InsideIQ Building Automation Alliance Firms Complete Hospital BAS Upgrades

ROCKFORD, Ill. — InsideIQ Building Automation Alliance member firms have installed or upgraded the building automation systems at hospitals in Colorado, Maine and Texas.

An international alliance of independent building automation contractors, InsideIQ firms service all kinds of commercial buildings, and recently members Control Technologies, Inc., LONG Building Technologies and Maine Controls have completed BAS improvements at local healthcare facilities in their regions.

Evans Army Community Hospital received a complete overhaul of its building automation system from LONG Building Technologies, based in Littleton, Colorado. The hospital, which serves members of the United States Army and their families at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, Colorado, had old, outdated equipment that was no longer manufactured. LONG replaced it with new direct digital controls, bringing the hospital’s once obsolete system up to the latest standard in controls. LONG replaced about 1,000 controllers throughout the large hospital, which are connected to the entire facility’s mechanical system, as well as lights, operating rooms and administrative areas. LONG finished the project under budget and ahead of schedule, completing the design and implementation in 15 months instead of the projected 18 months.

“One of the biggest challenges of the project was carrying out the job in a 24-hour working hospital while being sensitive to the soldiers and their family members being cared for at the facility,” said Mark Balent, president of LONG Building Technologies and past president of InsideIQ. “Work was completed at night and in carefully planned steps to minimize disruption of patients and employees.”

Baptist St. Anthony’s Medical Center in Amarillo, Texas, is home to a medical staff of more than 450  physicians and 2,700 employees. Control Technologies, Inc., headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, has worked with the hospital since 2009 to integrate the existing proprietary BAS into a new open protocol DDC platform. Keeping the hospital heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems operational during the change-over was challenging, but so too was the integration of two different technologies manufactured by two different companies. To complete the integration, Control Technologies removed existing network controllers but was able to keep the field controllers in place. The new BAS platform uses thin client access and open protocols on all current and future modifications or additions. The system includes control of all HVAC systems including critical pressurization areas such as isolation rooms and operating rooms.

Maine Controls based in Portland, Maine, has provided BAS upgrades to several regional hospitals in the state, including facilities located in Bangor, Caribou, Houlton, Millinocket and Presque Isle. Work has included upgrading to universal network controllers and replacing pneumatic systems with DDC. Maine Controls has integrated systems to accommodate various renovations and additions at the hospitals as well. Using the newest open protocol technology, Maine Controls has enabled some hospitals to update their BAS gradually as money allows, instead of replacing entire systems at one time.