Dubai (United Arab Emirates)
Sunkid is a world leader in leisure attractions for the whole family. It offers a wide range of products and services, from customized attractions to concept development, production and implementation of turnkey projects.
As one of the Sunkid brand’s three production facilities, Bruckschlögl GmbH has been in business for more than 130 years. In addition to small ski lifts, the Sunkid Moving Carpet, the world’s best-selling ski conveyor, is also produced at the Bad Goisern site.
Access to the Ain Dubai observation wheel via a Loading conveyor belt for people
At a height of 250 meters, the Ain Dubai observation wheel is now the tallest and largest in the world. By comparison, the world-famous London Eye observation wheel is the tallest one in Europe at 154 meters. This means that the observation wheel also beats the infamous High Roller in Las Vegas (168 meters) and the Singapore Flyer (165 meters).
The Ain Dubai is located on the luxury, artificial Bluewaters island, which is off the coast of the Jumeirah Beach Residence. Construction of the observation wheel began in 2015 and companies from more than 10 countries were involved, including Sunkid from Austria with its “Moving carpet”. The engineering side was handled by wholly-owned Sunkid subsidiary, Bruckschlögl GmbH in Bad Goisern.
As the observation wheel never stops turning, a conveyor system allowing passenger access is required. The conveyor needs to adjust the speed difference between the moving gondolas and the static platform to make it safe and achieve the maximum capacity permitted. What’s more, the conveyor belt is also used as an evacuation route in emergencies. A Loading Conveyor belt is also needed so that passengers can enter the cabins.
For this project, the conveyor belts had to meet very sophisticated requirements, for instance:
Prolink series 1 has been the preferred belt for Bruckschlögl skiing belts worldwide for decades. Which is why this belt was chosen as the basis for this customized new development. A unique, raised, non-slip, ribbed surface pattern was designed to ensure safety and reliability. Special side modules were developed to enhance belt tracking and allow passengers to board safely from the motionless floor to the belt and back again after enjoying the breathtaking journey with its magnificent views. The development was based on the Safety of Conveyor Belts for Winter Sports or Leisure Use DIN EN 15700.
Exhaustive tests were carried out to monitor performance. This even included importing sand from Dubai to test performance under real-world conditions (the sand from the Arabian Peninsula is considered to be coarser and therefore more abrasive). Once the belt design had been approved, the next step was to ensure that none of the passengers would be affected by static build-up. In this case, Forbo was able to draw on the expertise gained with its manrider belts for the automotive industry and introduced a combination of POM modules and modules made of fully conductive POM-HC.
These were then made in two shades of gray and arrows indicating the direction of travel were added to the surface of the belt. Finally, the edge modules were produced from red POM to clearly mark the transition area from the motionless floor to the moving belt.
The whole conveyor system was tested and approved at Bruckschlögl in Austria in spring 2020. The project was completed on schedule for the planned opening of the Ain Dubai (Dubai Eye), which was to coincide with the start of the World Expo 2020 in Dubai. Due to the pandemic, the opening was postponed, but this spectacular ride was presented to the public at last on October 21, 2021.
Sunkid’s access conveyor from and Forbo Movement Systems’ Prolink plastic modular belts enable the observation wheel to travel up to 30% faster and therefore provide 30% more capacity per hour.
