Perth Airport JUHI – Perth WA
Commencing in mid-1999, Norton Consultants Pty Ltd designed and commissioned a new PLC-based variable-speed aircraft hydrant refuelling system at Perth Airport JUHI for BP Australia Ltd as an upgrade to design and commissioning of the original JUHI (International) and JOSF (Domestic) Depots carried out by this company (as R.M. Norton & Associates Pty Ltd) some ten years earlier.
The design was based upon the variable-speed constant-pressure pumping technology perfected by Norton Consultants for the Christmas Island Airport refuelling facility, successfully completed in 1995. This technology resulted in reduced load upon the JUHI Depot emergency power system and a significant reduction in operating and maintenance costs.
A $3 million project to connect the International and Domestic hydrants via a 1.6km long cross-airport pipeline was sucessfully commissioned in late 2001, with Norton Consultants playing a key role in the design of quality control and emergency shutdown systems, and ensuring sufficent refuelling capacity was available before, during and after the cross-connection was made. This micro-tunnelled pipeline was installed under two active taxiways and the main airport runway without disruption to the operation of the airport or aircraft fuel services at any time and resulted in international recognition with the winning of a BP Operational Excellence Global Award.
Completed in January 2017, the latest upgrade applied state-of-the-art control technology developed in-house by Norton Consultants in concert with ABB ACS800 variable speed drives, Krohne ultrasonic flow-metering and Emerson process instrumentation to make this facility one of the most advanced airport fuel installations anywhere in the world. Following completion of the Kewdale Pipeline upgrade late last year, this facility can now provide all of Perth International Airport’s fuel demands well into the future.