In 1971, a 6.6 magnitude earthquake struck Sylmar, California, severely damaging four hospital campuses, killing 47 and injuring more than 2,000. The area hospitals were damaged to the point where they could not provide emergency care to the injured. This led to the first efforts to ensure hospitals in earthquake prone zones were seismic safe so they could continue to operate during and after an earthquake occurrence.
As a result the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act (HSSA) was established in California. Specifically, the Seismic Safety Act assures that acute care facilities needed to be structurally strong enough to withstand a quake without causing significant harm to anyone inside the building. Buildings are ranked in structural performance categories (SPC) 1–5 on their risk for collapse, with SPC 1 being most dangerous. In the 1980s, the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) took over the oversight from local building departments and received full accountability in 1991. In 1994, a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit a Los Angeles neighborhood collapsing 11 hospitals that did not comply with HSSA. The healthcare facilities built in compliance incurred only minor damage.
In addition to OSHPD regulations for construction of healthcare facilities, OSHPD requires that equipment at the hospitals from air conditioners to medical equipment chillers for diagnostics and cancer treatment must pass stringent seismic testing and certification.
Filtrine responded to this requirement in 2013 by sending OSP model chillers to a third-party independent lab, Dynamic Certification Laboratories (DCL), in Nevada. According to the DCL test report results, each Filtrine Model OSP test chiller “…was operational before and after shaking and was full of operating content during the tests. The structural integrity of the component attachment system and force-resisting systems was maintained.”
The test report of the Filtrine OSHPD medical chiller OSP models shows after testing:
| AFTER TESTING |
| Structural integrity of components, supports, and attachments shall be maintained. |
| Functionality of components shall be maintained equivalent to pre-shake table test functionality test. |
| Certification in accordance with CBC 2016 Section 1705A. 13.3.1 of chillers including associated evaporators and condensers |
| Approved OSPs posted on the OSHPD website |
| Successful test report by a third party |
Per OSHPD, as long as there is “verification of similarities for interpolated units”, the test results apply to all Filtrine chillers between the two chiller capacities actually tested. This includes all packaged, outdoor, air-cooled chillers from the PCP-200 (2 hp) to the PCP-3000 (30 hp).
Additionally, Filtrine OSHPD medical chillers (Model OSP) include:
| FILTRINE MODEL OSP OSHPD CHILLER FEATURES |
| Consistent outlet temperatures even with the wide and variable load swings typical in medical applications. |
| Low energy consumption due to the storage-method of cooling. |
| No risk of chiller barrel freeze-up. |
| Reliability. Typically, chiller operating lifetime is 2-3 decades. |
| Demanding ambient conditions from -30°F to 120°F. |
| Multiple medical systems or multi-modality cooling from a single chiller with full redundancy and fail-safe backup (MRI/CT, MRI/MRI, CT/CT, LinAcc/LinAcc) |
Filtrine works with the world’s leading medical equipment manufacturers such as Elekta, GE Healthcare, Siemens, Hitachi and Varian to design closed loop, packaged chillers that meet or exceed the cooling requirements for their equipment. In addition, Filtrine builds each chiller to meet the needs of the customer and customer’s site, not the other way around.
Filtrine also maintains a large network of experienced “Factory Authorized Service Agents” across North America. Calls for service are answered quickly, efficiently and effectively. As a result, many customers with Filtrine medical chillers invest in an extended warranty service contract that covers preventive maintenance, all parts and all labor. This results in more piece of mind for the customer and more uptime for the medical equipment. Learn more…
View Filtrine’s official California OSHPD Model OSP chiller test results and Filtrine Model OSP Chillers FAQ for Equipment requiring Special Seismic Certification (SSC).
For more information on Filtrine’s earthquake proof Model OSP chillers and how they can be designed based on your requirements, contact your local Filtrine Chiller Representative.
Filtrine Featured Product
Filtrine offers the best engineering features in the business. In addition, there are more than 60 options and accessories available for all Filtrine medical, industrial process chillers or bakery chillers. You select the options to make the chiller the best fit for the site and the application. Then Filtrine will build your chiller based on your selections and requirements. For more information, visit Chiller Options & Accessories.
For more information on any of these models, contact your local Filtrine Chiller Representative today.
Don’t miss the latest “Chiller Solutions Update“. Subscribe today!
