Vanguard Healthcare Mobile Operating Theatre
"Merlin Power Management has provided us with exceptional service. Our relationship with Merlin is so strong that they even advised us on providing power systems for our mobile units for rural communities in New South Wales, Australia"
Steve Hudson, Director of Planning and Development at Vanguard Healthcare
Vanguard Healthcare Solutions who were acquired by the independent not-for-profit hospital group Nuffield in late 2004, pioneered the Visiting Hospital concept (mobile operating theatre suite plus eight bed recovery unit) and today provide world class surgical facilities where and when they are required in the UK and beyond. The latest suite was installed at Harold Wood Hospital in Romford, Essex
Merlin have built an ongoing working relationship with Vanguard over many years and when they needed the delivery, installation and commissioning of their new 275kVA Scorpion Generator they asked Merlin to undertake the project.
Detailed planning and co-ordination of a project of this nature is critical to ensure a smooth implementation and avoid any disruption to the day to day running of the main hospital.
Merlins Projects Dept undertook a detailed site survey covering site access, crane lifting, security, installation, cabling, fuel management and final commissioning.
A detailed programme of work was agreed with Vanguard and the hospital management that included the design, supply and fitting of a duel feed automatic mains failure (AMF) panel, diesel fuel tanks together with additional electrical distribution panels.
All this work was undertaken outside of normal working hours within a very tight timescale and budget.
The whole project was completed on time to the complete satisfaction of Vanguard and the Hospital.
University of East Anglia
"We selected Merlin Power Management as it was the only company that was able to provide a total package. They remained on site during the three day period to ensure that everything went smoothly"
Steve Edwards, Electrical Design Engineer, University of East Anglia
Located two miles outside Norwich city centre in 320 acres of parkland, the University of East Anglia has expanded rapidly over the past few years and now has in excess of 13,000 students, 2,200 staff and a choice of nearly 300 courses.
Home to the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts as well as a multi-million pound Sports park and most recently a new School of Medicine, Health Policy, and Practice, the university needed to upgrade it’s electricity supply to facilitate these are other new buildings under construction.
The upgrade involved Electricity de France (EDF) having to shutdown power the campus over a weekend to carry out the High Voltage (HV) work.
Looking for a means of maintaining essential services on the campus during this work, the University turned to Merlin to provide an integrated power package that would include all equipment and plant to provide standby power throughout the University.
Initially Merlin provided three 1250kVA packaged Generators which were synchronised together to form one power solution rated at 3,750kVA. The low voltage power from this system was then put through a step up transformer to convert it to 11kV and then connected into the Universities primary power sub-station. In addition Merlin also installed a separate 500kVA Generator to run the Sports Hall which houses the swimming pool, fitness centre and human performance laboratory.
Merlin project managed the complete installation and in addition to the Generators and transformers and also supplied cabling, essential HV protective matting, barriers, fuel supplies including bulk tanks and a refuelling service.
Generator Servicing and Testing at TNT Depots
"We have been using Merlin Power Management services since 1999 and they have always provided us with an excellent service. They are very diligent in their maintenance and prompt with their reports"
Stephen Pickup Group Building Surveyor at TNT UK.
Aware of the importance of ensuring that it’s standby Generators will always fire up in the event of a power failure, THT UK Ltd., the European market leader in global express, logistics and international mail services, has awarded a contract to Merlin to service the Generators at 28 of its UK depots.
As well as undertaking the regular servicing of the standby Generators we were also contracted to carry out extended load testing of each Generator using our portable 1MW rated variable loadbank.
The loadbank allows us to test a standby power system under simulated load conditions and to verify its overall reliability and ability to perform under emergency power situations.
TNT UK’s Generators are used to support all essential services at its depots across the UK, this includes lighting, telecommunications, computer systems etc.
Therefore carrying out the annual service and having the 24/7 callout facility is an essential part of the companies maintenance programme.
The load testing is being carried out at the same time as the annual major service.
When the load bank is used, the artificial load it provides tests the whole system to its maximum capacity and confirms the engines ability to provide the required power output over an extended period of time. The engine also benefits as this type of testing removes the build up of any carbon deposits from the pistons, engine casing and exhaust systems.
