RACA Journal October 2020 | Page 7

News NASREC FIELD HOSPITAL BENEFITS THROUGH DATA LOGGERS The Nasrec field hospital based in Johannesburg was put in place to assist overcrowded clinics and hospitals from neighbouring areas. Mimic Components was offered an opportunity to contribute towards turning an idea into a mobilised reality when field hospital Nasrec was set up. Finishing touches included the installation of wireless temperature and humidity data loggers; an essential contributor towards air monitoring and air management. These modern devices are programmed to alert users of breaches in air temperature and humidity within a designated area. Once the data logger is programmed by the user to monitor temperature and humidity between certain ranges, anything below or exceeding these parameters sets the alarm off. A red LED light flashes on the device itself in addition to a sounding alarm to alert passing staff and an alert message is sent via email or SMS to users or control rooms. Top hospitals install and rely on machines, devices and equipment for efficiency, continuous operations and uninterrupted power. Each is used to maximum capacity and that includes air monitoring data loggers. One fundamental feature of wireless data loggers is that it can monitor temperature and humidity remotely; either in open plan halls or hard to reach and inaccessible parts of large air conditioning systems. “The use of controlled air, air quality and air temperature in hospitals is of critical importance,” says Mimic Components managing director Edwin Wakefield. “Air quality is a life saver to patients reliant on oxygen masks. Controlled air temperatures provide relief and comfort to recovering patients. Cold storage Mimic Components environments equipped with stored medicinal drugs are also carefully monitored with air temperature data loggers to minimise stock loss,” Wakefield notes. If required, different air temperatures can be set, controlled and monitored from room to room each with its own monitoring data logger, for example; highly sensitive equipment such as X-ray machines may require a more regulated temperature for maximum performance. Today, most if not all data logger suppliers provide a cloudconnected storage service to upload the recorded information recorded from data loggers. This information is generally accessible to the user anytime and from any location, via a PC or mobile app. Some software also offer real-time or live temperature and humidity data readings that can be immediately accessed via any internet browser or a cloud app. RACA The data loggers installed at the field hospital at Nasrec. www.hvacronline.co.za RACA Journal I October 2020 5