Carrier has carried out a fast-track chiller replacement project at The London Clinic, ensuring continuity of cooling for the hospital’s world-class surgical, diagnostic and treatment facilities.
The London Clinic's main hospital is an eight-storey building that spans Devonshire Place and Harley Street. In addition to surgical operating theatres and the Intensive Care Unit, it contains the clinic’s endoscopy department, diagnostic imaging facilities and physiotherapy centre.
The existing chiller was unreliable and costly to operate. Carrier’s modernisation team visited the site and carried out a detailed evaluation, producing a project proposal to meet the rapid chiller exchange and ensure continuity of service to the hospital’s critical facilities.
Due to space, noise and weight restrictions on-site, the chiller removal and installation process required very careful planning.
Carrier’s solution involved removal of the existing chiller and replacement with a high performance, high efficiency Carrier Aquasnap 30RB 0522 chiller based on scroll compressors, under inverter control by Carrier’s Greenspeed Intelligence.
The 480kW system is equipped with highly corrosion resistant Novation microchannel heat exchanger condenser coils with protective e-coating. The high efficiency variable-speed condenser fans ensure low sound levels, critical for the sensitive application.
The chiller replacement was carried out within a 24-hour period over a weekend, with the existing chiller disconnected and removed from the rooftop, followed bythe replacement chiller being lifted into position, connected and commissioned.
Carrier’s meticulous plans and project preparation, which included detailed off-site prefabrication of new pipework, ensuring correct lengths and bends were in place prior to chiller replacement, were key to meeting the rapid turnaround.
Access to the building rooftop was severely restricted, with the crane situated in a narrow London mews alongside the building. Weather conditions were carefully monitoredbefore and during the lift to ensure safe lifting conditions.
Carl Hendrick, who led the project for Carrier Service’s modernisation team, said: “There were a number of challenges that had to be overcome, not least the tight time and space constraints required by the critical nature of the application and the logistics of the location.However, we worked closely with the customer to ensure the project was delivered as specified. The major uncertainty was the weather but, on the day, conditions were calm and everything proceeded as planned.”
The project was successfully delivered within the specified time frame, with cooling restored and all services back up and running within 24 hours.
In addition to reduced running costs, improved reliability and lower noise, a further benefit for the end user is access to real-time performance and operating data. Using Carrier monitoring solution, the building manager is now able to monitor and control chiller performance via a smart phone, tablet or PC, giving complete transparency and control.