2nd Quarter 2009Electrical switching & drive systems & components
Following seven years of preparation, the XXIXth Olympic Summer Games were officially opened at exactly 8.08 pm on 8 August, 2008 at the Beijing National Stadium. China’s long-held dream of holding the Olympic Games on its own territory had finally come true.
High-tech equipment was deployed on a large scale at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics. Despite numerous strong competitors, SEW-Eurodrive (Tianjin) Co, was selected as the exclusive supplier for all drive engineering requirements for the opening and closing ceremonies.
SEW-Eurodrive drive systems played a major role in the opening and closing ceremonies of the Beijing Summer Olympics
On conclusion of the contract, SEW-Eurodrive (China) immediately formed a technical ‘Olympics team’ of top specialists and experts, designed to ensure professional drive engineering support for successful staging of the opening ceremony.
The opening ceremony began at 8.08 pm with an impressive firework display. The national stadium, fitted with 91 000 seats, was full of excited spectators who followed the amazing events on the stage. Behind all the magical scene changes, SEW drive engineering staged its own successful show. The cable winches that raised the Olympic rings consisted of 26 type KAF77 helical-bevel gearmotors and several Movidrive B frequency inverters. The opening and closing mechanism of the main stage in the form of a traditional Chinese scroll was driven by four R137 gearmotors.
SEW-Eurodrive systems and units were also mounted on the roof of the stadium. 214 horizontally and vertically aligned drives and motors and 211 frequency inverters were used for lifting equipment, lighting the stage, and moving cameras, stuntmen and women. The drive systems were subjected to exacting technical requirements in terms of control accuracy and the stability and reliability of system operation.
A total of 560 gear units and 450 frequency inverters from the drive company were used and their smooth and trouble-free operation contributed to the success of the opening and closing ceremonies.
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