Architects design stadiums, theaters, and other event venues are designed to be beautiful and functional. When architects add mobile roofs into the design, the components responsible for motion need to be reliable and move precisely to meet day-to-day needs. Moving roof panels in these applications is heavy work and require precise, reliability to meet the environmental needs.
There are many reasons mobile roofs and roof panels are designed into architectural designs. On stadiums with live grass within, opening the roof to allow sunlight for proper growth. Entertainment stadiums and theaters could require a mobile roof panel to differentiate itself and create a pleasant experience for fans or concert attendees.
Considerations for Your Project
Mobile roofs are designed in many different ways to meet the designs created by architectural firms and their clients. A mobile roof can be one complete panel that moves to open. The design could be 2 roof panels that open and close in tandem. Demag has completed many different types of mobile roofs and roof coverings. A temporary roof was used a building roof repair to protect the museum artifacts within in another application. Demag products were used to move a fabric or plastic material panel over seating in a theater. Regardless of the design, the mobile roof projects need to move at a specific rate of speed and many times they have very precise starting and stopping points.
Mobile roofs can be very heavy and moving them requires specialized considerations. When moving heavy products like this, the important specifications the architect will consider are the environmental conditions. These conditions are the weather or environment in which it will operate, travel speed necessary for use, and stopping points for stopping accuracy.
Environmental conditions are important considerations when designing any outdoor application. Knowing how you will overcome the precipitation, heat and cold factors, wind, and other weather conversations is important. All these factors assist with sizing of the equipment and determining the torque needed to make the necessary motions. Many of these weather or extreme environmental factors can require larger wheels or motors to overcome these conditions. Opening or closing a mobile roof on a stadium may take larger equipment to complete the motion if there is snow on top or the wind is blowing at a higher rate than normal.
Travel speed and positioning accuracy can be important requirements for mobile roof applications. How quickly or slowly you want to move the roof is a critical consideration. Certain architectural designs may only need a slow moving roof panel to open a roof panel on a sunny day. Other designs may require faster speeds to close quicker when it starts to rain. In addition, many times the mobile roof application will have specific stopping points where the panel will be locked into place. This requires very precise positioning to stop at the correct locking point.
Products Designed to Handle Mobile Roofs
Demag is an expert in AC induction motors, gear motors and wheel block products that accurately moves heavy loads across distances. These wheel system products can handle the exact positioning needed in architectural applications. Reliable operation and easy maintenance are necessary in these applications and Demag Drives products can provide this for your project.
To meet the needs of the wide range of architectural applications, Demag wheel systems create a reliable, smooth travel solution to meet extreme weather requirements and provide precision movements for intermittent motion. AC induction and gear motors are sized to meet your specific application needs. Demag conical rotor motors are specialized to be used in extreme environments for architectural applications.
Demag wheel blocks provide full, reliable, lasting protection against dust and moisture for the wheel and wheel bearings. Wheel blocks are a unit consisting of the wheel, bearing and support structure in a fixed housing so there is limited engineering needed by your internal team. Since this is the case, sizing is one of the most important factors to consider. Demag Wheel Blocks have a long service life with wear resistant wheels to support wheel loads up to 88,000 pounds.
Architectural applications with mobile roof panels that open and close require reliable components to drive or move the panels. Demag Drives products can meet the strict needs of your project. Our motors, wheel blocks, and complete wheel systems are reliable and precise to meet the wide range of requirements unique to each project. Learn more about our experience in mobile roofs in architectural projects and reach out to us to discuss your needs.