Swiss Federal Railways (SBB AG) extended the maintenance facility Herdern at the Herdern-Areal in Zurich-Altstetten to one of the most modern maintenance facilities for service and repair work. PentaControl AG was entrusted by the general contractor Allreal AG with the complete building automation, whereby it applied latest technologies.
Entire compositions of long-distance trains are maintained and serviced within the plant in multi-shift operations. Basically, the maintenance facility Herdern is designated for three types of work processes: service, repair, and revision. This work is performed according to its requirements on three tracks with different track lengths. The project is impressive, as the huge hall with a unique industrial architecture and a length of 425 m allows to accommodate two train compositions or entire trains of up to 410 m in length at once. Furthermore, the extension of the plant encompasses a rebuild of the existing office building.
Correspondingly extensive are the requirements that are imposed on the automation. The focus is on high energy efficiency, a maximum of safety, as well as a maximum of availability of the plant. Through an optimized operation, the tough environmental laws need to be adhered to at any time. Additionally, the user appreciates a clear and simple handling of the entire facility.
The integral solution includes the following features:
- Control of the heating system
- Control of the ventilation system
- Control of the entire lighting
- Control of smoke and heat extraction
- Control of the acoustic system
- Detection and forwarding of alarms
Different factors had to be considered when designing the system. The focus was laid on the tremendous physical dimensions of the facility, respectively the widespread arrangement of sensors and actuators. Another main criteria was the consistent integration of different functional subsystems.
Because of the plant’s dimensions, PentaControl AG decided on an architecture of decentralized intelligence. Data points are centrally gathered by a fieldbus and processed. Thus, the installation expense was minimized. Simultaneously, the chosen system achieved a high plant availability. The outage of single components, if any, only exercises a marginal influence on the combined functionality of the facility.
Hereby, the concept of LOYTEC, with its distributed automation servers and interfaces to all common subsystems with complete data consistency, proved to be ideal, independent of the communication technology that was used (CEA-709, LonWorks, BACnet, DALI, M-Bus, Modbus, KNX …).
The core of the facility is the LWEB-900 Building Management System for configuration, parameterization, and visualization. Through its management and operating features, it represents the user interface. Its client-server architecture allows to access operating data of the entire network in real-time. The sophisticated central control system is applied from conception, through implementation, to maintenance. As a central component, the LWEB-900 server stores system and operating parameters, historic data, access rights, and device configurations (Backup) in corresponding SQL data bases.
Plant illustrations, operating conditions, and current values are available at over fifteen control panels, spread across the entire hall. Here, the LOYTEC L-VIS touch panels with 12” displays are deployed. The control concept was developed with emphasis on simplicity and clarity.
The applied automation concept excels as a highly flexible solution. Enlargements and adjustments are possible at any time. That, as well as the use of standards provide a high investment protection for the customer throughout the whole lifetime of the building.
Interesting Facts
Devices: LINX-110, LINX-111, LINX-121, LIOB-150, LIOB-151, LIOB-480, LVIS-3E112, LDALI-3E102, LDALI-3E104
| Location | Zurich, Switzerland |
| Number of Nodes | about 100 Nodes |
| Topology | Lonworks FT10, IP852 (LonMark) via glass fiber, DALI bus |
| Companies involved | PentaControl AG |
| LOYTEC Components | 5 x LINX-110, 10x LINX-111, 1x LINX-121, 44x LIOB-150, 10x LIOB-151, 1x LIOB-480, 15 x LVIS-3E112, 3 x LDALI-3E102, 13x LDALI-3E104 |
| LOYTEC Tools | LWEB-900 plus all LOYTEC Plugins for L-INX/L-DALI/L-VIS |