Success story from cruise shipping
Sliding doors on the high seas: PrimeTec with IP65 protection
Leaving everyday life behind and exploring foreign lands from a floating luxury hotel – this is what makes the idea of a cruise so alluring. A US shipping company is looking to offer its passengers a unique ambiance and in doing so is designing the interior of its ship to exceptionally high standards. To ensure a comfortable stay and an unobstructed view for guests, our customer – Metalgate – integrated automatic sliding glass doors in one of the luxury ships. Being the official partner for Tormax in Italy, Metalgate plans, produces and installs automatic doors for the market on land and for cruise ships. This project required a detector solution tailored to both the difficult ambient conditions and the customer’s high design requirements.
Starting position
Cruise ships are continuously exposed to extreme weather. Rain, wind, saltwater and exposure to strong sunlight represent a real test of endurance for the materials used. As a result, the external walls are cleaned regularly to prevent premature corrosion caused by contact with seawater. Since its maiden voyage, however, the ship has encountered the problem of water used in the various cleaning processes collecting in the detector housings, causing devices to fail periodically. Frequent and extensive maintenance visits by our customer Metalgate were required to replace defective devices again and again.
Project requirements
- Increasing the tightness of the housing should prevent the ingress of water.
- Any water that does enter should not be able to collect in the housing.
- Sensors should feature corrosion protection to ensure they are optimally adapted to the weather conditions.
- The number of service cases should be reduced.
- Automatic sliding doors should be operated safely and free of malfunctions.
Solution
Working closely with the customer, BBC Bircher Smart Access further developed its PTIS ceiling integration set for the PrimeTec combined detector and the PrimeScan active infrared detector. Firstly, the designers split the interior of the PTIS integration module into two chambers. A newly inserted labyrinth frame seals the inner chamber from water jets from any direction and therefore satisfies the IP65 protection class. The next step was to add six openings to the cover of the new IP65 version. These enable any water that has entered the outer chamber during cleaning to drain out unimpeded. What’s more, the cover has been manufactured using a UV-resistant plastic to ensure that the white front cover retains its attractive appearance for a long time even when exposed to strong sunlight. To prevent metal corrosion, BBC Bircher has also supplied the PTIS IP65 integration set with rust-proof screws. With this solution, BBC Bircher has been able to help Metalgate to dramatically reduce the number of service call-outs it receives as well as live up to the shipping company’s high design requirements.
Benefits for the customer
- Virtually no product failures due to water ingress in two years
- Built-in modules for door detectors with protection against water jets in accordance with IP65
- Any water that enters during cleaning is able to drain out immediately
- UV-resistant plastic and rust-proof screws guarantee a high level of durability
- Reliable opening of automatic sliding doors with radar technology
- Reliable monitoring of primary and secondary closing edges due to active infrared curtain
- Discreet integration of devices through ceiling installation