Driving improved efficiency and environmental benefits
Company Size
1,000+
Region
- Pacific
Country
- Australia
Product
- EcoStruxure
- M580 ePAC
- Altivar VSDs
- Citect SCADA system
Tech Stack
- IoT
- Automation
- Connectivity
- Software
Implementation Scale
- Enterprise-wide Deployment
Impact Metrics
- Cost Savings
- Energy Saving
- Environmental Impact Reduction
Technology Category
- Analytics & Modeling - Real Time Analytics
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
- Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Connectivity Platforms
Applicable Industries
- Transportation
Applicable Functions
- Facility Management
- Maintenance
Use Cases
- Energy Management System
- Predictive Maintenance
- Public Transportation Management
Services
- Cloud Planning, Design & Implementation Services
- System Integration
About The Customer
EastLink is a freeway network located east of Melbourne in Victoria’s greenbelt. The 40 kilometre road network is the largest privately operated freeway network in Victoria, and is a leader in transport sustainability. EastLink has the lowest toll prices in Australia, 480 hectares of landscaping, 4 million native trees, shrubs and plants, more than 60 wetlands that treat road surface rainwater run-off before it is released to local waterways, and the EastLink Trail – 35 kilometres of shared use path, distinctive public architecture and public artworks. Defining features of the freeway are the twin 1.6 km tunnels which protect the environmentally sensitive Mullum Mullum Valley above. The tunnels are each three lanes wide and reach a maximum depth of 53 metres underground. Up to 115,000 vehicles drive through the EastLink tunnels in a single day.
The Challenge
The EastLink freeway tunnels in Melbourne, Victoria, run beneath the environmentally sensitive Mullum Mullum Valley, requiring special attention to ventilation of vehicle emissions. The original tunnel ventilation system, commissioned when EastLink opened ten years ago, was designed to expel 100% of tunnel air, including pollutants from vehicles’ combustion engines, through two 45-metre high ventilation stacks. The ventilation system has 24 smaller jet fans which are located within the tunnels to control air flow direction, minimising a piston effect caused by traffic movement in the tunnel, and ten axial larger, 275kW, 690vAC, ventilation fans in the ventilation stacks to draw air up from the tunnels for expulsion at the stack tops. Since the opening of EastLink, the speed of airflows within the tunnels and stacks was controlled in a traditional way - by switching individual fans on and off at pre-programmed times of the day. When switched on, a fan always operated at full speed. This was inefficient, using more electricity than necessary and producing high operating noise levels. It was also causing unnecessary wear and tear on components.
The Solution
Schneider Electric worked with EastLink to upgrade the ten large ventilation fans from fixed speed fully off / fully on operation to a much more efficient self-regulating or closed loop variable speed operation. Schneider Electric’s EcoStruxure platform has been used in the solution to bring together automation, connectivity and software for real time control and visibility. The middle layer of the EcoStruxure solution is a Citect SCADA control system. This provides an interface so EastLink can see how the ventilation system is running, at any time, from anywhere. This allows them to monitor and maintain systems and to see exactly where energy savings are being made. Two pairs of Hot Standby Schneider Electric M580 ePAC (Ethernet Programmable Automation Controller) have been installed, one pair in each tunnel, to create the new closed-loop system with a ATV61 690vAC variable speed drive (VSD) with Active Front End (AFE) harmonic mitigation installed on each of the 10 axial fans. The ePACs use real-time data from air quality and air f low sensors to dynamically control the speed and number of axial and jet fans that are required to meet traffic demand. Every few seconds, the updated control system adjusts the VSD on each operating fan to ensure fan operation is fine-tuned according to conditions.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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