Customer application 4 June 2019
Welcome to Norderney!

The new harbor terminal for the Frisia Shipping Company on Norderney, Germany, boasts more than impressive architecture – it also showcases complex building technology. Components from WAGO ensure that it works together perfectly.

A certain level of understatement is usually attributed to northern Germans. The new harbor terminal for the Norden-Frisia Shipping Company on Norderney upends this cliché. Terms like “futuristic,” “ultra-modern,” and “stellar,” which have been used to describe the building, are rather atypical of northern Germany. Yet they suit the building. For around ten million euros, Frisia has built a new, state-of-the-art harbor terminal, whose rounded shapes embed it in the island landscape and have earned it the apt name of “Hafendüne”, or Harbor Dune. “Square, practical and cheap was not appealing to us,” explains Weddermann, Project Manager, as well as Assistant Manager of the shipping company.

High Demands on the Building Automation>

Regardless of the architectural finesse, “the core function of a terminal is to handle our passengers,” says Weddermann. The Frisia ferries bring around 2.3 million people annually to the island and back; on peak days, 20,000 people pass through the building. They now have a generously dimensioned waiting area, where they can purchase tickets, snacks and other amenities. The shipping company has moved their headquarters into the Harbor Dune building, with offices for Weddermann and around 50 other employees and two conference rooms for meetings of the Executive and Supervisory Boards and other purposes. In addition, the shipping company sets high standards for environmental responsibility. The energy consumption should be close to carbon neutral, which is achieved by using a geothermal system and an active concrete core roof. The equipment also includes heated floors. In contrast, Frisia omitted a classic ventilation system. Air exchange takes place primarily through the automated opening of windows and controlling small fans. This is of primary importance in the passenger waiting hall, in which 1,300 people wait during peak hours. Bottom line: It was a true challenge to equip the building for these tasks. “This is by far the most complex project that we have implemented up to now,” explains Klaus Mayrhofer, CEO of VM-Technik, specialists in building automation.

Integrated Approach during Planning

Mayrhofer was responsible for providing the unifying shape for the entire building technology for the Harbor Dune. “What was special about this project was that the building designers in all trades understood the project as a whole and followed an integrated approach,” says the electrical engineer. Regardless of whether the carbon neutral heating is achieved using geothermal heat and heat pumps, modern LED lighting, ventilation of the passenger hall or air conditioning of the offices, the important point for Klaus Mayrhofer was to reconcile all of the planners’ demands and desires, and to determine how the overall technology would function not only automatically, but harmoniously and efficiently as well. He achieved this using components from WAGO. They provide the foundation for the entire electrical instrumentation, control and regulation technology for the Habor Dune. “We knew that we would face complex challenges. Since we are system partners with WAGO, we also knew that the solutions from Minden would have the requisite depth, both with regards to hardware and software,” says Mayrhofer.

“We knew that we would face complex challenges. Since we are system partners with WAGO, we also knew that the solutions from Minden would have the requisite depth, both with regards to hardware and software.

Klaus Mayrhofer, Managing Director, VM-Technik GmbH

Decentralized Intelligence

Because the terminal is divided into different areas – a passenger hall, administration, an archive, and other areas – it was equipped with decentralized intelligence. “We installed a total of seven distributed automation focal points in the building,” says Mayrhofer. WAGO Controllers form the core of the building’s central nervous system by transmitting all of the data to a central server. Numerous sensors and actuators constantly provide information; for example, the states of the valves and pumps, inlet and return flow temperatures, indoor temperatures for individual spaces, CO₂ values in the passenger hall, electrical consumers and important weather data like light values are taken into consideration.

The list of all of the data points that are detected and processed using WAGO technology extends over four DIN A4 pages. “The most extensive is probably the hydraulic control of the heating and cooling flows,” explains Mayrhofer. The interplay between geothermal heat sensors, heat pumps and the active concrete core is enormously sophisticated, particularly since the Frisia employees can each independently regulate the temperature and climate controls in their offices using their own operating elements. The conference rooms use modern touch panels for this. Even more finesse is evident in the lighting: The DALI bus generates control commands for building lighting as a function of natural light levels. When the sun sinks into the North Sea in the evenings, the exterior lights switch automatically from path-lighting mode to bathe the building in blue light – the color of the Frisia Shipping Company.

Door Control by App

The fire alarm system, including fire dampers and fans, is likewise linked into the central WAGO building automation. Another important point relates to energy monitoring. “All data related to heat production and usages are archived, which enables us to constantly optimize the system. Substantial potential can be found in complex installations like this one,” explains Mayrhofer. The visualization implemented with WAGO technology has proven extremely helpful in presenting the information in clear trend charts. All data are available for off-site perusal via a secure data line. For Project Manager Olaf Weddermann, the opening and closing of the terminal's large glass doors should be included among the more important building technology functions. They are an important tool in guiding the large crowds of passengers in an organized way down from the ferry or up to the ferry in a short period of time. “We originally had no plans to handle this using sophisticated technology,” says Weddermann. However, he was convinced by the possibilities. “The door controls can be operated on a tablet using a WAGO app,” explains Mayrhofer. This is not just a gimmick: thanks to the tablet app, employees can open and shut accesses to the island and the ferry while standing in the passenger hall, where they have a good overview of the flows of arriving and departing passengers. Mayrhofer has also installed WAGO systems on the “Frisia IV”, where they control heating and ventilation. “I just asked if the WAGO technology would function there, and the answer was an unqualified yes,” states Weddermann. Everything runs in the Harbor Dune – as they say in north Germany – very nice and orderly.

Text: Stephan Lampe, WAGO
Photo: Jens Nied

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Customer application 4 June 2019 Welcome to Norderney!