Minimise risk for production downtime
January 1st 2007 Parasense, the specialist provider of environmental products and services, has installed a refrigerant leak detection system at Bio Products Laboratory (BPL) to monitor refrigerant gas usage. The move was a preventative measure to minimise the risk of a break in production and supply in the event of equipment failure, comply with legislation to reduce green house gas emissions and reduce costs BPL is a subsidiary of the NHS and the Department of Health and provides high quality plasma products to the healthcare market. Its Elstree facility is home to a large refrigerated storage facility that supplies hospitals and clinics across the UK. Due to the highly sensitive nature of plasma, malfunctioning refrigeration equipment would put stocks in jeopardy. BPL proactively sought to identify measures to reduce the risk of leakages and minimise the loss of expensive refrigerant gasses. It contacted Parasense to recommend a solution to meet these unique needs. Following a detailed survey, Parasense installed four monitors. These are networked together and located strategically around the main facility. In the event of small concentrations of refrigerant gas escaping, an alarm is triggered in the engineers' workshop, pinpointing the location of the leak. The Parasense system is flexible enough to be integrated directly into BPL's existing building management network. Bruce Montgomery, BPL works engineer leading the project, explained: "We wanted to determine exactly what we would require to detect any leaks before they got out of control and also remain compliant with F-Gas regulations. "The Parasense system is meeting our expectations. For example, it has picked up a leak in our minus 35-degree storage units which would have been very difficult to identify. Not only would an engineer have had to endure harsh conditions to investigate the leak, but the gas is only emitted during a three minute window, limiting the opportunity to locate the problem. As a result, the system has saved an enormous amount of time, hassle and money." Colin White, Parasense sales account manager, explained: "The refrigeration plant at BPL consists of an amazing array of large HVAC chillers, screw compressors, reciprocating compressors plus evaporators covering a vast range of low temperature cold rooms. We also recognised several areas on the site that housed valves vulnerable to minor refrigerant emissions from time to time. For example, confined loft areas which have very restricted access. This site demonstrates the benefits of reliable and effective fixed multi-point systems." More articles from Parasense Limited: | 
