Protect and Serve: Alabama Hospital Runs with Entellisys™ Low–Voltage Switchgear
PLAINVILLE, CT – Marathon Electrical Contractors, Inc., in collaboration with GE Consumer & Industrial's Electrical Distribution business, helped Birmingham, Alabama's oldest medical center, St. Vincent's, recognize how to better protect the facility's electrical system operators from arc flash hazards related to the operation of switchgear.
"We introduced St. Vincent's to GE's Entellisys™ low–voltage switchgear solution as soon it became available to us," says Tommy Godwin, senior project manager with Marathon Electrical. "We had an $8 million construction project at St. Vincent's underway, and a management team at the hospital that wanted to optimize safety on all fronts, while maintaining functionality and flexibility."
"Entellisys fit the bill," notes Jud Meyer, specification engineer, GE Consumer & Industrial. "Through its remote operation functionality, integrated with bus–differential protection, the solution offers big advances in safety, flexibility and reliability compared with standard approaches. Entellisys helps St. Vincent's meet OSHA requirements while providing greater protection from arc flash. It also offers truly remote diagnostics."
Arc flash is associated with the release of energy when electrical insulation or isolation between conductors is broken or can no longer withstand the applied voltage. The heat generated from a switchgear arc flash can be up to 4 times higher than the surface temperature of the sun, and it can result in serious injuries or fatalities.
"I'm the last man in line to power up or power down standard switchgear, or to deal with it in emergency situations," says David Jones, a Marathon Electrical job manager who supervises up to 10 on–site, full–time Marathon Electrical electricians at St. Vincent's. "I believe Entellisys will greatly enhance the safety of my personnel on the job," he reports. "That's important any time, especially when we're working in emergency situations or extreme conditions."
Because arc flash is a serious issue
By design, Entellisys empowers electrical professionals to reduce exposure risks by moving their work well outside the volatile arc flash energy zone. This is a major stride forward. According the National Fire Protection Association and the IEEE–two international non–profit organizations concerned about the arc flash phenomena and electrical safety standards–each year more than 2,000 people in the United States (about 5 every day) are treated in burn centers with severe arc flash injuries.
"Arc flash safety is a hot–button issue," says Meyer. "One of our goals as a manufacturer is to help mitigate liability and deliver products tuned to the specific application. Smarter solutions such as Entellisys can really make a difference."
Until the introduction of Entellisys, operators always needed to take cumbersome precautions–suiting up in personal protection equipment–to maintain safety from arc flash.
"For over 30 years, low–voltage switchgear has improved incrementally by adding special purpose hardware and point–to–point wiring to individual breakers," says Jane Barber, electrical distribution product manager, GE Consumer & Industrial. "Traditional low–voltage switchgear incorporates complex breakers that are islands of intelligence–they are hard to get to and to interact with. Entellisys changes all this."
Marathon Electrical's Godwin has been responsible for electrical systems at St. Vincent's since 2000, when the hospital initiated an expansion of its campus. Godwin, a 47–year veteran of the electrical industry, currently supervises the installation of electrical systems for the hospital's seven–floor North Tower, recognized by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) with the "Excellence in Construction Award", and new six–floor South Tower scheduled to open December 2006.
"One of our major concerns is the NFPA 70E, National Electrical Code, which warns us about arc flash," says Godwin. "The remote function features of Entellisys—such as Near–Gear HMI and Remote HMI Software—allow the operator to watch breakers without needing additional maintenance personnel."
The Near–Gear Human–Machine Interface (HMI) can be placed up to 250 feet from the lineup, which is generally far outside the flash protection boundary. The near gear consists of a stand–alone stack or wall mounted enclosure with a touch–screen interface to the system. It allows operators to interact with the Entellisys system. The HMI is a window into the system while the protection, control and other functionality is handled by the central processing units in the equipment.
The remote Entellisys software user interface package provides operators and other designated personnel secure access to the system via networked desktops and laptops. In addition, Entellisys can provide alarm information and reports to users via e–mail or messages to their PDAs or other digital devices.
Additionally, Entellisys offers a remote racking device to eliminate the need for operators to face a moving breaker during rac–out or rack–in.
According to Godwin, Entellisys' remote operating capabilities takes St. Vincent's from a level 4 PPE, which requires a suit to operate the switchboard, making it very cumbersome and almost impossible to work with, to a level 2 PPE, which allows the electrician on the job to operate the switchboard safely outside the arc flash boundary, a time–efficient advantage when working.
Marathon Electrical, notes Meyer, has already taken advantage of the system's real–time pager and email messaging service to run response–time tests.
"In addition to the enhanced safety features of Entellisys, the system is very interchangeable," adds Godwin. "Only one spare breaker is required. We no longer need to stock multiple breakers with multiple program abilities."
"These guys understand the simplicity of Entellisys' base design," says Meyer. Feeders of 2000 amps or smaller in any design are completely interchangeable to a lower rated compartment so just one breaker frame type is needed as a spare. The only downtime is the time it takes to put a breaker in position. Meyer notes, "The intelligence resides at the cubicle and not within the trip unit of a circuit breaker."
Electrical distributors will appreciate how the safety, flexibility and reliability benefits of Entellisys provide additional sell–in potential for other electrical products from GE Consumer & Industrial.
"Switchgear is generally the first electrical product considered with a new project, and is usually the deciding factor in the purchase process," says Barber. "All of the electrical distribution products are selected around switchgear. In general, for every dollar of switchgear sales, a distributor will sell two dollars of other electrical products."
Marathon Electrical's on–site electricians welcome the system's ease of installation. The new Entellisys design has fewer parts—less than 50 percent of the wiring found in typical switchgear—simplifying installation and overall upkeep and maintenance.
"Entellisys is a fairly easy board to install," says Godwin. "All I've heard are real good reports from electricians on the job. They love it and we've had no problems. GE comes out and checks the whole board, certifies that everything is right, and sets all the parameters. It takes a lot of guesswork out for the electrician on the job."
Godwin notes that GE representatives thoroughly explain how to run the system until operators are fully capable of running it. "GE always has my back. Whenever I go into a big job, I want GE with me," he adds.
"The other brands of switchgear are no match as far as clearances and working capabilities to install your cabling and wire ways," says Jones. "I really like the general makeup of the switchgear and have always had good service from GE."
Entellisys is now Canadian Standards Association (CSA) approved and available for use in Canada. Entellisys is a trademark of the General Electric Company.
GE Consumer & Industrial spans the globe as an industry leader in major appliance, lighting and integrated industrial equipment, systems and services. Providing solutions for commercial, industrial and residential use in more than 100 countries, GE Consumer & Industrial uses innovative technologies and "ecomagination," a GE initiative to aggressively bring to market new technologies that help customers and consumers meet pressing environmental challenges, to deliver comfort, convenience and electrical protection and control. General Electric (NYSE: GE) brings imagination to work, selling products under the Monogram®, Profile™ GE®, Hotpoint®, SmartWater™ Reveal®, Edison™ and Energy Smart™ consumer brands, and Entellisys™ industrial brand. For more information, consumers may visit www.ge.com.
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