|
Click on the cover to read the latest issue of PSB
Affiliate Links
|
Retracting floodlights at the point of a finger28 June 2010When Abacus was invited to install a pioneering new floodlighting system at the Al Shamal Stadium in Qatar, the company faced an unusual challenge. Instead of controlling the usual fixed installation, it had to design a control system that enabled the installation to retract when not in useThe Al Shamal Stadium in Qatar posed an unusual lighting challenge to the design team at UK floodlighting expert, Abacus. The layout of this iconic stadium, which apes the style of an original fort on the site with four turret structures in each corner of the stadium, meant that ways needed to be explored to maintain its traditional appearance, whilst simultaneously incorporating the modern lighting into the design.
The solution? Abacus developed a range of telescopic masts that fitted neatly inside the turrets themselves. Towering to an impressive 43m above the stadium arena, the masts telescope down inside the turrets when not in use, thereby minimising the impact that the floodlighting might otherwise have had on the lines of the stadium exterior and the Qatar skyline.
The system, which is operated entirely by touch screen technology, allows the operator to control all four masts, either separately or en masse, from a single human machine interface (HMI) situated within the media centre inside the second mast. This touch screen HMI XBT RT 500 was supplied by Schneider Electric who also assisted Abacus with system programming. According to Abacus’ electrical engineering manager, Steve Bennett, the major challenge was how to feed the lighting cables up the inside of the mast to the floodlights.
“There was very little available space inside the column and careful installation of the cables was essential to ensure that they would not be damaged,” he recalls. “Available space dictated that multicore cables would be needed instead of individual flexes and they would have to be run through a flexible energy chain.
“The cables also had to be able to cope with the very tight bending radius in the column and, with the lamp currents, a standard flex would not have been suitable so we utilised a special robotics style high quality chainflex cable, supplied by igus, which was specially designed for this type of application.
“In a project like this, it’s the small details that matter. Positioning errors with lights would seriously compromise the lighting design. We needed a system that could calculate height feedback and position to ensure that the lights would not be switched on until they were clear of the turret tops. Another factor was to ensure that the heat from the floodlights didn’t damage the internal finish of the turret if they were accidentally turned on too soon.”
Each mast has its own Variohm cable extension transducer, which determines the position of the masts and transmits this information to a Schneider ‘Twido’ PLC. In this case, Schneider Electric’s Twido PLC. The data from each mast is transferred to the master PLC and the whole system controlled from a single touch screen HMI.
According to Mr Bennett, the Schneider touch screen system offered the neater, more easy-to-use route in terms of installation and usability” If we had gone down the route of installing a more traditional pushbutton panel control system, it would have been immense in order to accommodate all the necessary buttons to operate all four masts.
“We are really proud of the finished product. The stadium now has an easy-to-use, state-of-the art modern operating system. It uses touch screen technology and even an online interface which means that, in the near future, we could go as far as to monitor and control the floodlighting and masts from our headquarters in the UK. The system links up to a real time data exchange which lets our operators know when maintenance is needed, as well as ensuring the lights are performing to their optimum standards. A truly international project from start to finish.”
Contact Details and Archive...Related Articles...Most Viewed Articles...
|
|