The Pedro de Elizalde Children's Hospital, located in Barracas, is the oldest pediatric hospital in America, built in 1.779.
More than 550,000 children a year are cared for in its offices, of which some 10,000 are admitted to its facilities.
It is a reference pediatric center, which receives patients from different locations in the capital, greater Buenos Aires and also in the rest of the country.
Minimize risk with ENEL X
Today, the Elizalde hospital has a new cogenerator, which uses natural gas to heat its facilities, generate electricity and provide sanitary hot water to the entire building.
The Enel X Argentina team, in charge of the installation of the equipment, together with a team of 14 specialists, developed the project in phases: first, the removal of equipment and boilers (giant tanks) that previously worked. Then, the hydraulic assembly, which involves the installation of pipes and other elements. Subsequently, the assembly and start-up of the entire electrical system, suitable for the new cogenerator and, finally, the hydraulic, electrical and control tests, to leave the operating team.
The collaboration of the Government of the City of Buenos Aires and the Berlin Energy Agency (BEA) was important, who for 30 days carefully followed each part of the project.
Smart management
In addition to the cogenerator, the technical team installed software, called the Heatguard-X control system, to intelligently manage the equipment and ensure energy efficiency for heating in every millimeter of the building.
This tool, the only one designed until now to work with real-time heating, allows to reduce the temperature of the primary circuit, thereby protecting heat exchangers and taking advantage of the maximum efficiency of the boilers.
It has online monitoring of all installation parameters, remote programming, alarms designed for system operators, a predictive system to detect progressive fouling of heat exchangers in order to anticipate maintenance, and, in general, analysis in real time of the conditions of the operation.
It is software used in more than 20 highly complex hospitals in different countries of the world, and it is also operational in more than 200 projects. It is completely autonomous and easy to use by the thermal power plant operator, and allows real-time analysis of operating conditions.
On going
Before starting it up, the Enel X Argentina technicians, together with the GCBA and the BEA, carried out various trainings for the personnel of the Elizalde hospital to guarantee the optimal operation of the new equipment.
As a reference, the cogenerator is an equipment that simultaneously generates electrical energy and useful thermal energy. Cogeneration is a highly energy efficient system.
The equipment has a thermal power of 82 kW, an electrical power of 50 kW and an input power of 150 kW.
Thus, this innovative system is operational in a reference pediatric hospital throughout the country, where not only thousands of children are cared for each year, but it has trained great teachers of Argentine medicine, even since the time of polio, and professionals from different specialties continue to be trained and developed.
