At many ski resorts, it’s once again time to get on your boards, get set, go! While last winter was still impacted by corona restrictions, this year ski and snowboard fans from around the world are looking forward to frolicking on the slopes. In the Alps alone, winter sports enthusiasts can ski through fine powder snow on more than 26,000 kilometers of slopes, conquer black pistes, or carve their leisurely way to the next lift station to be taken back up the mountain. And speaking of lifts, the days of drafty chair lifts and rickety T-bars are fortunately over–thanks, in part, to modern control technology from Siemens . One example is the Sonntagskogelbahn, one of the most innovative chair lifts in the Snow Space Salzburg ski region and the epitome of modern lift operation.
The high-tech lift with 38 heated eight-seater chairs transports around 3,600 people per hour over 200 meters up the Sonntagskogel. The lift can be flexibly controlled and efficiently operated with the aid of a fully digitally programmed and monitored control system from Siemens. The seats, for example, have a height detection system when boarding. This means that regardless of the order in which children and adults board together, the seat height is based on the smallest person and automatically adjusts the conveyor carpet. The energy consumption of the lift system can also be significantly reduced by the new drive technology, since, among other things, gear losses are avoided by the direct drive from motor and innovative frequency converter.
At the heart of the lift’s control technology are two redundant frequency converter systems. Redundant means maximum safety for passengers. Even if one part of the system should fail, the lift can continue to run until all passengers have reached the top station safely and are ready to start their next descent. A video on the Sonntagskogelbahn is available here.
