A modern hospital requires reliable cooling
The New Karolinska Solna hospital in Sweden required high levels of cooling to ensure the appropriate functioning of its research equipment, emergency unit devices and equipment for basic functions. However, the hospital’s energy consumption remains below 110 kWh per square metre per year, thanks to its refrigerant cycle, underground energy reserves and heat pumps.
Status as the world’s leading university hospital comes with responsibilities
Anders Wiklund from Skanska, who was responsible for the project’s technical installations, explains that the goal is to build new facilities for the world’s leading university hospital. This sets strict requirements for the systems. No bacteria must enter the building, particularly the operating theatres, via the ventilation system. Such critical premises are equipped with a special system that maintains excess pressure so that air can flow out of the room when the door is opened, but no air that could bring bacteria with it may enter the space from outside.
The indoor temperature must also remain within a specific range to protect any medical equipment sensitive to temperature fluctuations. In the emergency unit, devices that generate pressurised air for ventilators increase the need for cooling. Therefore, Studio fan coils were installed on these premises to offer additional cooling, while in the magnetic resonance imaging room, a Box fan coil unit ensures ideal conditions.
Solution
The building’s cooling and heating systems are powered by energy generated by the 168 wells located underneath the parking facility.
- Box fan coil unit
- Studio fan coil unit
