OT SYSTEMS LTD.

SAFE AND SECURE UPWARDS

PROJECT REPORT: OT SYSTEMS SECURES ELEVATORS IN HONG KONG’S ICC TOWER

On the West Kowloon headland, opposite the International Finance Centre, ri ses Hong Kong’s new landmark: the International Commerce Centre (ICC), now the highest building in the metropolis. The space, distributed over 118 floors, can hold a complete town. Elevators take an important role in the “vertical city”. It is self-evident that they are not only to be fast but also safe. The FTD100Micro series fibre optics converters by OT Systems make a particular contribution.

The new Hong Kong landmark towers 484 meters above the city. The International Commerce Centre (ICC) will be completed this year after three years of construction. This not only makes the glass, aluminium and steel giant Hong Kong’s highest building, but after the skyscrapers Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828 meters), Taipei 101 in Taiwan (508 meters) and the Shanghai World Financial Center in China (492 meters) one of the highest buildings worldwide. Originally a height of 574 meters was planned, but due to government regulations the surrounding mountains are not to be topped.

DOWNSTAIRS SHOPPING, BUILDING AT THE TOP

Already October 2007 saw the opening of the shopping mall “Elements”. The “ground section” houses 123 boutiques as well as a 1,600-seat cinema, the largest movie house in Hong Kong. While visitors are strolling through the shopping mile construction towards heaven was continued during the following years. This fall the 387 meters high 360° observation deck will open for visitors. Beginning in March 2011, the Ritz Carlton will move into the upper floors and will be the world-highest hotel: the hotel lobby is at 425 meters and the 860-squaremeter spa on the 116th floor allows visitors, thanks to its panorama window, a spectacular view. Among others Deutsche Bank is interested in 12 floors of office space plus an option for six more.

MONITORING THE ELEVATOR CARS

With a total of 118 floors and approximately 20,000 daily visitors the fast and safe vertical transport is set to come of special importance as a link between the floors. For passenger and goods transportation 83 elevators and 43 escalators are available, including page break 59 high-performance elevators by the Swiss manufacturer Schindler. The 118th floor can be reached in record-breaking 54 seconds. Integrated in the elevators is a video monitoring system, which takes care of the visitors’ safety. Part of this CCTV solution is the FT-D100Micro transmitters by OT Systems. The task: deliver interference-free video signals from each elevator to the main control centre.

REALLY GREAT ON THE SMALLEST SPACE

To comply with the high security requirements each elevator has two monitoring cameras, which are individually connected to an FTD100Micro transmitter. The FTD100Micro series is currently one of the smallest fibre optic converters with digital signal processing on the market and fits easily in most camera casings. The analogue camera video signals are digitised and transmitted via fibre optics along the elevator shafts to the respective local control rooms. These are distributed over several floors and only offer limited space. Due to the limitation in space no 19“ rack can be used. For this reason the 3-channel version of the FTD100 series as stand-alone module is deployed, which convert the signals for monitoring back into analogue video. The link-up with the main control room is again via individual fibre optics with FT400 series transmitter/receiver combinations. All fibre optics products by OT Systems are surge-protected and guarantee superior connectivity thanks to gold-plated BNC connectors. Consequently, the small transmitters contribute to the safety of the visitors of the International Commerce Centre.