A passenger ship is currently under construction in France which, once complete, is expected to weigh almost a quarter of a million tones, be over 300m long and feature a displacement figure which is more commonly seen amongst military aircraft carriers.
The ship will be able to carry over 6,000 passengers and 1,200 crew members, and will require 2,700 cabins and 28 suites as well as restaurants, night clubs, swimming pools and theme parks. It will take three years and ten million man hours to build, at a cost of over $1,000 million.
The cabins will be built separately and then installed on the vessel according to the build plan, saving on overall construction time.
To achieve the target build cost, however, it is important to design common systems and components where possible.
The design of each cabin requires an electrical distribution combined with an enclosure, which can be easily modified and installed to meet individual requirements. All the enclosures will need an IP65 rating as a minimum, with those being used in areas other than the accommodation specified to IP66. With many enclosures requiring customisation, it is essential that the IP ratings are maintained once the enclosures have been machined and installed.
Electrical distribution will also be required across the rest of the vessel for lighting and small power. In many cases the distribution on one deck will be repeated on the next, so for a vessel with 16 passenger decks a large number of enclosures will be needed, all of which will have to meet marine approvals, such as Lloyds Register or Bureau Veritas.
To make the installation work as efficiently as possible, the proposal is to use enclosures which have been pre-fabricated to include terminals and glands, meaning the enclosures can be built prior to arrival at the shipyard.
For this application, around 4000 enclosures are needed just for the cabins, combined with the customisation and pre-wiring requirements. So, the ship builder turned to Spelsberg UK to provide a complete range of products that can be delivered to suit the build schedule.
The enclosures needed to be extremely tough, as well as offering suitable ingress protection as well as corrosion resistance from the abrasive salt particles present in the water and the air.
“Spelsberg worked with us to provide enclosure solutions when we had designed the enclosures, so fully understand our requirements. They are carrying out the customisation and installation work in-house which means we don’t have to worry about multiple suppliers and know that the supplied product will match out design specification,” commented a spokesman for the ship builder.
The project will see each cabin equipped with an IP65 distribution board from the AK range, which contains a choice of boards from 14 to 70 way, constructed from either polystyrene or polycarbonate. Combined with the extensive range of accessories and screwless PE & N terminals, these enclosures are designed to offer a robust, reliable and efficient installation, which can be modified to suit each application.
There will also be a large number of enclosures from the AL range, which comprises a variety of aluminium, powder coated enclosures, rated to IP66, as well as a quantity of TK enclosures, also IP66 rated, equipped with terminals and glands.
Spelsberg
T: 01952 605849