The alternator and control system (AMF panel) are also checked and the voltage and frequency are monitored and recorded to check to output is within specification.
'NTL Broadcast' Generator Canopy
"Merlin Power came up with an excellent solution that saved us time and money. We have used the company for other power support projects and have always been very satisfied"
Chris Poole, Regional Power Systems Engineer for NTL Broadcast
NTL Broadcast is a large and high profile company providing wireless communication service’s for a wide range of public and private operators. The Public Safety Group provides integrated telecommunications and maintains service’s for UK Police, Fire, Ambulance and other emergency services.
One of their sites at Rowridge on the Isle of Wight has a 200kVA Diesel Generator and weatherproof canopy that had become unsightly, and began to rust and leak.
As this particular sight serves the broadcast transmission of ITV1 and Channel 4 to the whole of Southern England, it was essential that a replacement canopy be fitted quickly and efficiently in order to maintain the operation of the backup Generator and the integrity of the network.
NTL called upon the services of Merlin to design and fit a replacement bespoke canopy and re-commission the complete system.
Engineers from our Projects division undertook a detailed site survey in order to determine the best solution.
Liaising closely with NTL’s engineering team we then designed the replacement canopy, shipped it to site and undertook the removal and subsequent disposal of the old canopy and the fitting of the new one together with the re-commissioning of the Generator.
The whole job was completed within the strict time and budget constraints imposed by NTL
The fitting of this new canopy will ensure the Generator will continue to provide emergency backup power for many years to come.
Mitie Engineering upgrades ACB's at Harbour Exchange
"We are absolutely delighted with the work undertaken by Merlin Power Management. The project required considerable planning which Merlin carried out in a very professional manner"
Stewart McCrae, Operations Manager at Mitie Engineering
Mitie Engineering, one of the largest facilities management companies in the country recently won a prestigious contract to provide their services to Harbour Exchange Buildings in London’s docklands. One of the first maintenance projects they identified was the need to replace the ACB’s (Air Circuit Breakers) in the main Low Voltage distribution panels of four of the nine buildings.
The original units were ‘S’ series Mitsubishi devices which were fitted when the building was constructed in the early eighties. Although they have proved extremely reliably over the years they have now become obsolete and needed to be replaced in order to maintain the integrity and reliability of the electricity supply to each building.
Mitie turned to Merlin as the recognised UK service and maintenance company for the Mitsubishi range of ACB products to undertake the task of the phased replacement programme. The work could only be carried out during a planned shutdown of each building in turn.
Detailed advanced planning with a number of different companies and agencies was required in order to ensure the work was carried on time to ensure the day to day operations in each building were uninterrupted.
The work involved the removal of the obsolete units, the modification of the copper busbar connections, the fitting of rack frames and new ACB’s together with injection testing and calibration.
All the work was undertaken out of hours and over a series of pre-planned weekends and was completed on time and within the budget limits imposed by the contract.
An extensive set of pre-calibrated ACB’s and spare parts were also supplied to enable the repair or replacement of any faulty components in the coming years.
Hampshire Ambulance Service
"The standby power system which comprises of a Generator and UPS is critical to Hampshire Ambulance Service to ensure we have contingency power and are able to operate in case of mains power failure. Merlin Power Management were extremely efficient in getting the problem sorted. I was most impressed with their service and dedication"
Dave Watts, Deputy Director of Patient Services.
Situated in Winchester, Hampshire Ambulance Service provides an emergency ambulance service to over 1,600,000 residents of Hampshire. Their main Communications Centre in Winchester last year received approx 150,000 emergency calls and 20,000 urgent requests for transport in addition to mobilising 5,000 Community Responder calls.
During a scheduled routine service visit to the existing Generator, the Merlin engineer discovered that the Generator control panel mains contactor was overheating and needed immediate replacement to prevent not only a potential fire but to ensure the Generator continued to operate in the event of an emergency.
He telephoned the Merlin headquarters in Andover to arrange for a temporary Generator to be sent to the Winchester Communications Centre so that the repairs to the faulty systems could be carried out.
The call was made at 3-30pm and by 6-00pm we had sourced the spare parts and had the temporary Generator complete with connecting cables delivered to site.
