Implementation

The contract was awarded to Zensor during May/June 2021.

The first consultation between MOW and Zensor took place on June 21, 2021. The goal was to prepare the installation of the sensors on the Evergem lock gates during October 2021.

The lock was blocked from October 1 to November 1, 2021. Then the doors went out and were taken to the workshop for repair work. During the second half of October, most of the sensors were mounted on the doors, after which the doors were placed back in the lock.

The sensors are diverse in nature and consist of strain gauges, accelerometers, inclinometers, rotary encoders, distance meters, ... in order to estimate the position and forces on the door wings as accurately as possible.

Since November 2, 2021, the large lock has been in operation again. On November 4, 2021, a press release was prepared together with MOW and De Vlaamse Waterweg with more information about the implementation. You can find it at documents. The message was picked up by several media: vrtnews, De Scheepvaartkrant (NL), Het Nieuwsblad, AVS, etc.

Since March 2022, Zensor continuously monitors the health status of a number of lock gates in Evergem. This is done using an online available monitoring system and platform that Zensor offers to MOW and further expands with the functionalities (analyses of lock gate characteristics) that MOW requires. The platform is proving to be a great added value for their analyses.  

So far, this is a very successful project, both in terms of sensor placement, data reading, data retrieval, and data analysis. MOW is very satisfied with the cooperation and has already gained a lot of knowledge and insights so far. Even to the extent that MOW is considering having a similar sensor-monitor system installed on one of its bridges.