Some power quality issues in hospital facilities

Abstract

The present approach focuses on some specific power supply and power quality issues in hospital environment. This environment is always a special one and changes dramatically one day after another, due to the last decade boom of biomedical engineering. The authors’ opinion is that in medical facilities, one should go beyond the standard EN 50160, on voltage characteristics of electricity supplied by public electricity networks, taking also into account the standard EN 60601 on general requirements for safety on medical electrical equipment and the related standards on electromagnetic compatibility. Otherwise, a power quality analysis should result in the unpleasant situation in which products designed and placed on the market according to all relevant legal and product standard requirements, may become unsafe or even be damaged due to a supply voltage consistent only with the standard EN 50160. The paper depicts a relevant case study analyzed in the intensive care department of the Emergency County Hospital from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.