The famous city of Venice is under serious threat due to the rise in sea level and sinking of land at an alarming rate.
A defense system, called MOSE, has been designed to prevent the recurring flooding of sea water with levels up to 3 m; it consists of 78 mobile gates and it is expected to be operational by 2014.
Every mobile gate is 20 m wide x 20/30 m long with about 5 m thickness; each gate weight over 300 tons and it is laid at the bottom of the inlet channel and supported by steel and concrete pilings. The gates swing around their bottom hinge from horizontal up to vertical position in about 30 minutes and take about 15 minutes to retract.
To grant long term fixed position and also for safety maintenance operations, each gate is provided, on its end positions, of a locking system actuated by Atos electrohydraulic servocylinders ATEX certified according to 94/9/EC directive.
Atos stainless steel servocylinders represent the ideal and up-to-date solution for MOSE demanding application thanks to:
- ISO 6020-1 standard design
- ATEX certified magnetostrictive position transducer, integrated into cylinder’s construction with specific cable glands to assure IP 68 sealing (3 bar pressure for 6 months)
- Stainless steel materials for the highest mechanical strength and the best corrosion protection in front of the lagoon salt water aggressive environment ( >1200 h in salt spray testing)
- ATEX certified cylinder’s construction and transducer make them suitable with the typical presence of methane in the subsurface of the lagoon
- PTFE carbon fiber rod sealing system for zero oil leakage as per ecological requirements