The Indiana Blood Center Ensures Blood and Platelet Supply Storage is Compliant with FDA Regulations with Trane Environmental Controls (CSP)

The Indiana Blood Center, a non-profit agency that collects and distributes lifesaving blood and blood components throughout Indiana, is taking steps to ensure their blood and platelet supply are stored according to the FDA 21 CFR Part 11.

To do so, they have selected Trane, a global provider of indoor comfort systems and comprehensive facility solutions to update their FDA monitoring system at 7 of their remote sites and main headquarters in downtown Indianapolis. It will also update the environmental control systems at the headquarters building. Trane will do this by implementing its Tracer Summit™ Critical Control System building automation system. This work is slated to be completed and fully replace the previous control system this summer.

"More than 40 hospitals throughout central and southern Indiana depend on our blood and platelet supply," said Tony Filis, director of plant services at Indiana Blood Center. "It is crucial that our facilities and storage areas are monitored and maintained – and the Trane system is our key to 24/7 monitoring of every aspect. Moreover, if issues arise, whether basic maintenance or more in depth questions, the local Trane team can respond almost instantly, which is why we chose Trane over other HVAC vendors."

Trane's Tracer Summit Critical Control System will track and control the environment and monitor the refrigerators and freezers at all 8 locations. Because of the extremely sensitive requirements of the blood platelets, Trane has embedded custom temperature monitoring devices in with the platelet supply to ensure that they are kept at the correct, constant temperature and to monitor the movement of the agitators. Monitoring and alarming of the remote sites is being done by workstations located at the main headquarters via communication over the Indiana Blood Center's existing Wide Area Network.

In addition to the CFR-21 Part 11 Certified Control System, Trane is supplying new heating, ventilation and air conditioning equipment for the Indianapolis headquarters including:

• High efficiency screw chillers
• New VAV boxes to supplement cooling in sensitive areas of the buildings
• Retrofit of all existing air-handlers, VAV boxes and the central chiller plant

The Indiana Blood Center is an independent, non-profit agency through which lifesaving blood and blood components are supplied to 46 member hospitals throughout central and southern Indiana. IBC provides vital assistance to modern medicine through related services including specialized blood typing for organ transplants, viral marker testing, tissue banks, and the National Marrow Donor Program. They are on the web at http://www.cirbc.org.

Trane, the air conditioning systems and services business of American Standard Companies, is a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and comprehensive facility solutions. Its offerings include energy efficient heating, ventilating and air conditioning systems, service and parts support, advanced building controls and financing solutions. For more information, visit the Trane Web site at www.trane.com.

As a leading provider to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and life sciences industry for more than 50 years, Trane provides customers with extensive integration experience, leading the market with "integrated comfort systems," a large portfolio of environmentally responsible HVAC solutions including the most energy efficient large chiller on the market today. Trane's CenTraVac chiller is up to 13.5 percent more energy efficient than others on the market; automated, FDA-compliance-enabled Tracer Summit Critical Control System is designed with extensive documentation and reporting capabilities. And more than 25 years of custom air handling experience with the largest air handling portfolio in the world.