When the AirSide Door team decided to launch their new brand of hydraulic lift doors, they decided that EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh was the place to be. The AirSide team, based out of Florida, and comprised of engineers, designers, installers, fabricators, and door specialists, put together a new design over the course of a year.
“This design is unlike any other system currently on the market,” states Gary Bergstrom, director of sales. “When I was first retained by the company, much of my time was spent dealing with warranty issues on other systems our team had installed. One of our valued clients, with multiple FBOs, nationwide, asked us to design a hydraulic door system that was operationally functional and required less maintenance with minimal call backs. We started to take a hard look at the types of call backs we were receiving on the systems we had installed. The AirSide team began to identify key areas in how a new design approach for hangar doors could be improved.”
“One of the biggest challenges we faced,” states Carl Petrat, president of AirSide, “was the fact that our team was commissioned by this client to design one of the largest hydraulic doors ever manufactured with spans of 160 feet and an open height of 35 feet. That’s a big system to design, however, I knew it was an undertaking my team could handle.”
The door functions like a robotic arm with a fluid lift and swing motion, company officials noted.
“The system we have designed can include a fully monitored touch screen program, located on the control panel, which provides our customers an exterior live video feed of the door while in motion,” explained Emil Straubel, sales engineer. “If you’re inside the building, you can see if there is anything obstructing the door prior to opening it up.”
“Our wireless remote is the only FCC approved system for airport operations. It is a wireless digital control system that gives the operator the ability and the luxury of opening the door from up to 300 feet away either from the inside or outside of the building. Essentially you can open this door from the runway,” states Straubel.
A push button system for multiple hangars can be installed so one control unit can open multiple hangar doors.
“We’ve listened to what our customer’s needs are and we have the ability to offer various upgrades and features that will assist them in managing their facilities more efficiently” states Bergstrom.
Straubel points out that the AirSide team scoured the industry for manufacturing partners that would provide top notch components and hydraulics that could meet the design needs of HydraLink.
“We created an Airside Balance Control for the hydraulic system with the option of computer feedback. The computer feedback has sensors on the door itself to relay data back to the control unit which in turn, keeps the door perfectly level during operation,” states Straubel.
AirSide offers a 12Volt battery back-up for the HydraLink system. During a power outage, the system can run on a 12 Volt battery pack.
Bergstrom notes that “by eliminating rolling components and parts that require grease found on other designs, we reduce the risk of having to constantly maintain the system. Not only did we have to make sure the system was low maintenance, we also had to make sure the design could withstand the most severe weather conditions, no matter where the door was applied. A hangar is only as good as the door that protects it.”