Type of works: supply of packaged ventilation systems.

Fläkt Woods has long been associated with supplying packaged ventilation systems for the Milan metro. Ventilation rooms for stations on Line 2, and Line 3 (Line 4 still to be built) and the Milan railway link have all been supplied with Fläkt Woods axial flow fans and now the order has been obtained to supply fans for the new Line 5.

This new line, which will connect Garibaldi railway station to Bignami, will consist of 9 stations and is scheduled to open between 2011 (Bignami-Zara) and 2012 (Zara-Porta Garibaldi).

The new order comprises 47 truly reversible axial flow fans with diameters between 1,000 and 2,000mm. In each station and tunnel shaft 2 fans will be installed in parallel. Fläkt Woods S.p.A. will supply diffusers, silencers, dampers and inertia base frames, in addition to the fans.

The fans all have 4 pole motors suitable for inverter control, with motor powers between 15kW and 142kW and are suitable for operation in emergency for smoke extract at a temperature of 250°C/2h. Volume flows range from 230,000 m³/h in the tunnel ventilation shafts and between 40,000 m³/h and 200,000 m³/h in the stations with static pressures between 400 and 1,100 Pa.

The metro will use a driverless system, with automated controlled trains capable of carrying up to 440 passengers. A train is envisaged every 3 minutes for an estimated 8,700 passengers an hour. All trains are equipped with rubber wheels, a feature contributing to higher speeds, lower braking distances and less vibration than on steel railway lines.