Flex7 increase efficiency of Radiotherapy Bunkers

01-08-2019

flex7 have helped to dramatically increase efficiency of radiotherapy units at Musgrove Park Hospital, Beacon Centre using their ZoneLite Lighting Control Modules.

The Hospital is one of many across the UK who have a specialist unit to treat cancer patients. High precision lasers and radiotherapy treatments are carried out using a Linac machine. These machines are housed in highly restricted rooms with 2m thick walls, known as bunkers.

The Hospital is managed by Vinci Facilities, who were looking for a solution to replace the complicated lighting control system in their 3 radiotherapy bunkers. The old system was hardwired, required specialist commissioning, and was over 10 years old. Due to the extremely harsh conditions the control system was forced to work under, it had a limited working life. The control panel needed to be dismantled and sent back to the manufacturer periodically for refurbishment and reprogramming. This unavoidably took the room out of action for 2 to 3 weeks at a time.

The harsh conditions inside the bunker are impossible to avoid, so a way of reducing downtime was needed. Flex7 were able to offer a solution that dramatically decreased downtime when the control module reaches the end of its life, from 2 to 3 weeks, to mere minutes.

The alternative system from flex7 offers all the functionality of the previous system, with simple plug and play connection and no specialist commissioning. The control module can simply be unplugged and replaced in under 5 minutes, thus requiring little to no downtime for the bunker. Karl Marillier of Vinci Facilities was delighted with the outcome of the project: ‘It is such a simple system. User friendly. Easy to maintain.’

A flex7 ZoneLite Lighting Control Module was supplied for each Bunker. Each control module is fitted with a supply lead, complete with a flex7 plug on one end. This plugs into a flex7 Single Socket Outlet, which provides power to the ZoneLite Module. If the ZoneLite Module fails under the harsh conditions it can simply be unplugged from the supply, and a new one can immediately be plugged-in to replace it all in under 5 minutes