Our responsibility
LEITNER sees itself as an innovative and sustainable manufacturer and partner with the responsibility to find answers to current problems and support customers with corresponding product developments. Especially in the current tense situation with regard to energy costs, inflation and scarcity of resources, the manufacturers are also called upon to contribute to relieving the burden in these economically challenging times through applied research and development.
The current energy crisis and the associated price rises are increasing pressure on additional savings in all areas of life. LEITNER is helping to achieve these goals in the ropeway industry at this special time with two environmentally friendly technological innovations. With the EcoDrive, an automatic adaptive speed control for ropeways, up to 20 percent of energy can be saved. The gearless LEITNER DirectDrive drive system, which saves up to 5% of energy in comparison to conventional drives and also scores with high reliability, user-friendliness and ease of maintenance, is still unrivaled on the ropeway market.
The EcoDrive
With the EcoDrive, a system that is already successfully implemented with seven ropeway systems, LEITNER meets the requirements for energy-saving technologies. The adaptive speed control for ropeways is integrated into the control unit and regulates the speed of the ropeway on the basis of a camera system, which records the number of waiting passengers at the stations. In this way, energy saving of up to 20 percent is possible through the automatic speed reduction of a chairlift from 5 m/s to 4 m/s, for example, without the ride comfort being impaired. Another ecologically and financially relevant effect of the technology developed by LEITNER is less wear on the material. The EcoDrive, which is available for new installations, as well as for retrofitting existing ropeways, thus also contributes to an extension of the service life and creates significant added value in terms of sustainable and resource-saving operation.
Initial results are already available from the 2021/22 season in the Serre Chevalier ski resort. The savings potential was measured on two different ropeways on 23 and 21 days in the season, respectively. The result is impressive: 7550 kWh and 5000 kWh were able to be saved during these time periods.
Advantage through innovation with DirectDrive
Another example of ecologically oriented further development is the gearless drive system “LEITNER DirectDrive”, which has already been in use at LEITNER for over 20 years and in over 250 ropeways. The perfected LEITNER technology achieves efficiency of up to 96 percent from the partial to peak load range and is therefore clearly in pole position on the market. The redundancy of the DirectDrive design also contributes to the maximum performance. A DirectDrive offers the smoothest possible running, minimal maintenance requirements (no transmission overhaul, no transmission oil change), a sustainable operation (no oil and lubricants) and unbeatably low operating costs, as it reduces the energy consumption by up to 5% in comparison to a conventional drive. Due to these unique advantages, the operator Seggiovia Dantercepies SpA decided this summer to convert to a LEITNER DirectDrive, for example.
