New runway construction is kept corrosion-free with Munters dehumidifiers
A year after the construction of the Suez Canal Bridge in Egypt, it was discovered that corrosion had started invading it, reducing the security levels that the bridge must provide.
Built jointly with Japanese experts, the Suez Canal Bridge contractors were advised to contact Munters, who immediately provided them with their highly efficient desiccant dehumidification solution
When these same Japanese engineers faced the D-runway expansion at Haneda airport, they did not wait for corrosion to appear in the airport’s new facilities, but included Munters dehumidification experts from the very beginning.
Haneda Airport and its expansion
Tokyo International Airport, known as Haneda airport, had been Tokyo’s largest airport since opening in 1931. However was relegated to second place when Narita opened. When the authorities started the initiative to expand Haneda airport’s capacity with the construction of a new runway D. Being limited by surrounding water at Haneda airport the engineers turnned to land filling.
The D runway
The new runway is designed to be 3,120 meters, with a 620-meter taxiway that joinst to the main airport area. However, the area chosen for the runway was at the convergence of the Tama river with the Tokyo Bay, which meant having the total area for the runway land filled because of the complications joining different water streams as well as risk to fish species.
Finally two-thirds of the runway was built on land filled area, while the remaining one-third and taxiway was constructed over steel jacket platforms.
Being surrounded by water, meant the threat of corrosion.The contractors turned to Munters who designed a dehumidification system that would offer a 100-year corrosion-free guarantee to the newly-built runway. In total, 57 Munters dehumidfier units were installed in the runway and taxiway, built on steel pillars.
In the rainy season and combined with the humidity from the surrounding waters, the ambient relative humidity can reach 90% RH. The Munters dehumidifiers are set to keep a constant and continuous 50% RH, while operation automatically stops when the ambient conditions reached a 40% RH.
The D runway was completed in 2010 and is already successfully hosting the departure and arrival of a large share of the 407,000 movements that Haneda has every year.
The next time you fly to or from Haneda, do not forget that your plane is safe on a Munters corrosion-free runway!
