The Mater Private Use of Azolla Software
The Mater Private wondered if using some of the advances in IOT (Internet of Things) sensor technology might help to identify an underlying cause, by capturing data from multiple sources. If this live sensor data could then be stored and trended, then the underlying conditions for Legionella formation could be better understood.
The initial Benefits achieved with Azolla:
23% reduction in gas
consumption
leading to a significant drop in energy costs
Real-time data trending dashboards
focusing on specific, problematic locations
Providing 24/7 oversight
by creating dashboards in Azolla that highlight temperatures in key parts of the system with the data captured.
Sensors on the vents
within the domestic
hot water system helped to pinpoint locations
that were not being flushed adequately.
IOT Sensor Technology
Solves a Persistent
Issue in Healthcare
The Mater Private network of hospitals includes two acute hospitals, two day hospitals, two advanced specialist Radiotherapy centres and a number of outpatient clinics across Ireland.
The largest Mater Private site at Eccles Street spans eight floors. An existing temperature monitoring solution was capturing water temperatures across 98 points within the Hospital. However, a recurring Legionella issue persisted, without an obvious cause.
The Mater Private in Dublin is the flagship hospital with an internationally renowned reputation for high quality patient care. With the introduction of Azolla, some of the notable benefits included:
Patient Safety has been enhanced
Energy costs have been reduced by solving the underlying problem rather than treating the symptom
Engineering time has been freed up to focus on other key issues. The IOT sensors monitoring the network 24/7 reducing the need for manual checking
Voice of the Customer
The Technical Services Department believed that this technology, along with an understanding of the engineering issues, would lead to a solution. Brendan understood the value of capturing more data before suggesting a solution.
‘Deploying the IOT sensors allowed the team to pinpoint the causes of the Legionella issue’ according to Brendan’
‘Temperatures were dropping in the domestic hot water system, specifically around the calorifiers during periods of high demand’
‘Once we established this, an additional higher capacity heat exchanger was installed to maintain the temperature in the calorifier at 60 degrees during the periods of high demand’
‘We were then able to reduce the operating temperature within the boilers from 83 to 73 degrees’.
– Brendan O’Brien : Head of Technical Services Department at Mater Private