Hospital first in Israel to use fuel cells to power life-saving unit

Following the success of the G5 installation within the cardiac-catheterization unit, the hospital plans to install more fuel cell power units within the hospital to create their own personal grid.

By ZACHARY KEYSER
Updated: JANUARY 25, 2019 22:51
GenCell's G5 fuel cell being used at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center of Hadera, Israel (photo credit: Courtesy)
GenCell's G5 fuel cell being used at the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center of Hadera, Israel
(photo credit: Courtesy)
An Israeli manufacturer of fuel cells and energy solutions have recently installed a hydrogen-based fuel cell within the catheterization unit of the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center of Hadera, Israel, making it the first hospital in Israel to use fuel cells to power an intensive care unit.
The fuel cell technology designed for the hospital, that serves close to 450,000 people, prevents the unit from power glitches, which could cause seriously damage to the unit's equipment. The fuel cell ensures power continuity while also reducing the carbon footprint and energy costs within the life-saving unit - resulting in better patient care, reduction of disruptions resulting in risk of life and providing a clean energy solution for powering life-saving operations.
GenCell in cooperation with Medtechnica created and manufactured fuel cell technology, named the GenCell G5, mainly due to the high power load demands of the equipment used in the imaging labs of these cardiac catheterization units, and in order to provide a fail-safe they provided the technology now being used within the unit.
"We are aware that the imaging apparatus we employ can cause power spikes that may initiate a lengthy reboot procedure for its supporting IT equipment," Ronen Edry, Chief Engineer, of the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center explained, "If this were to take place during a catheterization process, it would delay the surgery by several minutes with potential risk to the patient. This was a key factor in our decision to deploy the G5.”
The G5 had been vetted to serve healthcare, homeland security and telecommunications markets before being installed within the hospital unit. According to a GenCell press release, the "backup power fuel cell is ideal for hospital applications because it produces no emissions, noise or vibrations, and is suitable for indoor and outdoor use."
Following the success of the G5 installation within the cardiac catheterization unit, the hospital plans to install more fuel cell power units within the hospital to create their own personal power-grid within the hospital grounds, unreliant upon the success or failure of normal power-grid systems.
“We’re proud that the Hillel Yaffe Medical Center is leveraging our hydrogen-powered fuel cells to ensure the smooth operation of its cardio-catheterization unit," said GenCell President and CBDO Gil Shavit, "Not only is the facility maximizing the uptime of its specialized equipment and avoiding costly repairs, it’s also reducing the dependency on diesel to protect the environment... with reliable, cost-efficient, clean power."