, but installation was ten times faster than usual. Because SDM-Projectswere able to debug everything in advance, they didn’t have to make any adjustments during installation. Everything is compatible, which is a great achievement.
A sustainable solution – open for new challenges
To Ivo Coltura, Cegelec, SDM-Projects and Siemens have done more than Clinique Saint-Jean asked for, and more quickly. According to the project engineer at Clinique Saint-Jean, the installation is now totally sustainable, and will soon enable them to go much further.
In the future, Clinique Saint-Jean will also be able to integrate additional energy sources into the system, such as photovoltaic panels or CHP, so they can supply energy intelligently. In the event of a grid failure, the clinic will form its own energy island. This will enable them to move from emergency operation to comfortable emergency operation, allowing them to continue to power non-vital assets as well. Clinique Saint-Jean can even ensure greater grid stability by supplying additional power to the grid operator, or by drawing more if there is too much power on the grid. These are the benefits of a smart control system.