Snake Tray’s innovative solution – the Mega Snake® Under Tray Pathway System, is transforming healthcare cable management in hospitals. Conquer the challenges of cramped overhead spaces, while efficiently managing specialized cables. Learn how this revolution in cable pathways can expedite your next hospital upgrade.
Hospitals, particularly older ones, are notorious for having cramped overhead spaces for cable pathways. This is because:
- To move a lot of air hospitals, have a substantial HVAC systems and ductwork that occupy the majority of the overhead space above drop ceiling panels.
- Hospitals require all cable pathways to run above building corridors and hallways, with a prohibition on cables intruding over patient care spaces. When upgrades or maintenance is necessary, technicians must be able to freely access cables without entering patient rooms, surgical suites, or testing labs.
These restrictions leave minimal room for cables. The trays are often shallow (about 4” deep) and packed with data, telecommunications, and power cables.
Faced with these challenges, a large Colorado hospital network planning upgrades to several older facilities, and provided an opportunity for Snake Tray to create the Mega Snake® Under Tray Pathway System.
Frustration Breeds Innovation
The hospital sought a means to increase capacity in the existing cable tray system without disrupting the HVAC infrastructure or reducing ceiling height.
Within this tight constraint, engineers were tasked with implementing cables for new digital healthcare monitoring and telemetry machines, medical gas lines, nurse call, alarm, HDTV, security, and low voltage building automation cabling.
These specialized cables required separation from both high voltage electrical lines and each other for easy identification and maintenance.
Mega Snake Under Tray Pathway System: A Revolution in Healthcare Cable Management
In response to this challenge in cable management, Snake Tray developed a multi-pocket cable management accessory to create dedicated pathways for all the specialized cabling needs of a healthcare facility.
This innovative system provides a bracket that affixes directly to the underside of any standard basket tray, Snake Tray’s Mega Snake, or a competitor’s tray.
It introduces up to eight separate steel hoops for easy cable loading while adding only 2” of depth to the cable pathway system, leveraging the existing cable conveyance system and naturally ensuring all new lines follow established over-corridor pathways.
It introduces up to eight separate steel hoops for easy cable loading while adding only 2” of depth to the cable pathway system, leveraging the existing cable conveyance system and naturally ensuring all new lines follow established over-corridor pathways.
The hoops are color-coded and slide into the bracket in any order or color combination for easy cable identification, i.e. red for emergency services and fire suppression, green for telemetry, orange for oxygen, etc.
Implementing the Under Tray Pathway System, completed the hospital network upgrade quickly and cost-effectively.
Even if the hospital had additional capacity in its basket tray, these services still need to be separated from other cables. That would entail removing all the cables from the trays, installing dividers inside the trays, and then reloading all the cables – a much more labor-intensive process.
By implementing the Under Tray Pathway System, the hospital network completed its upgrade quickly and cost-effectively.
This solution also allowed the hospital to maintain its investment in the current basket tray conveyance system without disrupting existing cabling infrastructure, HVAC ductwork, hospital operations, or modifying ceiling height.
Evolution of the Under Tray Cable Pathway System
Since its introduction, the Under Tray Pathway System, affectionately referred to as “Fruit Loops” by Snake Tray engineers for its colorful design, has evolved beyond an accessory to a comprehensive product line. It’s now optimized for handling low volumes of specialty cables and gas lines in hospital environments.
In addition to being mounted to the underside of the 801 Series Mega Snake, a Fruit Loops bracket can be hung directly from the ceiling using threaded rods without a basket tray, or mounted vertically to walls to create a pathway when there is insufficient clearance to hang them beneath a tray.
Snake Tray’s readiness to develop innovative solutions like the Under Tray Cable Pathway System showcases its commitment to solving complex problems in healthcare cable management.
Since its inception over ten years ago, Snake Tray Fruit Loops under basket tray brackets have been implemented in dozens of hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide, significantly impacting the overhead cable pathway industry.
Contact us to learn how we can expedite your next hospital upgrade with our innovative cable pathway solutions.
