We put all our passion for technology into developing the best solutions for our customers. Do you need advice about a specific application?
Location:
London
Sector:
Airport industry
Application:
Drive technology to upgrade the luggage transportation system
By activating the zip code search, data is transferred to the USA by Google. For more information, see our privacy policy.
Gatwick Airport expanded its luggage transportation systems as part of an investment program of about 1 billion pounds. Increasing passenger numbers meant that Gatwick was looking to increase the capacity of the luggage transportation system to over 24 million passengers per year (it now transports over 30 million passengers every year). Several factors apart from the reliable functioning of the drive units were important to Gatwick Airport.
A strong focus was also placed on energy saving, variant reduction, as well as lowering installation and commissioning costs. This was able to be achieved using our MOVIGEAR® mechatronic drive systems.
The extremely efficient MOVIGEAR® consists of a motor, gear unit and electronics in a very compact mechatronic unit. Its outstanding overload behavior means that it is ideally suited to the special requirements of luggage transportation technology in the airport industry and can reduce the variants in use while significantly reducing the installed power and saving energy. The benefits of the MOVIGEAR® primarily include the motor's extremely high efficiency IE4 (Super Premium Efficiency), which makes it an energy saving and reliable drive solution. Gatwick Airport appreciated these benefits and in July 2010 they selected SEW-EURODRIVE as the innovative drive technology manufacturer to take over the conversion of the North and South Terminal.
Over 1,500 drives currently ensure a smooth and reliable system operation. However, Gatwick Airport has already planned to increase the number of MOVIGEAR® to more than 2,000 drive units. This is all thanks to the following properties and benefits of MOVIGEAR®:
Customer request
Gatwick Airport wanted to install reliable and powerful drives to upgrade the luggage transportation system. This meant that the key criteria were absolute reliability, energy efficiency and a reduction in the number of variants.
Our solution
Thanks to our highly efficient mechatronic drive technology with MOVIGEAR®, Gatwick Airport was easily able to surpass its objectives: MOVIGEAR® was a perfect match with energy savings of 30 - 50% and is already in use in other airports around the world.
For our new luggage transportation systems at Gatwick Airport it was important to install reliable and powerful drives. As a result, our key criteria were absolute reliability and energy efficiency, in order to implement Gatwick's envisaged sustainable environmental objectives, summarized under the "Decade of Change", such as a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.Alex Adams, Head Engineer – Luggage Systems, Gatwick AirportSecondary criteria included:
- Reduce the number of drive types
- Reduce the number of potential error sources, e.g. mechanical brakes, fans
- Use simple control systemsOur market research identified that the MOVIGEAR® drive series from SEW-EURODRIVE best met our criteria. We subsequently installed 1,200 drive units and included the specification in our technical standards.