Ferrié Pavilion - Building Automation | CAME

At the request of HEFI, the company contracted to install the curved glass panels for the first floor of the Eiffel Tower, CAME installed the automatic doors for the Ferrié Pavilion. In view of the need to comply with the constraints of the site and, in particular, having to build the entrance into a sloping wall with an inclination of 17%, CAME opted to install two automatic "butterfly" doors. Given the peculiarities of the site, the sophisticated system was entirely made to order.

The project to refurbish the ageing first floor of the Eiffel Tower was assigned by the Paris City Council to the Moatti-Rivière Agency of architects, whose design included a spectacular glass floor 57 metres above the ground, eco-friendly constructions, and a new visitors’ walkway accessible also to persons with disabilities. The design for the entrance to the Ferrié Pavilion envisaged an original and exclusive “butterfly” door, which as a subject to intense use, also had to be rendered fully automatic. Accordingly, it had to be automated by the system capable of operating the opening and closing of two wing-doors, each weighing almost 700 kg.

After a feasibility six months study, a special team developed an inverted command mechanism for the two motors controlling the two wing-doors guarding the entrance. The solution was to install two FROG+ motors above each wing, each operating in the opposite direction to the other. Throughout 2013, the sophisticated mechanism underwent testing to ensure it met the demanding standards of the Centre Scientifique et Technique du Bâtiment (CSTB: the Scientific and Technical Construction Centre, a French certifying agency) with respect to its functioning, maintenance and power supply. More than 900.000 opening and closing cycles were run after installation.

The automated CAME system on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower consists of: 2 “FROG+” motors; 1 building automation system with a “ZM3EP” control panel.