Mobile Health Care Unit

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Mobile Health Care Unit

Firm

Type

Government + Health › Medical Facility
Transport + Infrastructure ›

YEAR

2012

SIZE

5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

Mobile Health Care Unit

The purpose of the diploma thesis was the design of a health care mobile unit that aims to please every day medical needs of residents who live far from cities and have no access to medical facilities. The construction should provide the necessary specialties and their activities in the smallest space possible. Autonomy, ease of access and use are its basic characteristics and among the design guidelines were ergonomics, complete functionality and decent patient treatment.

Theoretical Background
Medical care is one of the most important needs among people of contemporary societies and is also one of the basic services that a state provides to its citizens. Nevertheless, not all citizens have easy access to medical facilities. Hospitals are usually concentrated within urban centres with a view to serving a large part of the population. The morphology of Greece and probably other countries as well, urbanization and several social-economic factors can convert the access to such services exceptionally difficult. Also, the money spent on public medical care is less every year downgrading the services. The lack of several major roads and non-regular ferry routes isolate many regions of the country. So many villages are several hours away from any organized health care facility. Apart from this, some regions of the country such as Attica, Macedonia and Thessaly are most favoured in medical facilities than others like the rest of Central Greece, Thrace and the Peloponnese based on the number of medical units and the proportion hospital bed per capita. In previous decades, there was an attempt to solve this problem by establishing small health centres in many towns and small villages. However, this effort was unsuccessful, because they never have the necessary number of medical and eventually abandoned during years.

Main Idea
Thus, we considered that the best way to cover medical needs of citizens in need is the use of mobile medical units. This procedure is based on the fact that the patient does not go to the hospital but the opposite. This can be effective in preventive examinations and chronic problems, but not in medical emergencies. The suggested unit is adjusted to a trailer truck according to European rules with dimensions of 12/2.6/4 meters [length, width, height]. The trailer can be adjusted to any truck, and can be carried to different locations. Ideally many mobile units could move continuously across the country. Also, more units could cover a wider range of medical needs, a larger number of populations and more regularly. The mobile architecture is not a new idea and is not only for health sector. There is as a variety of examples and applications such as entertainment, commercial, residential and especially military units which use the most innovative technologies and the most sophisticated and modern materials. Regarding only the clinics have received and these in turn range of specializations. However, the majority of mobile medical units are autonomous covering only a specific medical specialty and audience. To avoid this it was necessary the housing more than one medical specialties. In fact, this structure has the ability to house a dentist, an oculist, a gynaecologist, a pathologist and a fully equipped microbiology laboratory. It also includes a small toilet and waiting room enough for eight patients. These specialties were selected because are necessary for the majority of population. However, in an alternative mobile unit could be different combination of medical services depending on the target audience to serve.

Mechanism
Our main target was to maximize the trailers’ usable space. It was considered that the best way to do so, was the design of 3 different boxes, that move telescopically, as if they were extruded. The utilization of a prototype automated mechanism almost triples the available surface of the trailer, converting it to a full and complete medical care unit achieving the clinics’ operation. At the temporary instalment location, a wall unwraps by the use of hydraulic systems, becoming the main floor of the construction, which is based on variable length metal pillars in order to stand on any ground. Continuing, the 2 inner boxes move straight with the help of linear guides and motors, until their final position. At the same time they transfer the inner walls and equipment in a way to modify the interior spaces. So the usable space is increased from 31.2 m² to almost 80 m².

