Hot party nights: spring cable drums for a movable nightclub ceiling

MECAoctet increases the reliability and aesthetics of a dynamic lighting system

Winner of the bronze vector award 2024: French company MECAoctet has realised a movable ceiling for a nightclub in the Accor Arena in Paris. The designers relied on slip-ring-free spring cable reels from the e-spool® series from igus® for the power supply. The jury of the vector award was impressed by the technical solution for the breathtaking light show.

Profile

What was needed: Slipringless spring cable reel e-spool®
Requirements: The designers need to supply power to moving LED strips over a distance of six metres in a fail-safe manner.
Sector: Stage technology
Success for the customer: Reliability, aesthetics and no need for complex coils with rotating collectors.

Problem

The movable nightclub ceiling consists of a fragmented mirror measuring 16 x 15 metres, which is divided into 32 triangular elements, 16 of which are movable. Each of these triangles has two mirror surfaces, one at the top and one at the bottom, with the edge consisting of an SRU LED strip. In combination with spotlights, a breathtaking light show with monumental shapes in motion is created above the heads of the guests. The design challenge was to set the triangles in motion and supply the LED strips with power.

Solution

The engineers rely on three motorised winches at each corner of the triangles. For the power supply, the experts rely on slip-ring-free spring cable reels from the e-spool® series from igus®, which are fitted with hybrid cables and connected to the centres of gravity of the triangles. The stroke of the application is six metres. The speed is 0.5 metres per second. According to MECAoctet, thanks to the igus® solution, complex coils with rotating collectors, which would have been very expensive and unreliable, could be avoided. Compared to a slider system with cable loops, the solution is also more fail-safe and aesthetically pleasing.

Overview of e-spool series