Brakes from mayr power transmission are used to ensure the safety
of a kinetic sculpture that serves as one of the artistic highlights
of Changi Airport’s new terminal
Top: The Petalclouds
installation at Changi
Airport in Singapore
Above: ROBA-stop-M safety
brakes are designed to offer
maximum safety and ease
of installation
Opposite page: Each element
uses two servo motors with
cable winches to ensure soft,
flowing movements
SAFETY BRAKES
MAYR POWER TRANSMISSION
Brake dance
I n October 2017, Changi Airport in
Singapore opened its new Terminal 4.
A stylized orchid petal motif runs
through the design of the entire
terminal as a red thread. The artistic
centerpiece is a kinetic sculpture called
Petalclouds, consisting of 96 petal-shaped
aluminum elements that move to the rhythm
of specially composed music.
What looks light and airy is technically a
heavyweight object; approximately 4 tons of
steel and aluminum move over the heads of
passengers. Each petal is actuated by two servo
motors with winches, to ensure the flowing
movements. In regular operation, the control
system is also a matter for the motors, yet each
is also equipped with an emergency stop brake
– the ROBA-stop-M series from mayr power
transmission – just in case.
Two of these brakes are applied per winch.
This kind of setup – where loads are attached
to cables and moved by electric motors with
winches – can be found behind the scenes
of many stages around the world. Many of these
rely on brakes from mayr power transmission.
Reliability requirement
The Changi Airport installation was designed
by Art+Com Studios, and MKT converted this
vision into a TÜV-certified system and
conducted all the manufacturing, installation
and commissioning. “We have installed hundreds
of safety elements in Petalclouds,” says Werner
Riebesel, who led the project at MKT. “The
difficulty was to keep the system running
smoothly without the safety components
shutting everything down with false alarms.
That was especially important because we
installed the project in Singapore – you can’t
just go there because of every little problem.”
The safety elements therefore had to be
very reliable, just as they need to be for the
stage. MKT relied on brakes from mayr power
transmission because no compromises can be
108 AUDITORIA 2019 VOLUME ONE
Changi Airport
mayr power transmission