Projects : People Mover Guideway Heating System

Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport has selected Bombardier in Pittsburgh, PA, to be the contractor/manufacturer of an Automated People Mover System to be installed at the airport. When completed, the People Mover System will be the largest such system in the world. This project is part of a $1 Billion expansion of the DFW Airport, which is ranked as the fifth busiest airport in the world, handling over 60 million passengers per year.

The automated vehicles use rubber tires require positive traction year round. Bombardier selected Dynamic Design Engineering, Inc. and Integrated Consultants & Engineers, Inc. (Dynamic Power Technologies Group companies) to provide consulting engineering services select an in-slab ice/snow prevention (melting) system for the project. Several different heating options were reviewed and compared to the previously used (and costly) electric resistance heating systems comprised of embedded wire or conduit.

A hot water (hydronic) heating system was finally selected because it will save substantial operating costs and provide more reliability. There are two guideways at the site with a total length of 48,000 feet of guideway or over nine miles of concrete guideways to link airport facilities. The $9 million project is comprised of seven hydronic zones, utilizing seven electric 850 kW hot water boilers.

Primary and secondary piping systems were designed to distribute hot water to cross-linked polyethylene tubing which is embedded in the concrete guideway slabs. The slab temperature will be maintained above 32°F to prevent the forming of ice or snow on the guideway to allow year round operation of the People Mover System. An automatic temperature control system was designed to properly control each hydronic zone and which will provide for staggered "firing" of the various electric boilers to minimize the overall peak demand in the electrical system; thereby significantly reduce electric costs.

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