Clayton Ensure Vital Steam Supply

Clayton Steam Generators now provide the steam supply to the busy Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust laundry where 4.5 million items of linen are washed every year.

Two energy efficient Clayton Steam Generators have been installed at the Trust’s Fulbourn Hospital Site in Cambridge where the laundry is located. Each generator is capable of producing nearly 4 tonnes of steam per hour and they have been designed for unattended operation. Fuel to fire the boilers can be either oil or natural gas.

The laundry is a vital service to Addenbroke’s NHS trust which is a leading international centre for biomedical research and medical education. As well as being the local district hospital for 480,000 people, the hospital is also being developed as a major centre for treatment and research on a European scale. Malcolm Creek who is Estates Manager at Fulbourn Hospital said, “The laundry is one of the essential back-up services which are needed to support the medical work of the Trust. It is important therefore to have a reliable source of steam to keep the laundry running”.

Because of the Clayton forced circulation monotube coil concept it is not necessary to contain large volumes of water within a Clayton Steam Generator. This produces a number of significant advantages in terms of reduced running costs, fast reaction time, size, weight and safety. In addition, when the steam generator is in stand-by mode it is off and completely cold and start up within approximately five minutes is possible. The major safety advantage of the low water storage requirement is that there is no possibility of a steam explosion from a Clayton Steam Generator.

William Clayton Senior produced the first Clayton Steam Generator over 70 years ago and the technology has been constantly updated and developed. Major components such as the water feed pump, steam separator, coil, burner and many other parts are actually manufactured by Clayton and have been designed to suit a particular purpose.

At Fulbourn Hospital two Steam Generator Models EOG-254 are positioned side by side and the feedwater treatment equipment is mounted on a skid base which was pre-assembled as a packaged unit for ease of installation.

The feedwater equipment includes a Hotwell, Chemical Injection System, and Transfer Pumps with all interconnecting pipework, valves and fittings. The Clayton Hotwell provides feedwater for the steam generator and acts as a reservoir for returned condensate, it is also an ideal means of blending water treatment chemicals. An important feature of the Clayton hotwell is that it is a partial deaerator capable of removing most of the oxygen which is the major cause of corrosion in feedwater.  To achieve this the hotwell is steam heated to maintain the temperature at around 95^OC and the residence time is calculated to ensure that the oxygen level is significantly reduced.

Addenbrooke’s, Fulbourn and Rosie Hospitals as well as their associated community services are combined to form The Addenbrooke’s NHS Trust which is a prestigious healthcare organisation and the Clayton Steam Generators are a welcome addition to their continuously expanding infrastructure.

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