2008 Issue

UTAH ENGINEERS COUNCIL JOURNAL 31 approach. Knowing this, the designs that were used can serve to be the model for future state-of-the-art work in this field of engineering. Sustainable Design Considerations Many of VBFA’s designs at IMC were conceived with saving energy in mind and thus provide the owner long-term economic benefits. The chilled water system has an unusual primary and secondary pumping system. The primary pumps were sized for opera- tion in a small loop just at the chilled-water plant. The secondary pumps are located at each building and sized to serve that building and also to run back to the primary loop at the chiller plant. Each chilled-water pump is “right sized” for its particular load and location within the system. This saves a tremendous amount of pumping power over having large secondary pumps located at the chiller plant. During the design stage a study was done to look at the costs of additional hu- midification versus the costs of providing an economizer cycle during the cool months of the year. VBFA concluded that it was more economical to minimize the amount of outside air and save on humidification costs rather than utilize cool 100% out- side air and increase the amount of steam used for humidification. The nor- mal economizer cycle was written out of the control sequences to save operat- ing costs. The central plant includes oversized concrete cooling towers that can provide water-side economizing. During the cool months, the cooling tower can directly cool the chilled-water system by utilizing a plate-and-frame heat exchanger and bypassing the chillers. This saves on the electrical power required to run the chillers. Complexity The sheer size of the campus and the diversity of systems and uses required that the mechani- cal consultant be experienced and capable of designing a complex medical campus. With a central plant with four 1250 ton chillers, four 1000 hp boilers, a campus with over 36 custom air handlers, 179 fans, 93 pumps, 86 fan coil units, 56 computer room units, 49 heat exchangers, thousands of plumbing fixtures, hundreds of medical gas outlets and hundreds of other miscella- neous items, the selection of equipment was a Herculean task. The mechanical drawings required 777 sheets. The design of areas and systems such as a central kitchen and dining area, central sterile, data center, hypo- baric chamber, operating rooms, horizontal laminar flow ORs, trauma rooms, pharmacy cleanroom, ana- lytical lab, bio-safety level 3 lab, linear accelerators, CT scans, Cath labs, MRI and other diverse radiology equipment, high-rise plumbing and piping systems, stairwell pressurization, decontamination area, emergency isolation area, bulk tank medical gases, medical air and vacuum pumps, helipad fueling systems, generator and boiler backup fuel systems, all required a broad base of knowledge and expertise. VBFA knew what was required and what was unique about each of these areas and was able to provide a state-of-the- art design for each. Exceeding Owner/Client Needs and Expectations In today’s healthcare environment, specialized and complex analysis and pro- cedures are required to stay competitive. State-of-the-art facilities are an absolute necessity to the survival of a patient-care system. The mechanical systems that are necessary to support those state-of-the-art facilities are required to be state-of-the-art themselves. VBFA is proud to say that they have provided just such systems. The campus opened for patient use on October 29, 2007. This date has been planned for several years. The project was delivered on time; and on the opening day, patients were treated at a facility that will be the flagship of the Intermountain Health Care system for many years to come. Mr. Bradshaw, a graduate of University of Utah, is a licensed professional engi- neer. He has more than sixteen years of mechanical engineering experience, and is a principal in Van Boerum & Frank As- sociates, Inc.