In Europa-Park in Rust near Freiburg, Germany, the fastening expert fischer is testing its Construction Monitoring solution in a pilot operation. Five bolted joints on the seat consoles of the roller coaster “blue fire Megacoaster” were supplemented with SensorBolts, which feature integrated force measurement and transmission technology. This allows the products to be tested in the pilot application under very demanding operating conditions. The seat fastenings on the roller coaster are repeatedly subjected to high forces. Should the fischer Construction Monitoring solution prove itself in this project, it will be able to enhance the Europa-Park’s safety concept in the future.

Five seat fastenings of a train of the “blue fire Megacoaster” roller coaster at Europa-Park were successfully supplemented with SensorBolts in close coordination with TÜV Süd, which is considered to be the benchmark for technical safety on Germany Each of these is equipped with a SensorNode, which securely transmits the measured values from the bolts to a gateway installed at Europa-Park. From there, the data is transmitted end-to-end encrypted to a cloud storage and made accessible via a customer-specific dashboard. The SensorBolts enable continuous monitoring and thus permanently guarantee the reliability of the bolted connections at the seat consoles. Facility operators can conveniently check the condition of the fastening points at any time via PC or smartphone. With the SensorBolt and SensorNode products in the pre-series stage, fastening expert fischer is conducting a demanding suitability test here. Europa-Park is testing the pioneering solution for its practicability. Daniel Machauer, project manager at fischer Deutschland Vertriebs GmbH, explains: “With our SensorBolts, the bolted joints of the seat consoles are continuously monitored—at any time and even remotely—and precise data on their condition is collected. The goal is to measure forces resulting from recurring loads, which act on the connections especially due to passengers and high g-forces, precisely and permanently.”

High demands on technology and safety
The “blue fire Megacoaster” roller coaster, which opened on April 4, 2009 in the Icelandic themed area of Europa-Park, offers thrills with acceleration forces of up to 3.8 G acting on the body – here, one feels 3.8 times one’s own body weight. Four overhead elements along the 1,056 m long track with a height difference of 38 m provide adrenaline kicks – including the highest loop of a launch coaster in Europe and a spectacular 360° roll. In just 2.5 seconds, the LSM launch accelerates passengers from 0 to 100 km/h. Up to 20 guests are seated in the train and take part in the 2:20-minute ride. With typical operation using four active trains, the theoretical capacity is around 1,450 people per hour. “In addition to the high G-forces of up to 3.8 G, the bolted joints are also subjected to constant vibrations and strong magnetic fields during the launch of the coaster trains. Moreover, operating the products outdoors exposes them to the elements,” adds Dr. Daniel Rill, Product Manager Connected Products at fischer. “If our SensorBolts prove themselves under these demanding operating conditions, there is the perspective of using them on a larger scale in other applications at Europa-Park in the future. The long-term goal is to make the Construction Monitoring solution – through data integration – a permanent part of the safety concept of the popular amusement park.”

Structural Health Monitoring solution with future prospects
Felix Düllo, Product Manager at fischer Deutschland Vertriebs GmbH, emphasizes: “The integration of our SensorBolts into safety concepts enables even more targeted planning of maintenance measures. This allows downtime and costs to be reduced – while simultaneously improving the already high safety requirements and the long service life of the systems.”

The pilot project at Europa-Park arose following a successful product presentation, where the advantages of fischer sensor technology were convincing. Daniel Machauer explains: “We are very pleased that Europa-Park decided to use our sensor innovation in a pilot deployment. The high quality, the innovative technology, and the possibility of real-time monitoring of safety-relevant connections spoke in favor of our fischer Construction Monitoring.”

Structural and plant operation of tomorrow
“With our Construction Monitoring, we advance Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) – rightfully a growing trend in the construction industry, driven by technological progress and the demand for safe, sustainable, and economical construction operations,” emphasizes Martin Neumann, Head of Connected Products. The SensorBolt is the newest addition to fischer’s portfolio of digitally equipped fastening elements, which also includes the anchor rod SensorAnchor and the washer SensorDisc. These IoT-connected products enable documentation and monitoring of structures and systems – anytime, also remotely.

“Our innovation combines an intuitive monitoring application and strong, sensor-integrated fasteners in a clever way,” emphasizes Martin Neumann. “The condition of fastening points can be easily monitored at any time via PC or smartphone – this increases maintenance efficiency, enables cost savings, enhances safety, reduces downtime, and extends the service life of structures and systems. We look forward to continuing to prove the advantages of our Construction Monitoring solution in practice – and to opening up many more applications in pilot deployments.”