Submersible
Sensors and Maintenance test of the lock Noordersluis
Turnkey measuring system provides data for maintenance plan by
SPIE
In 2029,
the Noordersluis between IJmuiden and Amsterdam will reach the
end of its technical life. In addition, the lock has become too
small for the increasingly large sea-going vessels and cruise
boats. For the safety and productivity of the port of Amsterdam,
the sea lock will be replaced in 2022 by a new lock of 500 m
long, 70 m wide and 18 m deep. Rijkswaterstaat (part of the Dutch
Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management) is investigating
what maintenance must be done to keep the current lock in operation
until the new lock is delivered. They do this together with TNO
(The Netherlands Organisation for applied scientific research)
and maintenance company SPIE.
Lock Noordersluis
IJmuiden
The lock has two large lock doors. When the lock has to be open
for shipping, the lock doors slide into the quay via rails. The
rails are submerged under water on a concrete foundation. After
all those years in the water, the concrete is degenerating. If
the damage to the concrete becomes too large, rails may start
to spring or collapse when the door passes over it.
To develop a good maintenance plan for the lock, SPIE must know
how the rails behave when the door passes over them.
Plug and
Play Measurement System
Althen Sensors & Controls was asked for help to measure the
suspension of the rails. Two weeks after the first contact, Althen
delivered a complete measurement system. Divers placed 20 Linear
Position Sensors on the rails, 10 sensors on each rail. The S114
Linear Position Sensors are robust, accurate and especially suitable
for underwater use. During the opening and closing of the lock
gates, the system measures how much the rails move. The combined
measurement results are recorded in a GL 7000 Data Logger.
Thanks to the Plug'n Play concept, after mounting the sensors,
the system was ready for measurements in half an hour.
Use of
the measurement system
The 20 Position Sensors are connected to the Datalogger GL7000
with cables of 100m, via Junction Boxes developed by Althen.
The fluctuations can be monitored live on the Datalogger display.
The measurement results can be saved, exported or read remotely
in real time.
After two weeks, the measurement data is sent to TNO (Netherlands
Organization for Applied Natural Science Research), which analyses
the data and processes it in a report for Rijkswaterstaat. SPIE
draws up a thorough maintenance plan for the Noordersluis based
on this report.
August 2019