The power to the building had to be disconnected in order to carry out the repairs.
It was decided in consultation with the Ambulance Service Management that this would be done at the quietest time, approx 3-30am.
The Merlin engineer stayed at site until the power could be switched off, and then disconnected the mains power and UPS and connected the cables of the temporary Generator. He then undertook the replacement of the faulty contactor, tested the Generator, carried out the service and ensured the complete standby power system was back on line by 7-00am.
Dyer and Butler upgrades Generators for Thames Water
Upgrading Generators for Thames Water
Merlin were asked by Dyer and Butler to undertake a detailed survey and carry out the work on approx 80 different sites in the Thames Water area.
Leading construction and civil engineering group Dyer and Butler has recently completed a major project to upgrade the fuel storage and delivery systems on a large number of Standby Diesel Generators for Thames Water.
The work was necessary to ensure that the fuel systems on the Generators met the latest DEFRA Control of Pollution (Oil Storage) Regulations 2001.
With our considerable previous experience in the field of Generator project management, Merlin were asked by Dyer and Butler to undertake a detailed survey and carry out the work on approx 80 different sites in the Thames Water area.
The work involved the installation of new DEFRA compliant fuel pipework from each Generators base frame to the engine.
In addition cabling and control solenoids were installed between the Generators mains failure panel and the new tanks to monitor and control the diesel levels to prevent pollution in the event of fuel supply or Generator fault.
Finally each site was individually tested and commissioned.
Each site was then certified as being compliant with the regulations and certificates were issued to the customer.
Dimensions Data Advanced Infrastructure
"The movement of the Generators and UPS not only needed to be carried out quickly but also without exposing our World Information Systems to power outages’
‘Merlin efficiently and methodically carried out the work over a two week period and ensured that the standby power system was fully operational at our new HQ 24 hours before we moved over our staff and equipment."
Bob Kirkham, Commercial Director at Dimensions Data Advanced Infrastructure.
Dimensions Data is a specialist IT services and solutions provider that helps clients plan, build and support their IT infrastructures.
When the company decided to relocate from Sunbury to a new purpose built headquarters at Fleet, Hampshire, it was important that it’s existing and new business critical IT infrastructure and communications equipment remained safeguarded and protected from power outages during every stage of the relocation process.
The Merlin Projects Dept. were asked to move the two existing diesel Generators, and UPS to the new location.
To start the project Merlin installed a temporary 200kVA diesel Generator to support the Sunbury building whilst the companies existing 200kVA Generator was removed and modified to bring it up to the most recent performance standards. This set together with a more recently purchased 103kVA Scorpion Generator was then transported to the new Fleet HQ and mounted on the new purpose laid concrete base previously installed by Merlin during earlier work. All electrical cabling work associated with the Generators and UPS was undertaken at Fleet together with the installation of approx 50 metres of new cable underground and up the side of the building to the third floor switch room.
Using specialist sub-contractors, a new 120kVA UPS and battery weighing approx 1500kG was installed together with the Generator AMF panels.
Finally the Generators were fuelled, load bank tested and the complete standby power system fully commissioned
Cardinal InHealth
"We are grateful to Merlin Power Management for enabling us to react quickly to NHS Grampian’s request"
Alan Gibson - CEO of the InHealth Group.
Cardinal InHealth Group is the UK’s largest supplier of mobile and modular Cardiac Catherterisation services, managing over 8% of the countries procedures.
With over 10 years experience delivering a wide range of cardiac managed services to the public and private sector, Cardinal can resort to static services for more complicated cardiac procedures.
When NHS Grampian requested the rapid deployment of a Cardiac Catheter Lab to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary, Cardinal asked Merlin to provide a 200kVA standby Generator to site as soon as possible. The integrity and operation of the whole project was dependant on a permanent and reliable source of power.
Merlin engineers travelled overnight from the Andover HQ to Aberdeen with the set and connected and commissioned the system in record time to meet Cardinals tight contractual deadlines.
The Generator was equipped with an automatic mains failure panel (AMF) and was initially used for Prime Power support to the Cath Lab. Merlin also arranged for it’s refuelling division to undertake regular deliveries of diesel fuel to ensure the set was always operational.
