Bellagio Fountains Dance with Echelon Technology

The Bellagio Hotel needed a fast, accurate system to detect problems and alert maintenance employees to a malfunctioning fountain. The fountains are a contributor to the hotels revenues, and a failure can cost the hotel millions in sales and repairs.

White Rabbit designed a control network that includes a 1.25-megabit fiber optic ring that encircles the lake and connects the four equipment vaults and central control room on shore. A star-wired, free topology (FT) twisted-pair connection links each underwater Oarsman unit to the appropriate equipment vault. The individual Oarsman units contain a two-axis servo motor controller and drive amplifier, a three-phase variable-speed pump drive, four 250-watt lights, leak detectors, and switching gear for the lights and Oarsman air lift. The servo device controls the articulating nozzle, and the variable speed drive controls the 0-to-80-foot stream of water out of the nozzle. Software for the controller and variable-speed drive can be downloaded over the LONWORKS network. The fountain complex also includes 1,175 water-jet heads and 6,200 light fixtures and speaker clusters. The Bellagio Hotel depends heavily on the Echelon control system to monitor and control the underwater Oarsman units. Voltage, current, temperature, and water leak sensors transmit data through the LONWORKS network to the corresponding equipment vault. This information is then distributed along the fiber optic connection to the data logging and alarm system within the main control room. Audible alarms alert the staff to problems within the fountains

• [Efficiency Improvement - Maintenance]
  The continuous monitoring provided by the LONWORKS network enables repairs to be completed quickly
• [Cost Reduction - Maintenance]
  The Bellagio Hotel saves more than a million dollars in annual repair costs
• [Financial Growth - Revenue]
  The hotel’s ability to run the water shows without interruption contributes substantially to the hotel’s commercial success