Operating Theatre Panels
An operating theatre panel packages the isolation transformer, line isolation monitor, and branch circuit breakers for a specific OR into one panel schedule, with a remote LIM display mounted at the theatre entrance. NLS sources theatre panels sized to the room's isolated branch circuit count for Saudi MOH and private hospital operating suites.
A single operating theatre often carries more than one isolated branch circuit group: general lighting, receptacles for portable equipment, and a dedicated circuit for a fixed imaging or navigation system, each of which can call for its own isolation transformer inside the same panel enclosure. An operating theatre panel is the assembly that brings these branch groups together on one panel schedule specific to that room, rather than treating the theatre as a single generic Category 1 load.
Because a theatre panel serves a room where staff are focused on a patient, not on electrical monitoring, the line isolation monitor's alarm has to reach someone outside the sterile field. That's done with a remote annunciator, usually a small fascia panel mounted above or beside the theatre door showing the hazard current level and an audible alarm, so a circulating nurse or biomedical technician can respond without breaking scrub.
Theatre panels also have to coordinate with the room's medical gas alarm and any dedicated theatre control panel covering lighting and gas monitoring, since all three typically land on the same wall near the entrance. Getting the panel schedule wrong at this stage, sizing one transformer for two branch groups that should have been separate, is a common and expensive rework item once the room is fitted out, so the schedule needs to be locked against the final equipment list before ordering.
NLS sources operating theatre panels against the project's electrical single-line and equipment schedule, coordinating transformer count and kVA rating per branch group with the MEP contractor before quoting. This falls inside NLS's supply into Saudi MOH and private hospital operating suites, where theatre panel schedules are reviewed room by room rather than assumed identical across a multi-theatre block, since a cardiac theatre and a day-surgery room rarely carry the same load.
Specifications
- ✓Configuration: one panel schedule per theatre, covering all isolated branch circuit groups in the room
- ✓Remote LIM annunciator: hazard current display and audible alarm mounted at the theatre entrance
- ✓Coordination: panel schedule aligned with the room's medical gas alarm and theatre control panel
- ✓Typical branch groups: general lighting, portable equipment receptacles, fixed imaging/navigation circuits
- ✓Standards referenced: NFPA 99 Category 1, UL 1047 for isolated power equipment
- ✓Sizing: locked against the final equipment schedule before panel order, to avoid rework
Frequently Asked Questions
How many isolation transformers does one operating theatre need?+
It depends on the branch circuit groups in the room. A simple theatre may run on one transformer; a theatre with a dedicated imaging or navigation circuit often needs a second, separately sized transformer on the same panel.
Where is the LIM alarm display placed in an operating theatre?+
It's mounted as a remote annunciator at or above the theatre entrance, showing the hazard current reading and sounding an audible alarm, so staff outside the sterile field see it without entering the room.
Who supplies operating theatre isolation panels for Saudi hospital projects?+
NLS sources theatre panels against the project's electrical single-line and equipment schedule, coordinating transformer count and rating per branch group with the MEP contractor before quoting in USD.