SMI Impact

The monitoring solution paid for itself in 14 months, with the cost offset by repairs to failed steam traps

The condensate heat recovery system generated significant natural gas savings and paid for itself within 9 months

Annual savings of $150,000 in steam usage and condensate charges

Reduction of carbon emissions by 520 metric tons annually, contributing to GHG emission reduction goals.

Customer

Boston Children's Hospital, a prestigious institution for over 150 years, is home to the world's largest pediatric research enterprise and the leading recipient of pediatric research funding from the National Institutes of Health. It serves as the primary pediatric teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School.

Conditions

The hospital faced high fixed steam costs and a contracted surcharge rate for condensate return, which amounted to significant expenses. Additionally, the hospital aimed to reduce GHG emissions to meet mandated targets. The existing annual steam trap testing model was inadequate for dynamic system efficiency and maintenance needs, leading to incomplete audits, false readings, and lack of real-time data visibility.

Common problems with the 3rd party testing model include:

Incomplete steam audits due to access constraints, weather dependent system cycling and equipment outages
False readings due to human error occurring where conditions include condensate backpressure and equipment noise
A fixed point in time trap testing which cannot account for mechanical failures in the weeks and months after the testing is completed
Lack of visibility into real-time data and analytics

Solution

SMI conducted a thorough audit of the steam traps and implemented a steam monitoring solution for real-time monitoring and data analytics. This solution focused on traps with the highest potential for losses. Additionally, SMI developed a steam condensate heat recovery project to capture heat from condensate and pre-heat domestic hot water, further enhancing efficiency.

Test steam traps to confirm that the steam trap inventory, type, make & model, application, and operating pressure data was complete.
Calculate potential steam losses for each steam trap based on either a failed or leaking status to
determine the maximum financial impact of failed traps in the system. These calculations consider steam pressure, annual run-hours, and trap orifice size.
Installation of steam monitoring solution to provide real-time monitoring and data analytics for traps that had the most potential for losses and would provide the potential highest rate of return.
Development of a steam condensate heat recovery project to capture heat from condensate billed
at volume and transfer the heat to preheat the domestic hot water generating equipment.

Installation of 158 ultrasonic steam trap monitors on critical traps.
Implementation of a cellular LoRaWan network for secure data transfer to the cloud.
Provision of analytic data including trap historical trends, real-time steam loss calculations, and custom alarm settings.
Quarterly dashboard reviews with stakeholders and bi-annual trap testing for non-critical traps.

Key Actions

The bundled solution of steam trap monitoring and condensate heat recovery implemented by SMI at Boston Children's Hospital has resulted in substantial cost savings, improved system efficiency, and significant progress toward GHG emission reduction targets. This case study demonstrates the effectiveness of real-time monitoring and data analytics in optimizing steam system performance.

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