Jewers Go Down-Under on Canberra Metro
Jewers Doors’ Australian reseller, Max Doors Solutions (MDS), have recently completed the intallation of four sets of Swift-SEW doors on the maintenance depot for the new Light Rail system in the country’s capital, Canberra.
Jewers were approached directly by Sydney-based architects, Architectus, in 2016 to design bi-folding doors for the light rail vehicles (LRV’s) to enter and exit the depot. Jewers had the ideal solution with the Swift-SEW, designed and marketed specifically for the rail industry.
Following detailed design, in August 2017, Canberra Metro Construction contacted Jewers to provide the doors, which were manufactured at Jewers’ Bedfordshire based UK HQ and shipped to Australia in the following year.
Each Swift-SEW door is configured in four leaves with two leaves folding to each side, and folding clear of the opening on the inside of the building. Panels are 62mm thick, insulated, single piece steel faced composite panels operated by a powerful, centrally mounted SEW drive unit. Control is via a purpose built PLC control panel incorporating remote status reporting and inverter control for ultra-smooth operation. Door opening time is under 8 seconds, and in the event of power failure, a low-level disengage handle enables the doors to be easily opened by hand. User safety is ensured with full height pressure sensitive safety edges in the leading edge of the door, and photocells to prevent the door closing on an LRV and create a safe zone around the door. Each door leaf is fitting with full perimeter, seamless, multi-wall EPDM rubber seals to prevent dust and water ingress.
Doors are powder coated to match the cladding facade and each leaf is fitted with a double glazed toughened glass vision panel set in a thermally broken aluminium frame to provide light ingress and visibility.
A high level 500mm x 580mm cut-out allows the door to safely close around the overhead line equipment (OLE). The cut-out is lined with a dielectrically rated rubber sheet tested to 30kVA to prevent bird entry and reduce dust ingress, and the door is earthed back to the structure with suitably rated earth-bonding braids. The maintenance depot is accessed by four roads, each road being secured by a pair of seven metre high Swift-SEW doors. Three of the doors are four metres wide, whilst the door on the fourth road is five metres wide to accommodate the LRV accessing the opening on curved tracks.
Jewers Doors’ director, Mark Jewers commented, “Rail is a booming industry in Australia, and we were delighted to be invited to provide the very best of UK engineering for this hugely prestigious project. In my experience, previous depot door installations in Australia have been somewhat agricultural, and Canberra Metro recognised the benefits of a proprietary UK product purchased from MDS who are a well-respected supplier of high quality industrial doors in Australia. Jewers are already working closely with MDS on several other rail projects.“
This article was originally published by Jewers Doors.
