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Over 21km of Wieland Electric’s podis power bus system, as well as over 4km of gesis NRG flat cable, are being supplied for use on baggage conveyors on Heathrow Airport’s new Terminal 5 (T5). The products have been specified to provide the electrical power distribution supplying the drives on the baggage systems.
Once complete, in 2011, T5 is expected to host some 30 million passengers a year and will have 60 docking stations for aircraft, so the baggage handling systems are extensive.
The baggage systems are being supplied to T5 by Vanderlande Industries BV, which is using a decentralised motor control method for the switching of the motor starters and drives. Having considered both flat cable and round cable, Vanderlande recognised that the Wieland flat cable would be faster to install and there would be less chance of installation errors as the podis system is mechanically coded ensuring that each termination is error free
The podis system is based on a seven pole flexible flat cable that uses insulation piercing technology for its connectivity. This allows connections to be made at any point along the cable without having to terminate the cable in a junction box. This enables the main radial ring to be installed quickly, with connections to individual drives simply a matter of tapping into the flat cable and plugging in the drive.
The system is combined with gesis NRG flat cable, which fits conveniently into cable ducts and can be shaped to suit the structure of the building.