Interior Design
The complex approach is formulated through the mechanical requirements and available space. Internal design, on the other hand, focuses on the creation of a pleasant comfortable environment for the patients and doctors as well. The initial trailer space shelters functions that cannot be moved because they need water such as Dentist, Microbiologist and WC. The plumbing is placed under the main structure of the trailer. All other spaces which are occupied by doctors are placed in perimeter connected by a central corridor – waiting room. Thus gives in all of them access to natural lighting. For optimum utilization of interior spaces, closets and desks are used which are embedded in the walls along the structure and also there are some folding furniture. The other walls either internal or external have not additional items on them apart from the openings. That’s because during the unit’s development the side walls are dragged over each other until they receive their final position. Placing objects on these items would make this procedure impossible. After that we catalogued all the necessary medical equipment needed for the tasks they usually have to do, and their usage over a working day, in order to calculate their energy consumption. As to the air conditioning it is performed by vents. During the units’ use, the channels are connected between the boxes and when the unit is on the move the system can be operated. At the point where the two conductors are joined there is a small gap from which there is air leak. However, the leak is too small to be considered a problem. On the other hand power supply is achieved by the use of wires on rails, being able to move in away similar to that of a curtain on rail. The cables are continuously having fixed length but variable position. Their length is enough to run the two side walls of the unit when it is in full development. Thus, when the unit is closed the wires are accumulated at the beginning of the wall and as the walls are growing they gradually stretched.

Materials
The type of construction used on the unit where chosen to fulfil two main objectives. That it is a mobile unit and at the same time accommodate medical facilities. On the exterior, white aluminium plates of 1.2 meters length and thickness of 1 cm are used. The inner floors are made of vinyl, an easily cleaned material, often used in such spaces. The roofs are coated with plasterboards in the interior side where the lighting and ventilation pipes are embodied. Inner walls are made of composite smooth material based on wood, and the colours used are white, orange and grey. The structure of the construction is made by metal hollow beams, insulated with high density polystyrene foam.

Energy Requirements
The energy required for the proper function of the unit can be provided by connection to the main electricity network. Nevertheless, the unit is capable of producing the energy needed for most of the year. In order to achieve this, solar panels were put to the three roofs of the unit. The total number of these is 100 occupying an area of 55 m² and the total installed capacity amounts to 10 kW. The 40% of them are located in the central roof having the ability to produce power even when the unit is not fully developed during its transfer. Also the batteries which can provide energy sufficiency for 5 days without sun are put underneath the main construction along with water reservoirs. Their total weight is over 4.5 tones offering the necessary stability to the construction. The energy output can be used directly by unit’s equipment that includes all medical devices, hot water, lighting, air conditioning, ventilation even though the operating needs of mechanism which develop the unit including the hydraulic systems and the motors that move the walls and floors. The total annual energy consumption is approximately 7.000 kWh. The specific energy requirements were calculated based on the hours (6 per day) and days (4 per week) of operation of the medical unit and also the desired thermal and internal conditions (interior temperature 22-26°C for winter and summer respectively and lighting levels of 500 lux). Although it should be able to meet its energy requirements both annually and daily providing the required amount of energy the times with the greatest demand (maximum daily demand approximately 40kWh). Moreover, the construction’s shelter has a highly insulated in order to minimize heat losses. In the exterior walls, floors and ceilings of construction is used high density expanded polyurethane and double glazing low-e in windows. The u-value of the individual components is 0.24 W/m²K for the exterior walls, 0.18 W/m²K for the roof and floor and 2.72 W/m²K for the windows.

Water Supply
Apart from the energy needs, the mobile unit has the need of clean water. Consequently a 1,700 litre tank is placed in the storage space at the bottom of the trailer. It was estimated that the unit requires about 300 litres of clean water per day. In order to minimize water consumption low-flow faucets and dual flush cistern are used. Also an aqus toilet system can be used which feeds the cistern with the water is consuming during hand washing after a filtering. Therefore the size of the tank provides at least 5 days operation autonomy. Moreover, there is also a second tank in the same spot with 2,000 litres capacity for liquid waste disposal until to be deposited in an organized waste management unit.

Goal
The goal of the approach was the establishment of the unit as a medical symbol, which will offer services to the less favoured population groups. Through this specific approach, the establishment and wider utilization of respective units is sought as a basic method of medical care and service for citizens who do not live in urban centres.

Product Spec Sheet

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Team

Leonidas Tsichritzis

Architect

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Mobile Health Care Unit

Mobile Health Care Unit

Product Spec Sheet

Collaborating Firms

Team