The Infirmary later installed a permanent mains supply and the Generator reverted to Standby mode. The AMF panel now monitors the mains supply and switches the Generator on in the event of a supply failure.
The supply of the Cath lab has drastically cut patient waiting times at the Infirmary and ensured that the hospital meets it’s maximum waiting time target.
BBC Scotland Air Circuit Breaker Replacement
"Merlin Power Management responded very quickly to our request’ The companies engineer was very professional and did an extremely efficient job which was carried out within budget to our complete satisfaction"
Andy Main, BBC Scotland Electrical Engineering Manager
The BBC in Glasgow have a number studios that are used on a daily basis for light entertainment and daytime quiz shows that are either recording for later transmission or transmitting live to Scotland and Northern England direct from the studios.
When one of the buildings Mitsubishi Air Circuit Breakers (ACB’s) failed to operate, it meant that a number of studios were unable to switch off the power to the main lighting circuits.
Following a call to the Mitsubishi UK headquarters in Hatfield, Herts the problem was referred to Merlin Power Management’s ACB and Switchgear Service Division.
A Merlin engineer was swiftly despatched to site to investigate the problem and quickly established that the unit needed replacement.
The faulty unit was removed and a new device fitted, installed, tested and fully calibrated using an injection tester.
‘Merlin Power Management are now proposing to carry out regular servicing for this customer to prevent further malfunctions’ says Chris Evans - Manager of the Customer Technology Centre at Mitsubishi UK
Fire does not stop production at Randall Parker Foods
"Merlin Power Management’s service has been first class. We contacted our electrical contractor; they in turn called Merlin mid morning. The Generators were quickly in place and we had power the same day"
Mike Gould – Maintenance Manager, Randall Parker Foods
Power support company, Merlin Power Management, has enabled Randall Parker Foods, a leading producer of quality meat products, to continue production after a major fire destroyed part of the factory at the company’s site in Andover, Hampshire.
Determined that its customers would not be affected by the disaster, Randall Parker Foods looked for ways of getting its business up and running again as quickly as possible. The solution came through Merlin who supplied the company with standby Generators within a matter of hours, enabling the factory to be back in full production within two working days.
Merlin supplied Generators ranging from 50kVA to 500kVA as well as bulk fuel tanks, distribution boards, changeover panels and cabling. Merlin also undertakes regular servicing, fuel deliveries and fuel management as part of the contract.
New 800kVA Generator is Installed underground
"The project was extremely complicated because the Generator was located in the basement. The final changeover had to be undertaken by shutting down Atlantic Pavilion over a weekend, completing the project and having everything back up and running by 6-00am Monday. Thanks to Merlin’s efficiency and attention to detail everything went very smoothly."
Mark Pearson, Virgin Media Capital Works Project Manager for Carillion
Faced with the issues of how to remove an obsolete standby Generator from the basement of a listed building in Albert Dock Liverpool, Carillion, one of the UK’s leading support services and construction companies turned to Merlin.
The original Generator was only able to provide power to a passenger lift in the event of a power failure and the building owners needed standby power to support the whole building.
The project was particularly complex because the Generator was sited in the undercroft of the building beneath a pedestrian thoroughfare. This meant that the old set had to be removed through an aperture in the footpath.
We were aware that the new 800kVA set would not fit through the same opening, so we arranged to have the aperture enlarged. The new set was specially designed such that it could be split apart into engine and alternator. It was then craned into the undercroft, reassembled and manoeuvred into position.
Being underground the engine cooling, exhaust and fuel supply were a particular challenge. Cooling was resolved by positioning the radiator on the roof of the building and installing approx 100 metres of adjoining pipework.
To overcome the exhaust and fuel problems we arranged for flues to be designed to blend in with the aesthetics of the building and specially manufactured fuel tanks to fit into the available space in the undercroft.
It took our specialist Project team 6 weeks of very hard work to complete the project.
Key to the success was the backroom work carried out prior to starting site work which included extensive planning, testing and proving of the solution.
As Atlantic Pavillion is a listed building, we spent considerable time working with the consultants, architects, landlord and local authority to ensure all the regulations and local requirements were met with minimum disruption to the local community.