PS: FP7 SaiFair FP7 consortium seeks a number of partners for a project to develop a Condition Monitoring System for failure investigation in fairground machinery and structures (11 GB 41n7 3MG9)

An FP7 project being developed by an East of England research centre requires a number of partners to complete the consortium. The project aims to develop a condition monitoring system for failure investigation in fairground machinery and structures and will be submitted to the Research for SMEs call in December 2011.

Key factors driving growth of theme parks include the tendency of families to spend their discretionary free time on outdoor fun, and the increasing popularity of mass entertainment. In addition, focused promotion of entertainment and tourism by the governments is expected to encourage the market, especially in developing countries [1].

Although fairgrounds and amusement parks are relatively safe compared to activities such as driving a car or riding a bicycle, there have been a small number of serious incidents involving employees and members of the public. Many Health and Safety organisation in Europe has worked with the Fairgrounds and Amusement Parks members and associations in order to improve standards and to produce safety guidance [2].

Risks can never be eliminated from any aspect of life but need to be managed effectively. For these reasons, a condition monitoring based process coupled to Non-Destructive Testing (NDT) is proposed in this project. This project will provide this solution through a complete in situ system for damage identification and location that can operate autonomously and be overseen by just one human operator, eliminating any catastrophic failure.

The project will develop a condition monitoring technology that will be using Acoustic emission, torque gages and vibration measurements in conjunction with phased array and Eddy current. These NDT technologies will be applied by a fully automated process. This will be deployed within the different structures in order to monitor their behaviour. Risk probability and failure mechanism will be studied as part of the project development.

The combination of these techniques aims for a target identification and reduction of 90% of the current equipment and component failure, including the generation of automated alarm, and reducing them to 15% of the overall existing rate.
The SaiFair technology will allow the SMEs to enhance safety in the EU Fairgrounds and Amusement Parks market, increase confidence and reduce the fees supported by the operators.

References:

[1] Global Industry Analysts, Inc.
[2] HSE report: Fairgrounds and amusement parks

Technical Specifications / Specific technical requirements:
The project is due to be submitted to the Research for SMEs call under the FP7 Capacities Programme on the 6th December 2011. The project duration is due to be 2 years in duration. Current project and partner funding levels have not been listed but will be discussed with interested parties.

Four partners are required to complete the project consortium, all of which are listed below:

1. Large company or SME with expertise in rollercoaster inspection, to be the end user of the project.
2. Theme Park (e.g. Disneyland, Portaventura (Spain))
3. SME company that develops measurement devices (specialised in analysis of vibrations) and software for data acquisition (from sensors to log devices). They will help develop the tool/device and assist in the integration of the data acquisition software
4. SME software company or a company with expertise in automation but able to develop their own software tools. They will develop the software for the system, analyse the information from the tool and create the log and records of the data acquired.

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