HOSPITAL OF SAN PEDRO, WHERE OLD AND NEW MEET

27/05/2004

We are at the hospital of San Pedro in Vila Real, Portugal. It is here that "old" and "new" come together in a perfect synthesis of efficiency and economy thanks to Lowara technology.
What is old is the water supply and distribution system, built in the early sixties to serve the medical and general users in the various hospital wards.
What is new, on the other hand, is Hydrovar, the innovative frequency converter from Lowara, now revealing all its functionality and applicative versatility on existing systems too.
The union between old and new has been forged recently, in the framework of a general refurbishment of the building initiated to upgrade the hospital structure, the point of reference for the inhabitants of the entire region, to the increasing accommodation and medical-health demands.
To be more precise, the modernizing work was necessary to solve a series of problems associated with the age of the water supply and distribution system.
Topping the list were high energy consumption and the inability of the old piping system to guarantee efficient operation of the pressure units so that interruptions in the water flow and swings in the working pressure occurred frequently.
The problems were solved effectively by installing four 7.5 kW Hydrovar HV 3.7 devices supplied by Lowara - an ITT Industries Group company - on the existing pressure units.
As a result the old fixed speed pump operating system became a variable speed one, at costs decisively lower than those for the installation of a new system with the replacement of the old pumps.
Above all, the installation of Hydrovar has brought countless advantages, all measurable.
Coupled with a frequency inverter, the automatic Lowara device is able to vary the speed and performance of the four electric pumps with fluctuation to the effective demand for water: an increase in the pump's working speed is triggered automatically when the demand for water from the hospital users increases, and vice versa.
In this way, Hydrovar makes it possible to obtain significant savings not only because it reduces energy consumption but also as it reduces mechanical wear and therefore maintenance costs for the electric pumps, while prolonging their working lives.
Furthermore, by exercising control over the pump speeds, the four Hydrovar devices installed in the San Pedro Hospital maintain a constant working pressure of 4 bar for all the users, at every moment.
Among the many frequency converters available on the market, Lowara's Hydrovar was chosen for its versatility: it is in fact the only device which can be installed on any standard asynchronous electric motor.
Ant there's even more: it was also chosen because of the efficiency of its performance and its programming versatility. In units with several pumps, as is the case in the San Pedro Hospital, it maintains a constant supply pressure by means of its incorporated microprocessor, starting or stopping the four pumps in a sequential manner depending on the demand for water.
Thanks to the innovative assembly system, the installation of Hydrovar at this Portuguese hospital facility was completed very quickly and quite easily.
Carried out by Fribilar Lda., the Constantim-based installer for Lowara Portugal, it is the first application carried out by Lowara Portugal on existing systems, and opens the way for many more applications in the retrofit market.

ITT-Lowara (www.lowara.com), headquarters of "Residential and Commercial Water - EMEA" part of the ITT Corporation and located in Montecchio Maggiore, Vicenza - Italy, is a leader in the manufacture of hydraulic pumps and water handling and control systems. It has 1.348 employees in Europe, 771 operating in Italy. In 2007 its consolidated sales totalled about 284 million euro, or over 390 million dollars.
ITT Corporation (www.itt.com) is a diversified high-technology engineering and manufacturing company dedicated to creating more livable environments, enabling communications and providing protection and safety. The company plays an important role in vital markets including water and fluids management, global defense and security, and motion and flow control. ITT employs approximately 40,000 people serving customers in more than 50 countries. Headquartered in White Plains, N.Y., the company generated $9 billion in 2007 sales.