Focus on security in windy and vibrating environment
The Challenge
Dutch company Akkadia manufactures specialist CCTV systems for demanding situations in various industries. Its cameras can be found everywhere, from offshore, to polar regions and deserts.
Since 2010, Akkadia has had a contract with the Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment (IenM), providing CCTV technology in tunnels throughout the Netherlands. Tunnel cameras must be particularly durable, as the vehicles that constantly pass close by create huge wind pressure. Standard security cameras normally don’t last more than a year and a half.
The Solution
Akkadia developed a specific camera for tunnels – the PTZ – as a stainless steel, vibration-resistant application, built to last more than ten years. To create and maintain such robust technology requires a high-quality locking solution.
The IenM were keen to use its usual self-locking nuts, but Akkadia were already employing a product that would ensure the ability of its cameras to provide long-term, trouble-free traffic surveillance.
Akkadia had entered into partnership with Nord-Lock and fit its washers in the CCTV camera technology. The IenM was subsequently won over by convincing evidence presented by Akkadia about the quality of the Nord-Lock washers, including test reports from TÜV in Germany. The PTZ tunnel camera utilises NL6 and NL8 steel and stainless steel washers on the inside, and NL10 stainless steel washers on the mounting and base.
The Result
All moving parts and internal connections on Akkadia CCTV systems are secured by Nord-Lock washers; from the housings to the base plates.
No problems have been reported in the six years that Akkadia has supplied tunnel cameras to the IenM. Akkadia has now manufactured around 800 systems featuring the Nord-Lock solution. Currently, over 400 PTZ tunnel cameras cover two large motorway projects in the Netherlands – the Amsterdam Orbital, and the Maastricht motorway near the Belgian border.
The success of Akkadia’s tunnel cameras highlights the importance of total cost of ownership. In thinking long term, the IenM has saved money on the cost of maintenance and replacing broken cameras.
