Modular Hospital Design with Segmented Service Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional hospital structures are inefficient and costly due to long distances medical staff must travel, leading to increased time and complexity in patient care, and pose a risk of pathogen transmission through overlapping paths for patient transport and supply delivery.
Innovation Solution
A modular hospital design featuring a skeletal steel frame with prefabricated modules arranged around a central core, incorporating separate service paths, vibration dampers for seismic safety, and self-contained air conditioning to reduce pathogen spread, along with automated delivery and cleaning systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional hospital structures with central corridors are used, then patients can access treatment stations, but medical staff must walk long distances leading to increased time and cost for patient care
Solution Approach 1:
The hospital is divided into multiple self-contained modules, each with its own treatment station and patient rooms. This segmentation eliminates the need for staff to travel long distances through central corridors, as all necessary facilities are integrated within each module, thereby improving patient care efficiency and reducing staff travel time.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from a traditional linear corridor-based layout to a three-dimensional modular structure where modules are stacked vertically and connected via elevators and internal transport systems. This dimensional change allows staff to access treatment stations and patient rooms within the same module without traversing long horizontal distances, thus reducing travel time and improving productivity.
2Ease of manufacture
If supply paths and patient transport paths overlap in conventional hospitals, then delivery of medicines and food is possible, but the risk of spreading infectious pathogens increases
Solution Approach 1:
The supply paths are extracted and separated from patient transport paths. Each module has dedicated service corridors and elevators for supply delivery that do not intersect with patient movement routes. This separation eliminates the risk of pathogen transmission while maintaining efficient supply delivery capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
Automated delivery systems and service elevators act as intermediaries between the external supply chain and the patient care areas. These intermediaries transport medicines, food, and other supplies through dedicated service corridors and vertical shafts that are completely separate from patient pathways, thus preventing pathogen transmission while ensuring continuous supply delivery.
3Ease of manufacture
If modular construction is used, then construction cost and time are reduced, but the structural complexity of the skeletal structure increases
Solution Approach 1:
A limited number of standardized beam types are designed to serve multiple functions and positions within the skeletal structure. These universal beams can be used in various configurations to support different module types, reducing the overall complexity of the skeletal structure while maintaining the benefits of modular construction for cost and time efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The skeletal structure is designed with adjustable and configurable parameters that allow the same basic beam framework to accommodate different module sizes, weights, and arrangements. By changing structural parameters such as beam spacing, connection points, and support configurations rather than redesigning the entire structure, the patent achieves construction efficiency while controlling structural complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A modularly constructed hospital which consists of stackable modules for patients and which is accessed from the outside by means of a service tower without the access paths and the paths for the patients intersecting with each other.