BLI Booster Pump Station Complete
Submitted by Igor Korik, WEI Mechanical Engineer
The Boston Lying-In (BLI) is a sizable medical facility located in Boston's Longwood medical area that has a year-round chilled water requirement. Chilled water is delivered through a vast distribution system provided by the MATEP (Medical Area Total Energy Plant) facility. MATEP, owned by Advanced Energy Systems is New England's largest provider of chilled water. In addition, MATEP also services the medical area's steam and electrical needs. Expansion and growth of client demand for chilled water has resulted in an unacceptably low differential pressure across the system's end users.
Waldron Engineering was tasked with evaluating the chilled water distribution system to develop potential solutions to the low differential pressure. Through extensive hydraulic modeling of the entire chilled water distribution system it was determined that the BLI facility would require a booster pump station to ensure a steady flow of chilled water during peak demands associated with extremely hot summer periods. The pump was designed to operate only on occasions when MATEP's pumps are not able to provide the requisite pressure to BLI.
Last winter Waldron Engineering was retained to engineer and design the booster pump installation on the chilled water system to BLI. Waldron Engineering provided a fast track solution in order to have the pump and it's variable frequency drive in operation by midsummer. WEI provided complete engineering design services for the station's mechanical, electrical, structural and controls systems. The station consists of a single 60 HP Peerless chilled water pump and includes Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) motor control. Waldron Construction was responsible for the purchase of all major equipment (including pump, VFD, PLC, recirculation valve, flow meter as well as all controls equipment). Waldron Engineering provided support for commissioning and testing of the project's equipment and was responsible for the integration of the station's control systems. The project was successfully completed in early August.