The Sealy Mattress plant in Richmond, CA is a 60 year old facility with power distribution equipment that was completely outdated.  Upgraded replacement equipment had to be configured to meet strict utility requirements on one end and tie into existing custom bus work on the other end.

THE CHALLENGE

150 Sealy manufacturing employees showed up for work on Monday morning and were told to go home.  Gills Electric was called in to fix the problem and they asked IEM for help. An emergency generator was brought in at 830AM on Tuesday while IEM worked on site for several hours opening enclosures and measuring equipment. IEM then set out to build a new bus system with a custom housing to replace the obsoleted air-ventilated busway.  There were serious concerns regarding the outlook of continuing operations at this facility if the problem wasn’t fixed.

THE SOLUTION

IEM configured a new 480V busway system with custom connections for PG&E and Sealy.

THE RESULTS

Over the course of a single week, IEM and Gills Electric had the equipment built, installed and back on line with PG&E power – restoring manufacturing operations at Sealy to 100%.

The main hospital facility on a remote island of American Samoa desperately needs to replace key components of a failing 35 year old electrical distribution system.

Pago Pago, on the main island of Tutila, is the capital center of American Samoa in the South-Central Pacific Ocean. The LBJ Tropical Medical Center, a 128-bed general acute care hospital, is the only hospital in the territory.

The Medical Center provides a broad scope of general inpatient and outpatient services covering: medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, ear, nose and throat (ENT), eye, pediatrics, and renal dialysis. In addition, the hospital is the only clinical laboratory, diagnostic imaging and outpatient pharmacy services facility in American Samoa.

THE CHALLENGE

Design and build 480V switchgear and service entrance switchboards to fit into an existing hospital facility with critical dimensional challenges. The lineup required the ability to automatically transfer between normal utility power and auxiliary power sources.

At the 11th hour, responsibility to package for overseas shipment was thrust upon IEM for shipping to American Samoa by cargo ship.

THE SOLUTION

IEM worked closely with the Consulting Engineer to design equipment that would work in a tropical environment, fit into existing mechanical rooms, and allow efficient operation by a non-technical workforce. The solution featured two 4000 amp line-ups (facing each other) with multiple automatic transfer sections, a 3000 amp generator switchboard, a remote alarm/indicator panel, and 16 distribution switchboards.

Thermostats were integrated into every section due to the condensation and humidity found in the tropical Samoan environment. The thermostats controlled space heaters that were mounted along the bottom of each switchboard section in outdoor (and some indoor) gear to protect electronic devices like meters and relays from the moisture. Water from moisture can also ruin the internal components, the PCB’s, integrated circuits, and welded connections and can compromise the ability of the copper bus to conduct current efficiently.

IEM’s shipping department crated each switchboard, shrink wrapped them and loaded them into shipping containers for transport. All equipment was then double-braced within the containers.

Stacy Allen, IEM’s San Diego area distributor with Allen Power Distribution & Control Inc., took on the responsibility for ordering all the necessary 3000 and 4000 amp cable bus and miscellaneous material that was needed for this installation, as very little material was directly available on the island. “I especially enjoyed the interactive approach IEM took during the bidding negotiation phase. Through their efforts we were able to modify the design of the transfer schemes to create a more reliable scheme”, said Stacy.

THE RESULTS

Witness testing at the factory went smoothly and the equipment arrived in pristine condition, in time to service the critical needs of American Samoa.

Allen Power was given approval to repair and upgrade the medium voltage switchgear at Nassco during a holiday break period.

THE CHALLENGE

Given approval by the utility (SDG&E) to build a 2 section 12kV service entrance, it was apparent that the initial design would not be approved by SDG&E.  Time was of the essence and a quick call to the compliance and standards engineer at SDG&E, Steve Abeyta, confirmed that they would not accept the configuration as it was proposed.  IEM needed to come up with a solution that could be built and installed during the window of opportunity. It was believed to be impossible to meet both the existing footprint requirement and utility standards.

THE SOLUTION

IEM engineers came up with a unique solution which the utility decided was acceptable and quickly fabricated new custom components to complete the 12kV line-up and fit a very limited footprint.  This design eliminated an additional section which was important because the space would not have accommodated the additional equipment.  It was such a unique solution that it took a favorable opinion from compliance to move forward because the configuration was neither approved nor excluded in their Service Guide.

THE RESULTS

Without a quick and imaginative solution from IEM, the entire project would have been jeopardized.  Missing the short installation window during the holiday shut down would have meant that the more efficient upgrade would have to wait for another year.