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Altus technology ensures safety and operational availability for the Tamoios Complex in Brazil
Historically, the highway system has been Brazil`s primary mode of transportation for both cargo movement and passenger travel. In recent years, the Government of the State of São Paulo, through the Secretariat of Finance and Planning (Sefaz-SP) and the São Paulo State Transport Agency (ARTESP) has provided various financing lines to accelerate infrastructure projects within the state. These projects include the expansion and modernization of the Tamoios Highway, one of the region`s most important roadways.
Due to its crucial role in the local road system, the highway needs to be prepared in terms of infrastructure, safety, and availability to handle high traffic volumes. This requires advanced control, monitoring, and supervision systems along various sections of the road, especially within its tunnels.
With over 30 years of experience developing products and solutions for the national transportation sector, Altus was chosen to provide the technology that will ensure the safety, availability, and efficient operation of several tunnels within the complex. This modernization is a partnership with EGTC Infra, whose expertise in infrastructure and project execution, combined with a highly qualified team, plays an essential role in the project`s implementation. Together, the companies ensure efficiency, innovation, and excellence at every stage of the process.
In this article, we will explore the solutions developed by Altus, the control and supervision systems implemented in the tunnels, and the differentiating factors that led to the company`s selection as the primary technology provider for the Tamoios Highway modernization.
About the Tamoios Highway
Located in the eastern part of São Paulo state, the Tamoios Highway is one of Brazil`s most modern and busiest roads. Spanning 82 km, it connects the city of São José dos Campos, in the interior of the state, to Caraguatatuba, on the São Paulo coast. The highway complex is managed by the Tamoios concessionaire and plays a crucial role in transportation between the Paraíba Valley and the northern coast of São Paulo, serving as an important route for tourism and commerce in the region.
Given its mountainous terrain, with winding curves and challenges arising from the rugged topography, the best alternative to shorten the route and increase driver safety was the construction of tunnels along the way. Over the past decades, the São Paulo Government has invested in duplication and modernization projects for the road, encompassing various sections of the highway complex.
Today, we will learn about one of the modernization projects promoted by the concessionaire, where Altus technology was used to ensure the operation of the Contorno tunnels.
Contorno tunnels also utilize Altus technology
Located in Baixada Paulista, this road connects the cities of Ubatuba and São Sebastião, passing through Caraguatatuba, where the concessionaire`s construction site is located. The project, which is in the final civil construction phase, aims to duplicate the 33 km section and automate its five tunnels.
The scope of the control and supervision project involves the supply of automation and electrical panels. The package also includes MV, MCC, and Pumping panels, among others, along with the installation of circuit breakers, disconnectors, protection relays, and the provision of the electrical design.
To support all the systems and subsystems covered in the project, a large distributed architecture was developed with over 38,000 I/O points and more than 250 high-performance CPUs. The product solution also includes other communication and control equipment supplied by Altus, such as industrial switches, energy multi-meters, and the infrastructure for the panels.
Conformal Coating: extra protection for harsh environments
One of the key differentiators that led to the selection of Altus technology for this project was the conformal coating protection on Nexto products. All equipment in the series undergoes a tropicalization stage during its production process, where a silicone coating layer is applied to the circuit boards, connectors, and vital components of the products. This process protects their electronic circuits against humidity, dust, polluting gases, and other elements present in harmful environments.
As the Tamoios Complex is located in a coastal area, the tropicalization of electronic circuits is essential to protect the products against corrosion caused by salinity. Another peculiarity of the environment is the high temperature inside the tunnels, which can reach up to 55 °C. The conformal coating applied to Nexto Series products also acts as a protective barrier to prevent damage from this type of environment.
The high availability of the Nexto Series PLCs was one of the factors that led to Altus being chosen as the technology provider for a new project in the complex.
High availability by hot-standby redundancy
Due to their ability to offer high performance and high availability, the redundant Nexto Series PLCs were the chosen solution for the general control and monitoring of the tunnels and power substations in the section. The complex of panels and high-availability systems used in the Contorno will feature hot-standby redundancy architectures, operating based on the technology of the NX3030 CPUs.
The adopted architectural model includes two CPUs: one active, responsible for controlling the operating system, and one reserve, which remains in standby. Should any failure occur and the main CPU become unavailable, the standby equipment automatically takes control of the process, without any operator intervention and without causing losses to the plant`s operation.
System control and activation with the NX3008 CPU
Another piece of equipment used in the control system is the NX3008 CPU, the most advanced model in the Nexto Series of programmable controllers. With a wide variety of communication features and a high-performance 64-bit ARM processor, the product is capable of meeting the most diverse demands in control systems.
In this project, 250 NX3008 CPUs were implemented to control the lighting, gates, traffic lights, sound systems, and the CCTV system responsible for monitoring highway cameras. The NX3008 PLCs are also responsible for controlling the fire suppression system, where they operate as Ethernet remotes under the command of the redundant controllers. In this architecture, they act within the alarm subsystems, pump activation, and jet fans, which, in case of an accident or fire caused by other factors, remove smoke and other harmful gases from the tunnel.
The Altus experience
The cutting-edge technology of its products, the extensive expertise of Altus`s specialists developed over the company`s 40-year history and the ample production capacity of its product and panel factories were decisive factors in Altus`s selection as the provider of control and supervision solutions for this project.
As a large-scale and highly complex project, the automation of the Contorno tunnels required specific equipment for sensitive parts of the systems. For each of these specific needs, Altus sought an adequate solution that fully met the client`s requirements and adhered to the project`s established deadlines.
This flexibility in finding the most appropriate solutions for the project`s demands demonstrates how the company values its clients and places them at the center of all its actions and decisions. Everything we do here is to enhance the experience of our clients and users with Altus technology.
The high standard of quality of the pre-sales, technical support, and engineering teams was also a determining factor in the company`s selection as a provider for this project. The agility of our teams in quickly finding alternatives that meet client demands is an Altus hallmark.
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