Winzler & Kelly was retained to evaluate and design upgrades to existing emergency generators and central plant. Medtronic’s Santa Rosa facility, Medtronic Vascular, is the central location for research and development of new products and therapies used to treat a wide range of vascular diseases and conditions. Products include coronary, peripheral and neurovascular stents, stent graft systems for diseases and conditions throughout the aorta, and distal protection systems.

As the vascular division expands to include more space for research and development laboratories in the existing buildings, the interior environment and power requirements become more stringent. New laboratory spaces require single-pass air conditioning systems with tight controls. Additional emergency generator power is required to prevent loss to critical experiments, loss of research data, and to ensure a consistently conditioned environment. To support the continuing expansion and ensure reliability, the existing emergency generators and central plant, which were at capacity, were upgraded.

Winzler & Kelly worked with the facility’s engineering staff to review the existing demand and use of the electrical systems on the campus and then evaluated different scenarios for providing long-term backup generation at the facility. Winzler & Kelly evaluated different options for switching the generators and provided options to Medtronic for evaluation.

The system selected included the replacement of two existing 750-kW generators with two new 1000-kW generators with paralleling switchgear. The new generators have reduced noise levels from over 90 dB to less than 80 dB. The paralleling switchgear allows one generator to operate until the demand exceeds its output, at which time the second generator comes on-line and provides power to the site. This arrangement allowed for a more efficient operation of the generators.