Schmersal gets alternative access to Heathrow terminal 5
May 29th 2007

In conjunction with its partner-distributor Parmley Graham, man-machine safety specialist Schmersal has supplied a number of its bi-directional position limit switches to Alternative Access to be fitted to more than thirty bespoke powered access platforms in Heathrow’s new Terminal 5 building.

Alternative Access, which specialises in permanent access platforms for buildings and other high structures and maintenance, won the contract for Terminal 5 gantries and those for the connecting railway station. In all, thirty-five remote controlled powered access gantries are being installed – thirty-one internal and four external – each measuring 15m long. The internal gantries are used to maintain the terminal’s soffits and the external ones for window cleaning and general maintenance.

Each internal gantry is fitted with two Schmersal T4VH 355 bi-directional switches – one at either end – to prevent them from being operated while under excess load. The switches are also used to prevent any conflict in the direction of the cross-travel crab, i.e. if the gantry is moving left-to-right, the switch isolates the signal to prevent it from moving right-to-left.

Schmersal switches are also fitted to the terminal’s twenty-three 160m long bus bars – three-phase multiple terminal rails that provides power for the access gantries. The switches detect when the gantry has reached the end of the bus bar and are also used to isolate the power while the gantry is moved from one bus bar to another on a different level.

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