About
Prudent site planning for research, healthcare or commercial buildings is essential to avoiding additional mitigation costs.
One of the major challenges of designing high performance research and medical facilities is the risk associated with economic, technological, legal, and scheduling factors. Planning for low EMI environments is often overlooked leaving very little in time and budgeting.
An Ounce of Prevention
Vitatech provides feasibility study and site selection services to assist with budgeting, planning, and basis of design preparation. Preliminary EMI studies allow clients and designers to understand potential obstacles and solutions, plan for suitable instrumentation and lab placement, and visualize costs associated with maintaining the stray magnetic field tolerances of state-of-the-art research and medical instrumentation. Our team of engineers and technicians can provide detailed analyses of building site locations which would be suitable for high performance instrumentation and medical facilities.
Services
Feasibility and Site Selection Services
No matter what tool you’re using, a SEM, TEM, FIB, STEM, whatever it is, Vitatech knows how to mitigate your vital assets. We offer a full-spectrum of EMF engineering services all under one roof. From feasibility, design, fabrication, and installation, Vitatech has the in-house and field expertise to manage any size project from start to finish.
Our engineers will come to you and give you all the options. To read more about what your specific needs are, click on one of the services below. Or, call us at 1.540.286.1984, we’re happy to walk you through it.
Programming for New Buildings
Programming for New Buildings or FABs
Over the last 25 years, Vitatech Electromagnetics has provided preliminary EMI/RFI site surveys and testing at various campuses and open sites to provide prudent planning for proposed Research and Semiconductor Facilities, Hospitals, Offices and more. Green Site Planning benefits the building’s LEED requirements in efforts to provide cost-effective mitigation solutions for optimal resolution and performance of imaging tools as well as safety for human occupants. No site is too large for Green Site Planning, if the land is safe and accessible by foot for our Technicians. This service is ideal for transmission and distribution lines, power substations, railways, highways, cell towers, etc., traversing or within 1000 feet of a commercial site.
Programming for Renovations
Programming for Renovations and Retrofits
Laboratory fit-out projects for sensitive imaging equipment can sometimes be greater challenges than brand new buildings. The greatest obstacle for EMI/RFI testing more than often becomes scheduling the testing during “normal” and “peak” operational hours. Research, diagnostic and electromechanical equipment within an operational building is extremely difficult to control, and usage of this equipment is important to coordinate with a time stamp system while EMI/RFI testing is taking place to minimize anomalies. Another difficulty is that testing tends to be requested during construction phases however, construction work interferes with ambient EMI/RFI data collection. For these reasons, it is recommended that EMI/RFI testing takes place during the middle of the day (during peak building loads), the entire 8-hour day (for non-peak and peak loads), and not during building construction.
Upon request, a 24-hour site survey can be performed depending on the imaging acquisition and is most highly recommended for facilities less than 1000 feet from electrified trains or within a busy city with mass transit. Potentially challenging internal/external EMI sources can be such: passenger/freight elevators, electrified/diesel trains, loading docks, trash compactors, construction equipment & cranes, research magnets, MRIs, NMRs, switchgears, power lines and even underground utility tunnels.
Impact Analysis
Determine the impact of proposed and existing sources at your site.
Impact Analysis of Transmission Lines & Substations
Magnetic and electric field testing is highly encouraged for facilities within 500 feet of an existing transmission line right-of-way (ROW), power grid, switchyard or substation. Hot summer and cold winter days are the best time of the year to measure magnetic field levels due to peak load conditions, where levels can be 2 to 3 times higher than off peak load conditions
Is your local power company installing a high voltage line near your building?
We simulate the average and peak load magnetic field conditions based on estimated or utility provided transmission line load parameters such as current loads, voltage, phase separation distances, conductor configuration and height above grade details. See some of our simulation variations below.
Electrified Rail Assessments
We have assisted with numerous preliminary site studies for proposed and existing catenary, third rail or diesel systems within university campuses and communities.
Benchmark ambient EMI levels within existing/future buildings prior to railway construction or from similar electrified train systems within the rail network. For fast-track projects, Vitatech offers simulation modeling of the future electrified or diesel rail lines.
See data collection below from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) collected at Northeastern University.
Case Studies
Altavista Power Station
Vitatech was hired by the Altavista Power Station to visit their site premises to...
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University of Southern California
University of Southern California (USC) expanded their research initiatives to construct a new 170,000...
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NC A&T and UNCG Collaborative Building
Vitatech was commissioned by HDR Architecture in November of 2008 to perform an initial...
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Orange & Rockland
In January of 2009, Vitatech analyzed the impact of the overhead single-circuit vertically arrayed...
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University of Ottawa
A feasibility study was performed at the University of Ottawa MacDonald Hall site in...
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University of New South Wales
The Sydney light rail expansion is planned to service the University of New South...
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University of Sydney
The University of Sydney hired Vitatech as the owners representative to ensure AIN has...
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