Thanks to the hydraulic drives, the lock always operates

Lock with stepless speed control

For each door of the lock, Hydroton installed two hydraulic units and two cylinders. "One unit with a 2,000-liter tank capacity controls the door cylinder and a smaller unit controls the locking cylinder," says Paul Plomp, Hydroton's operations director and project manager. "Thanks to the integrated, infinitely variable speed control, the speed at which the doors open and close can also be controlled. A safety device on the cylinder ensures that the system is also protected in the event of a collision. Should a ship unexpectedly collide with a lock gate and deform it, an overflow valve is activated and the cylinder slides in or out, depending on the ship's direction of travel."

Lock with redundancy

For the lock, Hydroton supplied a hydraulic unit and eight cylinders that control the four sluice gates, all in safety class SIL2. Plomp: "To be sure that the locks can always be closed, we built in a double emergency pumping system here. So in case of calamities, there is a complete redundant emergency installation ready to go."

"The Reeve lock complex was a fantastic project to be involved in as a company," continued Plomp. "Divergent technical disciplines came together in this project and were substantiated to the high RWS standards (NBD6000). From the design process to the commissioning of the installations, we were in the construction team; exactly the way we like to work. All those factors combined made this work wonderfully challenging."