Health Business

Control is the key

In today's climate of growing environmental awareness and rising energy prices, saving energy is more important than ever

In light of this, CP Electronics is developing and manufacturing electronic energy saving controls for lighting, heating and ventilation – perfect for healthcare facilities.

Since its conception almost 40 years ago, CP Electronics has established itself as a manufacturer of high quality electronic controls, firmly believing that control is the key to achieving maximum energy efficiency. Even the most efficient item of equipment, whether it’s a light fitting or an air conditioning unit, will not work to its full potential unless it is controlled effectively. As well as producing a wide range of standard products for energy saving applications, CP has also built an excellent reputation for the design, development and manufacture of controls to meet the specific requirements of projects.

As a result of the specialist knowledge gained by hands-on experience in the design and provision of specialist lighting controls, CP now offer one of the widest ranges of controls on the market, ranging from a simple time-lag switch to a full lighting control system. CP products offer control of lighting, heating, air conditioning and ventilation, encompassing presence detectors, timers and thermostats as well as complete lighting control systems. The flexibility and variety of their products enables CP to always offer the right solution for each project.

Key criteria
Irrespective of whether they are standard, off-the-shelf products or ‘specials’, CP’s product portfolio all has certain, common features. Low installation cost, ease of retrofitting to existing installations and quick payback are all key criteria, which have given CP a distinct advantage when it comes to the higher efficiencies its controls can bring to building services systems in the healthcare sector.

CP has recently been involved in a number of healthcare projects, including the installation of its fully networked Rapid Lighting Control System to Trent Cardiac Centre at Nottingham City Hospital. With Rapid, substantial energy savings can be achieved through presence detection and daylight linking. It is a modular system offering a wide selection of control components, ease of installation, commissioning and use, featuring pluggable connectors for the connection of luminaires, local switch inputs, presence detectors and photocells.

The £21 million Trent Cardiac Centre building houses two operating theatres and in-patient facilities for people with heart disease. The three storey development stands at the centre of the hospital site and is fitted with high-tech diagnostic equipment, intensive care facilities, a 36 bed ward and all the features you would expect in a purpose-built, state-of-the-art unit. Lighting in the wards, corridors and administration office areas is connected to Rapid switching modules providing daylight linked lighting control during daytime and manual, nurse centre controlled reduced lighting levels at night.

The fact that lighting controls are now required by the Building Regulations is clearly a major step forward in saving energy. However, the minimum requirements of the Building Regulations are quite minimal and the full energy and financial savings will only be achieved by choosing the most appropriate solution. The same applies to existing lighting installations, which aren’t covered by the Building Regulations.

Real potential
The real potential for controls is to bypass the reliance on people while ensuring they still have some control over their lighting if they choose to exercise it. Obvious examples include dimming of lighting in relation to natural daylight and on/off switching using presence detectors to determine when lighting is required in a particular area. In most cases, these will be linked to a manual override.

Direct Dim, one of the latest innovations from CP Electronics, offers occupancy detection via microwave or PIR and dimming control all in one easy-to-install unit. Direct Dim has two outputs that can operate either together or independently, allowing manual control for absence detection, dimming up/down and override on/off.

The use of a two position momentary switch allows simple dimming with up and down dimming inputs, rather than awkward single switch control. Separate switches allow absence detection on each channel and individual overrides of each channel.

Other energy saving features include individual settings for switching the illumination on and off according to ambient light levels, scene setting, adjustable on and off sensitivity and the provision of a user handset.

Growing pressure
The growing pressure to use lighting that optimises energy consumption while achieving a comfortable lit environment means that lighting controls are now a vital element in any lighting installation. Specifiers and installers that take full advantage of the technologies available are ideally placed to ensure that their customers get a solution that meets all of their requirements.

Visitors to CP Electronics’ website are able to see details of some of the most recent installations and browse the company’s wide range of products, in addition to the latest innovations. CP Electronics offers a design service for customers along with full technical support, whilst customers of CP’s popular Rapid system can download software updates direct from the site.

For more information
Tel: 0208 900 0671
Fax: 0208 900 0674
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Web: www.cpelectronics.co.uk