USE CASE : University Enjoys Steam Health Benefits

Challenge:

Many universities use steam to heat their buildings. They like that steam heat is the most efficient and healthy type of heat for the buildings.

The humidity of the heat helps allergy sufferers. They are also quieter and the heat is more evenly distributed. However up to 96.5% of their greenhouse emissions are generated in the process. Many now have action plans focused on reducing those.

Up to 96.5% of their emissions come from their campus building’s heating system

Solution:

We always suggest starting with trying to reduce the number of failed traps in the system. We know that inspections can be challenging due to privacy laws and timing factors. By installing monitors on all stream traps after the term was over and students had moved out means universities can take their time and not have to bother anyone in class or in their living accommodations.

While installing the monitoring system they should also do a complete audit of steam pipes in the buildings and add a number of new safety procedures to ensure students were warned of temperature risks

Student health and safety is of utmost concern to school employees. Remote monitoring is key

Benefits:

• They are often able to retrofit their heating system with a Pulse wireless automated monitoring system for a very small amount of money

• Students will retain their healthy heating but in a safer, more efficient system

• Students will not be required to vacate their living or studying spaces to allow upgrade

• The university is able to add the saved CO2 emissions to their environmental sustainability success plan

• University maintenance will no longer worry about failing their annual steam system inspection and can plan their repairs ahead of time

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CASE STUDY: Medical Centre Safety Concerns for Maintenance Crew

Challenge:

A large medical clinic has thousands of traps throughout their many buildings. These are so integral to their operations that they have maintenance crews that check critical locations every 2 - 3 hours.

Some are located in hard to access spots which prove challenging for inspectors, even to the extent that sometimes workers can get burnt trying to get temperature readings to assess functionality.

Steam trap inspections took upwards of 5 hours per day.

Solution:

Monitors were installed on all steam traps and connected via LoRaWAN network to collect temperature and sound readings remotely. Failure alerts are now sent to maintenance department who can schedule repair at a time that is convenient to clinicians as well as operations. They have started doing failure trend analysis to be able to proactively calculate energy savings and resource allocation. Safety committee is thrilled with the new approach and has implemented mandatory training for specialized individuals who maintain HVAC system as well as steam.

“The amount of time we used to spend doing inspections was prohibitive. The steam system is an essential service.”

Benefits:

• Crews that used to do inspections every 2-3 hours are now working on a number of projects that had to be sidelined due to lack of time

• System is running smoothly and failures can be attended to immediately

• They have seen a reduction in their energy costs

• They no longer have to deal with process interruptions due to invasive inspections

• Safety infractions are now a very rare occurrence

• Exception reports and failure alerts mean they don’t need to watch dashboard all the time

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CASE STUDY: Pharma Avoids Product Loss and Line Shutdowns

Challenge:

A pharmaceutical company had a failure in their autoclave and for 3 days had to shut down the line to search for the source. When they finally narrowed it down it was too late, they had lost $100k worth of product.

They also shut down the heating aspects of their steam system in the summer and find that every fall when they start it again they have several traps that fail.

One loss of product cost company over $100k

Solution:

They installed pulse steam trap monitors on all traps and have a dedicated computer with the dashboard in view at all times to ensure instant awareness of any anomalies or failures. They proactively purchase a number of spare traps ready to replace the ones that fail every fall. They have them at the ready when they start using the heat again and instantly swap out the bad ones.

Throughout the year they are now able to have visibility in real time on all steam traps and the efficiency and health of the entire system.

“Looking at this system was the catalyst to looking at other ways we can be more sustainable”

Benefits:

• Production lines are confidently able to run without worrying about failures interrupting process at critical times

• They don’t worry about shutting down and starting up the system

• They have noticed a significant reduction in their energy consumption

• They are calculating the amount of CO2 emissions they have reduced and are going to be putting together a comprehensive sustainability mandate for their organization

• They are using some of the money they have saved by not losing product to send needed medical supplies to third world countries

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Read more on how Pulse helps hospitals make their steam system more efficient, safer and more reliable