National Institutes Of Health
SECONDARY CHILLED WATER SYSTEM EXPANSION
Impyrian won a competitive bid Design/Build Construction contract from the NIH Bethesda campus to provide turnkey design engineering and construction services for a secondary chilled water loop from the campus chilled water distribution for The Building 10 Clinical Research Center (CRC) Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR). The world’s largest clinical research hospital is a complex of buildings on the NIH campus, known as Building 10 or the Clinical Center (CC). This is a critical facility, which called for a high level of engineering and a coordination between the labs and hospital for scheduled shutdowns and cutovers of the chilled water system.
Impyrian worked closely with the NIH staff to identify affected downstream equipment and was able to back feed the system, preventing any down time. Impyrian also pre-fabricated piping to reduce the time frame of the installation. These infrastructure systems are original since they were installed approximately 40 years ago and are now experiencing failures and at the end of their useful life.
As part of this project, Impyrian provided turnkey design/build engineering and construction services to replace a section of direct buried chilled water piping with a larger chilled water piping system to support the growing load in Building 10 and to support round the clock lab needs for chilled water. Impyrian worked with NIH’s engineers, Utilities Distribution Branch Chief and within the Design Requirements Manual to determine the best piping specifications and installation procedures to minimize the potential for future leaks and the potential for corrosion.
NIH utility distribution infrastructures are approximately 3 miles long, hidden below ground throughout the campus and are capable of supporting the Central Utility Plant maximum steam load of 800,000 pounds per hour (lb /hr) of saturated steam at 165 pounds per square in gauge (psig), 60,000 tons of chilled water and 6600 cubic feet per minute (CFM) of compressed air for distribution to the campus.
Outcome
Impyrian’s work on this project supported the Distribution Branch’s efforts to optimize efficiency and reliability to produce chilled water for the NIH Bethesda Campus.