Unique Systems Commissioned Over the Years
For the last two decades, SSR’s commissioning team has been providing commissioning services for different types of buildings and facilities across the United States and around the world. During our 20-plus years of experience, our team of seasoned project managers, engineers, and consultants have encountered systems that are unique to a specific project. Read on to learn about the most unique systems our team has commissioned over the years.
Public Building Commission of Chicago | Chicago, IL: The Army Corps of Engineers engaged SSRCx to help fortify an Illinois waterway in hopes of preventing Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes. Asian cap are aggressive invaders and outcompete native species for resources, food, sunlight, and oxygen. Protecting against the species ensures a healthier habitat for the fish, plants, and animals that make their home in and along the river. To deter carp, noisemakers, electric cables, and other devices were installed and commissioned.
Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Aquamoon Aquarium System | Chicago, IL: Aquariums have become a common feature in many pediatric hospitals. They’re calming and captivating for young patients and provide a welcoming distraction to the clinical setting. When the Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago opened, it featured a 2,600-gallon tropical saltwater aquarium located in the lobby. Our scope of work for the 23-story building included commissioning the Aquamoon Aquarium System and associated mechanical support systems.
Reading Hospital | West Reading, PA: When Reading Hospital was planning a 476,000 SF OR platform and patient tower, they challenged the team to think outside the box to provide high quality and highly reliable emergency power. The project’s engineer of record designed a data center-inspired uninterrupted power supply, or UPS, system and parallel-generator sets, which provides reliable power to all of the hospital’s critical equipment and lighting. This consideration of data center design led to a comprehensive and complicated electrical distribution system for our team to provide design and construction phase commissioning services.
Helicopter Hanger | Corpus Christi, TX: SSR was hired to commission a helicopter hanger that houses six paint booths and one pre-treatment booth for U.S. Army helicopters. The U.S. Army required a design that allows for four of the paint booths to be used simultaneously. To accomplish this, the chilled water system consists of three 255-ton water cooler centrifugal chillers, even though the building load without the paint booths is only about 30 tons. Additionally, when one of the paint booths is brought online, the load is fairly instantaneous, creating a sudden change in load characteristics, and not gradual as in most buildings. To test the capability of the CWH during operation of four paint booths, one booth was turned on and our team went through the process of adding one booth at a time, until four booths were online. Then we had to reverse the process, dropping paint booths offline.
It’s projects like these that have provided our qualified mechanical and electrical commissioning agents the necessary experience to embrace the challenges of any unique or complex project.