Transforming Dublin Airport

T2 Baggage Tests Begin

 Commissioning and testing is well under way on the new state-of-the-art baggage system in T2.

The installation of the new system, with its 6 kilometres of baggage conveyors, is now at roughly the half-way stage.

And Siemens project director Jeff Martin says everything is on schedule to have the baggage system ready by the required completion date. “We’re very pleased that we are where we are.”

“Commissioning is normally a 3 to 4 month process. Along with the six kilometres of conveyor, we’ve got the carousels, 56 check-in counters, one big sorter and 1,100 motors.”

The new system is a “smart conveyor” controlled by thirteen Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs). “It’s not that a guy turns a key and everything just starts like a car engine. It starts sequentially, based on when a bag first enters the system.”

He describes the computer network as the brains of the system. “Think of the PLCs as mini-computers; these report directly to the main computer which takes all the data which they provide - a bag has passed this sensor, this motor is running at this speed, that sensor just cleared the bag.”

“There’s a lot of information, millions of pieces of data being exchanged between the main computer and the PLCs to track the status of the bag.”

“An equally important part of this system are the security screens. We’re in testing with L-3, the manufacturer of the security machines to test the security functions of the baggage handling system.”

This is American-born Jeff Martin’s 21st airport baggage project. Before coming to Dublin, he oversaw the installation of the baggage system at the world’s biggest airport in Beijing prior to the 2008 Olympics.

“Every job is different and has its own intricacies and challenges. But you put your team together and you get over these and get on with it. At the end of the day, I’m 100% convinced that Dublin will have a world class airport and baggage handling system.” 

October 10, 2009