Schneider Electric Teams Up with Lutron Electronics to Make Penn Medicine’s New Facility a ‘Smart Hospital’

(Schneider Electric partners with the University of Pennsylvania Health System on a new state-of-the-art pavilion.. Image courtesy of Schneider Electric.)

Schneider Electric recently announced it will be delivering building systems integration for the Pavilion, Penn Medicine’s new hospital in Philadelphia. The integrated, digital solution will feature lighting, automated shading and fixture control solutions by Lutron Electronics.

Lutron provides comprehensive solutions for interior and exterior lighting control, motorized and automated shading, and advanced digital fixture control, all from a single control platform. Lutron has demonstrated its ability to integrate seamlessly with Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure for Healthcare.

Advanced design and system integration were focal points from the start of the project design. Comprehensive research was done to understand the customer requirements in every area of the facility. For example, the solution is designed to allow patients to control their own environment including lights, shades and temperature and have ready access to other functions like a secondary nurse call button from a single, intuitive app.

To ensure the result was a customer-centric solution designed to meet project specifications, Warren Rosebraugh, Director, Healthcare Solution Architects, Schneider Electric, worked with project partners to assemble a working lab that facilitated comparison of prospective systems from a variety of lighting control and shading solution manufacturers. The lab environment allowed the team to consider all aspects of product capability, cost, ease of installation, integration and setup, and intuitive operation of controls for patient, staff and visitors. The goal was to evaluate comparative solutions under the same conditions and use patterns.

Lutron was able to offer a single system infrastructure for lights and shades that eliminates the need for redundant wiring and offers significant benefits in terms of installed cost. The lighting control features Lutron’s EcoSystem technology for digital fixture control of the interior lights and Limelight technology for wireless digital control of the exterior. This digital infrastructure enhances data reporting and increases flexibility to accommodate changes during the design, construction, and ongoing operational phases of the building.

Lutron controls, in conjunction with Schneider’s patient app, can also provide patients, their families, and the hospital staff with lighting and shade controls that are easy to use, intuitive and integrated into bedside and room controls.