28 3|2003drive&control

Technology

The football team, known as the "Schalke RoyalBlues" – 7 times German league champions – canlook back on its club history with some pride. Butthe Royals have enjoyed new impetus since the ope-ning of the new AufSchalke Arena Stadium, becausethe traditional club has achieved small miracles –and not only on the pitch. 1998 saw the start of con-struction of a new multi-functional sports center,which was intended to replace the old Park Stadium.The new AufSchalke Arena was built in only 32months and holds more than 60 000 spectators.

One special feature of this arena is the "movable"southern stand under which the grass pitch, housedin a reinforced concrete trough weighing 11 000tons, can be moved from the outside inwards andback. According to the Dutch primary contractorHBM, the steel support structure for the southernstand, consisting of an upper and a lower stand section with support and traversing equipment,was designed and built in less than two years.

New solution for the lower stand

The "movable stand section", or lower stand, weig-hing approximately 700 tons, presented an extremelydifficult engineering challenge. In order to be able totraverse the lower section under the upper section itwas necessary for all the upper rows of seats in thelower section to be folded down. Comparable withstage technology in theatres, but with far largerdimensions, this task called for a completely newsolution to ensure that all movements were control-led from a safety viewpoint to an accuracy withinmillimeters.

The lower stand steel structure, 85 meters wide, issubdivided into three segments across the upperrows of seats. Each segment is moved up or down as

appropriate by means of two hydraulic cylindersmeasuring 140/100-3000 with CERAMAX coatedpiston rods working in synchronization and electro-hydraulically controlled. To ensure a precise link-upof the lower stand to the upper stand, the movablestand section is first of all moved into position withsynchronization control using electromechanical tra-vel drives running on rails. The travel drive is thenlocked by two hydraulic cylinders with piston diame-ters of 140 mm and indexed so that it is exactly hori-zontal to the upper section. The folding segments inthe uppermost position are coupled to the upperstand section using an ingenious electromechanicaldevice, which locks the upper and lower stands verti-cally.

AufSchalke Arena:

New Stadium – New ImpetusSince its official opening on August 13, 2001 the AufSchalke Arena in Gelsenkirchen (Germany)has, with very few exceptions, always boasted a sell-out at any event staged there. What now ranksas the most modern multi-function sports location in Europe features a roll-out pitch, a sliding roofand a movable southern stand. The experience of Darmstadt company Donges Stahlbau GmbH(Germany) in structural steel engineering and crane technology, coupled with Bosch Rexroth'sexpertise in drive and control technology, made it possible to provide solutions to these enginee-ring challenges.

Internal view of the southern stand showing an uprightfolding support for the upper section (right), a lowersection folding support folded upwards (center), themachinery for the folding mechanism (top left) and thetraverse mechanism for the lower section (background).

The newAufSchalkeArena wasbuilt in only32 months.

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Not only suitable for football but popular also with world stars: in May 2003 alone PaulMcCartney, Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi appeared at the stadium. Followed byRobbie Williams in July. And it will be possible to experience an operatic spectaclesuch as George Bizet's "Carmen" in September 2003.

293|2003 drive&control

Safety first

Additional traffic loads on the southern stand, whichmay hold more than 12 000 fans at any event, areabsorbed by 10 hydraulic folding supports, 6 x 12-meter supports in the upper stand section and 4 x 2-meter supports in the lower stand section. Thehydraulic folding supports form part of the con-struction statics and are therefore subject to stringentsafety requirements. The folding supports are pre-stressed in the working position by means of specialhydraulic cylinders with piston diameters of up to360 mm supplied by Rexroth Hydraudyne B.V.(Netherlands). They are secured by means of amechanical-hydraulic interlocking device integral tothe cylinder. If the approx. 1-meter high, 118-meterlong and 79-meter wide reinforced concrete troughthat incorporates the pitch is moved in or out, all thefolding supports must be unlocked, free of any loadsand folded upwards to ensure unimpeded "travel".

When installing the complete hydraulic system, itwas necessary to fit, test under pressure and flushapprox. 1000 meters of hydraulic pipes and hoses fora system pressure of 310 bar. The accent here wasalso on safety. Both for fire safety reasons and froman environmental point of view, particular attentionwas paid to ensuring absolute leakage-free pipework.WALFORM screw fittings, which are standard atRexroth, were used. A special feature of these screwfittings is the way the mechanical connection is for-med to ensure pressure tightness and the flexible sealto guarantee leak-free operation. The same care wasapplied to the electrical wiring in relation to fire load.

Products and services provided by Rexroth:

� 2 Hydraulic power units

� 22 Control manifolds

� 22 Hydraulic cylinders

� 2 Control cabinets with electric controls

� 1 Central control console

� 10 Decentralized operator indicator boards

� Installation of 1 000 meters of hydraulic pipework andhoses, cabling and commissioning

� Engineering

Contact:

Werner WisselSales Engineer CentralArea Germany Bosch Rexroth AGIndustrial HydraulicsTel.: +49 (6105) 702 611Fax: +49 (6105) 702 666E-Mail: werner.wissel@

boschrexroth.de

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www.donges.de

www.arena-auf-schalke.de

One special feature of this arena isthe "movable" southern stand.

Detailed view of a lower stand sectionfolding support with built-on controlmanifold and in-situ operating consolefor emergency operation.

Electric control cabinet with centraloperating console in lower standsection.

Hydraulic unit with oil trough com-plies with Domestic Water Protectionlegislation.

Southern stand with lowersection in forward position andtop rows of seats folded down.

The electromechanical and electrohydraulic driveswith their respective control manifolds, widely distri-buted throughout the whole of the constructionphase for the southern stand, are cross linked withthe central control console and the respective electri-cal controls via fieldbus connections.

Rexroth was responsible for the project design work,the supply and fitting of the complete electrohydrau-lic equipment for the southern standard as well asthe pipework, cabling and commissioning. �

Southern aspect ofthe AufSchalke Arenashowing rolled-outpitch.

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