OREANDA-NEWS. October 3, 2012. Highlighting the role that GE (NYSE: GE) plays in providing secure and reliable emergency power to healthcare facilities worldwide, the company’s emergency critical power system is providing critical back-up power to the 664-bed Rush University Medical Center campus in Chicago, Ill.

Complying with the 10-second restoration time mandated by the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the city of Chicago, GE’s critical power system provides emergency and back-up power to the 13-building hospital from a central energy plant in 10 seconds or less. GE and Rush executives highlighted the successful project during the 2012 Healthcare Facilities Symposium & Expo in Chicago.

This project brought technology together from GE’s Digital Energy and Industrial Solutions businesses, providing a complete end-to-end solution for Rush University Medical Center. GE’s multimode UPS technology is designed to deliver uninterrupted power to Rush University Medical Center’s telecommunications systems in the East Tower Building, offering 99 percent efficiency in eBoost mode (eBoost is GE’s patented multi-mode operation with that delivers energy efficiency up to 99 percent).

“Today, medical centers are under intense pressure to deliver higher standards of care to more people at a lower cost than ever before,” said Jake Ring, chief marketing officer for GE Energy Management. “This requires a safe, reliable and efficient supply of electric power. Virtually every piece of equipment in hospitals—from the bed in the patient’s room to the MRI in the radiology department—is powered by electricity.”

At the hospital, GE’s UPS system is a key feature of a new centralized energy plant that began operating at the nationally recognized teaching and research hospital in January 2012. Before the GE solution was installed, Rush University Medical Center’s potential time without power ranged from 14-16 seconds.

"We worked with GE to design a critical power system that will provide vital emergency power to our hospital in the event of a local power outage," said Mike Craig, with Medical Center Engineering, Rush University Medical Center.

The new energy plant is part of the hospital’s ongoing, USD 1 billion Rush University Medical Center transformation program. The hospital launched the initiative to modernize its facilities to better support patient needs and improve the quality and safety of patient care. The energy plant connects each of the campus buildings, eliminating individual building control centers and giving the hospital greater control over its regular and emergency power systems.

GE’s full scope of equipment supply includes:
• UPS
• Paralleling switchgear
• Programmable logic controller network
• Automatic transfer switches (ATS)
• Surge protection devices
• Supervisor Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system
• Medium voltage switchgear
• Protective relays
• Low voltage switchgear
• Packaged substations
• Transformers
• Motor control centers
• Switchboards