Hospital 3D laser scanning has a unique set of challenges
Performing hospital 3D laser scanning – in a sterile environment – is a process that requires following strict infection-control procedures.
At an Elkhart, Indiana, hospital project two years ago, we devised many of the guidelines and processes that are now industry standards for scanning in active health care facilities. We were asked to put our knowledge and experience to work recently at a major children’s hospital.
This project proved to be our largest and most complex 3D scanning / modeling job to date.
In preparation for renovation work, the hospital needed its ground-floor water and wastewater pipes scanned and modeled. This area was important because it’s where the domestic water supply comes into the building horizontally. Then, it’s piped upwards to the other floors of the facility. The ground floor is also where the wastewater comes down and into the sewer pipes. Nearly all of the piping exists above the ceiling tiles in the plenum space.
First, our crews used a total station to establish survey dimensional control. This way, our scans could be registered to the hospital coordinate system. Next, we divided the floor into zones and set up a survey control point in each zone to validate and verify the scans.
Over a period of six weeks, our two teams spent four, ten-hour days per week, capturing the scans with FARO Focus X-330 lasers.
Generally, one crew scanned the hallway or room itself while the other crew worked up inside the plenum space. Additionally, infection-control procedures usually must be initiated in hospital areas where patient rooms or operating rooms are located. Although these were not on the ground floor, equipment sterilization units were.
Consequently, in the process of this hospital 3D laser scanning project, we had to abide by infection-control guidelines in and around these rooms. This involved surrounding our scissor lifts with floor-to-ceiling curtains prior to removing a ceiling tile to access the plenum. Our teams dressed in surgical garb as well. The overall concept was not let any contaminant from the plenum space or our clothing drop into the sterile space.
These procedures made the hospital 3D laser scanning progress slow.
Furthermore, the plenum spaces were packed with ducts that occluded the laser’s line of sight. We had to conduct more scans than normal on this project. Due to the tightness of many plenum spaces, targetless scanning had to be employed. Happily, the results were excellent.
In total, we collected more than 3500 3D scans in the 200,000 square-foot space.
At the end of each week’s scanning, the raw files were delivered to our Indiana headquarters for registration, processing and modeling. From the point cloud data, we extracted and modeled the water/wastewater pipes, structural steel, and architectural elements.
Much of the extraction was automated, using the EdgeWise software. Our final deliverables – all made available to the client online via our FARO SCENE WebShare Server – included separate BIMs for pipes, structure and architecture.