Colourful illumination of a bridge in Zutphen entrusted to Tecomat Foxtrot

The original bridge over the IJssel River has become a part of a huge reconstruction project of the waterfront in Zutphen, the Netherlands. The reconstruction turned the waterfront into a form of a park with a number of new seating areas offering a beautiful view of the water and the historic towers of this old Hanseatic city. In 2015, the town has chosen a winning project prepared by the architectural office of Moederscheim Moonen Architects from Rotterdam. This office also gave Teco the permission to publish the final photos of the completed project in Světlo (the Light) magazine, and the relevant information provided by B & R design which has installed Tecomat Foxtrot in the programmable effect control software used by the bridge lighting system.

Fig. 1. Bridge in the city of Zutphen: an illuminated backrest of the bench which runs alone the entire bridge’s length and serves as a timeline reminding passersby of historical milestones of this structure; in 1944 the bridge was bombed as a strategic location (photo by Peter van Kempen and Bart van Hoek)

The new and enhanced road with a separate path for bicycles and pedestrian walkway was placed on supporting trusses attached to the existing bridge.

The separation area between these two new roads was selected for the installation of the colourful effect lighting system which runs along the entire length of the bridge. The system is located in
the backrest of one single bench which is 75 m long. Pedestrians and tourists may use the entire width of the bench and enjoy the various views of the old town situated on the east bank of the river. There is no obstacle in the view because the railing is made of pure glass.

Fig. 2. Control panel of the bridge illumination system: 
a) the actual temperature is displayed and corresponds with the assigned colour ranging from blue to red; there is also a live image of the bridge provided by the installed IP camera, b) preset colours for manual control

This makes it possible to see the bridge with its distinctive and wavy coloured line spanning over the entire width of the river and underlines the unobtrusively illuminated steel vaults of the railway bridge. The reflecting mirror like effect of the river doubles the overall evening and night view.

The reconstruction of the bridge began in May 2017 and was closely watches by almost all residents of the town because it had a significant and positive influence on the city and rail traffic (two -week detour and shutdown of train services). The completed project was handed over to the city at the end of 2017.

Damsteegt / De Boer in cooperation with Spie and B & R design were involved in the technical design and delivered the solution. The town of Zutphen got a new, contemporary and emotional contrapuntal project that genuinely compliments the other 400 historical monuments in the city. Also products of Teco, a. s. had a chance to participate in this experience.

Fig. 3. A colour scheme for the entire year where the colours are picked by simply touching the screen; this colour selection process is done by tapping on the built-in web site directly supported by Tecomat control system firmware

And what technology was used? The basic illumination system of the bridge consists of 24 LED 49M headlamps supplied by SILL. The new footbridge reserved for pedestrians and cyclists is equipped with 131 controllable LED lamps Lumenpulse RGB-W. The staircase from the shore side of the bridge is illuminated by another 26 lamps type Bega RGB-W. RGB-W diodes controlled by ballasts using DMX protocol and DALI are the basic light source of the bridge. The illumination system may be programmed to create any colour or dynamic scene.

The intent of both architects, as well as the city, was to control the light schemes interactively. The first idea was to indicate the outdoor temperature by using the appropriate colour. Of course there was also a requirement for manual operation for adhoc setting of the light scheme for special days. As for Spie, which supplied all the illumination system, the challenge was to find a partner capable of controlling and implementing the interactive features demanded by this project. During the tender proceedings that rigorously focused on every detail, the company choose a solution offered by B & R design BV together with Tecomat Foxtrot CP-1015 system.

Fig. 4. The colour of the bridge illuminated line may be programmed using any combination of RGB-W LED chips (photo by Petervan Kempen and Bart van Hoek)

This programmable machine is configured together with the MR-0105 sub-module, which even as the base module offers two DMX communication lines. The required 128 DALI bus channels are provided by two C-DL-0064M modules connected via CIB - Common Installation Bus^®.

The basic user interface is fitted with ID-36 touchscreen, through which all the modsettings are executed as if from a regular bridge “control room”. To control the light colour according to the outdoor temperature two PT1000 temperature sensors were installed under the bridge. The programme works with a temperature range from -5 to +25° C and the appropriate colour from blue to red correspond with the actual temperature. On a chilly night, when the temperature falls down to -5 °C, the bridge is blue and on a hot summer evening when the temperature reaches +25 °C the bridge is red.

PLC Tecomat Foxtrot also turns the bridge illumination system on during sunset and turns the it off at sunrise – using the astronomical time. This is generated by one of the many parallel programmable function blocks. During late night hours the bridge illumination intensity is automatically dimmed down to 60%.

Fig. 5. Part of the controlled system includes the staircase illumination system situated on the other bank of the river down to the floodplain area
(photo by Peter van Kempen and Bart van Hoek)

For servicing and for normal operation together with a remote monitoring and control, Tecomat Foxtrot is connected to the Internet using the 4G / LTE router. Access is possible via the built-in Foxtrot website which enables both Zutphen technical services and technicians to control and programme colours remotely, or it allows authorized users to receive information about the current status of the system - for example on their mobile phones. To improve monitoring comfort, B & R design has installed a network IP camera on the bridge to track events occurring on the bridge, including real-time monitoring of the status of the bridge illumination system.

After the project was handed over, the city of Zutphen asked for an upgrade of the “colour programming system” of the bridge. The colour schemes were coordinated with the architects and when approved, B & R design transformed these schemes into a new programming system which allows the controller to select the desired colour scheme individually for each day. Throughout the entire year the new programming system continuously displays the recommended colour scheme, from which the technician may select the appropriate colour spectrum by simply touching the desired option. This upgrade is yet another example of great flexibility of Tecomat Foxtrot system. When functions need to be modified during the life cycle of the project Tecomat Foxtrot may be easily used to do that.

Ing. Jaromír Klaban
klaban@tecomat.cz
Teco, a. s.
Průmyslová zóna Štáralka 984
280 02 Kolín
www. tecomat.com