Case Study: LED screen Gondola for an indoor sporting venue

The P.A. People were recently tasked with the design and implementation of a 10 tonne Gondola structure to support four LED screens at an indoor sporting venue. The only suspension points available were at the perimeter of the structure. Given the design requirement, a four-point hoisting system was required. In order to maintain the integrity of the system the design team chose four Moveket 2,500kg D8 Plus hoists, given that the gondola was suspended over the playing surface.

Because the hoist layout was inherently ‘indeterministic’ (i.e. more than three hoists supporting an area) each hoist was fitted with an integral load cell and an incremental encoder. Coupled with a MoveKet MPC- 4ID8 chain hoist control system, the system monitors both underload and overload conditions for each hoist. Should any hoist see less than the self-weight of the system, or encounter an overload condition, the system will not operate. In addition, the provision of the incremental encoders means that system self-monitors the direction and operation of each hoist and has a number of preset heights available for different event types.

Without the use of load cells and encoders, an installed system of this size and scale would simply be unsafe.

As you can see, not all chain hoists are created equal . . .