The ABB solution was named winner of the KNX Award for the ‘International category - Asia’ in 2010. The awards are made every two years for “the smartest KNX projects in home and building control, which stand out as regards innovation and technical progress.”
Inaugurated in July last year, Terminal 3 at Indira Gandhi International Airport, Delhi, has a capacity of 34 million passengers a year and is reputed to be the fifth largest airport passenger terminal in the world.
The huge 111,600 square meter complex is arranged on nine levels and has two piers, each of which is 1.2 km long. The airport’s vital statistics include 169 check in counters, 78 gates, 97 automatic walkways, 96 immigration counters, 20,000 sq m of retail space and 14 baggage carousels.
All of this requires lighting and illumination. Even though 80% of the terminal’s structure is made of glass, the airport’s lighting system is huge. It comprises more than 100,000 light fittings and illumination points, and some 11,000 electrical and electronic devices like actuators, dimmers and detectors.
The entire lighting system is intelligently and energy efficiently controlled by an ABB i-bus KNX solution, which coordinates and controls critical functions such as switching and dimming. It also uses sensors for light, brightness and presence to ensure that electrical lighting is used only when needed and at the intensity required.
The ABB solution is part of a USD 77 million order that ABB was awarded to provide the complete electrical infrastructure for Terminal 3, including an energy management system that monitors and controls the terminal’s entire electrical network.
For safety and security reasons, the lighting in some parts of the terminal has to be switched on 24 hours a day. But in other parts of the complex, such as the gates, restrooms and the arrivals and departures halls, the ABB solution uses its unique scope for energy-efficient lighting management to the full. It does this by activating, deactivating, switching and dimming the lighting in accordance with preset demand, timing and occupation patterns.
For instance, the lighting is automatically deactivated and dimmed to 10 percent of its full strength when a gate or check-in area is not in use. In restrooms, the lighting increases from 50 to 100 percent brightness whenever someone enters, and in offices and service rooms the lighting is controlled by presence sensors.
The ABB i-bus solution has also won acclaim for its seamless integration with the terminal’s systems for building management, network management and energy management.
