115 Meeting House Lane
Balsall Common
Coventry, West Midlands
CV7 7GD
Tel 01676 535464
Email info@steeple.co.uk
Exhibition
Hall Power Supply Allocation and Balancing System
Background
In common with most exhibition centres site service operations are largely subcontracted. This system addresses the complex technical and commercial relationship between the exhibition centre and their electrical contractor.
Since
the centre opened the problems of satisfying the demand for more and more
complex electrical supplies to a vastly diverse range of stands had become an
ever-increasing headache for the centre.
The
halls are serviced through a grid of under-floor ducting connected to bus bars
from which power supplies are drawn. The supplies required vary from a simple
low-level lighting circuit to the complex supply requirement of heavy industrial
machinery.
A
balance must be achieved that takes all factors into account (single or multi
phase, voltage, fuse rating, supply type, maximum cable run and location of
stand in hall).
This
supply matrix has historically been generated manually. This labour intensive
operation became so time consuming and prone to human error that a computerised
solution had to be developed.
Solution
An
integrated system was developed which: -
Used
the clients stand booking forms as input
Mapped
the diverse requirements against hall plans (stand locations) and the electrical
matrices using agreed algorithms
Produced
a balanced electrical supply load taking all constraints into consideration
Allowed
plans for multiple exhibitions to be concurrently developed
Interfaced
with both customer billing and contractor payments systems
Generated
historical statistical information on exhibition power usage trends
Benefits
The
system has considerably shortened the lead-time to produce the balanced plan.
The
volume of errors/anomalies discovered during exhibition set up has been
dramatically reduced.
The
residual errors arising through incorrect initial specification of requirement
can be readily incorporated into the plan at any time prior to the exhibition
opening.
This
flexibility and speed of change coupled with the inherent accuracy of the plan
is of paramount importance during the ever decreasing time window allowed to set
up very demanding exhibitions.
The
interface to payment/billing systems has had a very positive effect upon cash
flow.
The
trends analysis is a factor taken into account in the allocation of halls to a
specific exhibition and provides accurate financial forecasts.
