The 1995 opening of the Moffitt Research Center, a 101,352-sq-ft facility located across the street from the Cancer Center, further advanced the Center's research mission by dramatically increasing the amount of laboratory space dedicated to exploring cancer. A 1999 expansion to this building included the addition of two York 350-ton chillers controlled by an Andover XDriver as well as an XDriver interface to the Edwards Systems Technology fire alarm system, which provides information to the other buildings. Andover also controls the chilled water flow, cooling tower operation, and works with the Phoenix Controls system and the Graham VSDs to supply air and exhaust air for the labs.

By the end of this year, Moffitt will open the door to the new Research Tower Project. This new facility will double the size of the existing research and outpatient clinical space, and allow the center to better meet the growing demands of a state that has the second highest level of cancer.

Three Generations of BAS Technology

An AC256 system, Andover's first-generation building control system, was installed at Moffitt during its construction in 1986. The system was upgraded to Infinity, Andover's second-generation system, in 1992. According to Phil Meinke, sales engineer for Roth Bros., the Andover system at Moffitt was used strictly for temperature control at first. Card access control was added in 1993. Perimeter doors and doors leading to high-security areas; for example, the pharmacy and drug storage rooms, are controlled and monitored by the system.

Moffitt Cancer Center began installing Andover's third-generation product line, Continuum(tm), in 1999. Seven CyberStations(tm), Continuum's Windows NT-based front-end workstation, will network the entire Moffitt complex via an Ethernet LAN. Along with the main Cancer Center building, Continuum will control and monitor the entire Moffitt Research Center and Eye Institute across the street, a new parking garage and central energy plant, and also the new research tower currently under construction.

Among the many critical areas at Moffitt that the Continuum system will control and monitor is the Vivarium, located in the Moffitt Research Center. Here, important clinical drug studies will be carried out on 100,000 mice housed there. Environmental conditions in the mice rooms must meet stringent federal government guidelines so as not to sway research results. The mice are kept calm if temperatures, humidity, lighting, air pressure, and airflow are maintained within a specified range.

Continuum will also monitor the pressure in the water system that supplies the mice cages and monitor the flushing sequences to ensure that the water remains constantly sterilized. Sixteen Andover Controls DCX 250 touch-screen displays will be mounted on the walls outside the mice rooms, providing the lab staff the ability to monitor conditions inside the rooms without disturbing the "tenants."

Integrated Work Orders

The facilities department at Moffitt Cancer Center has recently begun interfacing the Continuum system with its new CMMS, Four Rivers TMS Pro for Healthcare(r). Dean Head, director of facilities at Moffitt, is excited about the prospects this integration brings to his department.

"It will provide us tremendous labor-savings in terms of workorders and the never-ending clerical work they require. Integration between these two systems means that a Continuum alarm on a malfunctioning piece of equipment can automatically page a mechanic and send an e-mail to his handheld device with the appropriate work order instructions to fix the problem. The endless typing of paper-based work orders can all but be eliminated."

"Our goal in using the Continuum system here at Moffitt is simple," added Head. "We want to manage our equipment more efficiently and utilize our full-time employees more efficiently."ES