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Airport crash tenders use pneumatics to help ensure airport safety

Accelerating 51 tons to 50 mph within 21 seconds -- that's how a high-performance extinguishing system helps fight fire from a distance of 90 meters. The Z8 airport crash tender from Albert Ziegler GmbH is the crème de la crème of its kind, and AVENTICS is on board. [Credit: Ziegler GmbH]

 

 

 

 

Frankfurt airport in Germany. An engine catches fire during a passenger aircraft landing. The alarm siren goes off in the fire station. Firefighters spring into action, hit the big green button in the crew room, and run to their vehicles.

Downstairs, they are awaited by airport crash tenders, 12 meters long and 3 meters wide. The model is known as the "FLF Z8," developed and built by Albert Ziegler GmbH.

"Less than 30 seconds go by from the alarm until the truck rolls out," says Nils Conrad, Ziegler team leader for the engineering and development of special vehicles. Electricity and compressed air are also supplied to vehicles in an idle state. Both drive motors are thus preheated with 1,400 hp in total, and the air brake system is open. In less than 21 seconds, the FLF Z8 has accelerated its 51-ton weight to 80 km/h (50 mph). It can reach speeds up to 135 km/h (84 mph). The vehicle can be anywhere on the airport grounds in less than three minutes.

[Credit: Ziegler GmbH]

 

 

An articulated extinguishing arm and front cannon volley up to 10,000 liters per minute of water, foam, and powder to fight the fire. When there are no headwinds, crew members can stand as far as 90 meters from the fire to begin their job of extinguishing it. Below the vehicle, a body/ground protection system with several water jets prevents kerosene leaks from damaging the Z8 airport crash tender.

High flows and emergency pneumatics
Situated between the Ziegler fire-fighting centrifugal pump driven by a 360-kW pump motor and the cannons, pneumatic systems and components from AVENTICS regulate the extinguishing agents.

AVENTICS HF03-LG valves

 

 

"The high pump capacity demands powerful pneumatic components with high flow rates and large cylinders," says Dietmar Huber, who is responsible for the pneumatics in the vehicle's design. On the Z8 airport crash tender, several CD01 and HF03-LG series valve systems from AVENTICS control the actuators with up to 12 AVENTICS valves. NL2 series pressure regulators lower filter pressure from 15 bar to 10 bar when the vehicle is standing in the hall. The valves are actuated in series by the Ziegler PLC.

Ziegler does not only rely on the electric remote control for the core functions: "With airport crash tenders, you need reliability and availability that is 100 percent," Huber explains. "If the electricity fails, the crews can switch to manual emergency operation of the pneumatic valves. That is very important."

The vehicles from Ziegler are used in airports around the world. They are designed to outlast the most adverse conditions such as high and low temperatures, dust, and extreme humidity; so are the products from AVENTICS.

AVENTICS PRA ISO Cylinder

 

 

Individual configuration, simplified logistics
For the PRA series pneumatic cylinders, Ziegler chose corrosion-resistant versions with stainless steel piston rods and metal scrapers.

"Our vehicles are designed for a service life of 25 years," says Conrad. "We convince our customers with quality and the fact that we customize every single vehicle to meet our customers' needs."

Modular pneumatics are very convenient in this regard.

Learn more at www.aventics.com/us/en/.

Source: AVENTICS

Published October 2018

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