The dam that breathes

At Lake Limmern in the canton of Glarus, Switzerland, the Axpo Group was looking for a reliable way to monitor a piece of critical infrastructure: its dam.

As the seasons change, the concrete in the dam constantly expands and contracts, and this movement shapes how the structure ages over time. To understand this process, Axpo needed precise data on how environmental conditions affect the dam: global radiation, air temperature, wind and the surface temperature of the concrete. These measurements feed into simulations that model the dam's behaviour over many years.

Manual measurements weren't a practical option, and wired sensors quickly reach their limits on a structure like this.

The solution:
Wireless, straight to the cloud
Our customer and partner akenza relies on wireless LoRaWAN® sensors, including a range of Decentlab devices:

• DL-PYR measures global solar radiation, showing how much energy from the sun hits the dam.

• DL-ATM22 captures wind speed, wind direction and air temperature.

• DL-WRM measures the surface temperature of the concrete contactlessly via infrared, along with air temperature and humidity.

The data flows directly into the akenza platform, where it is processed and made instantly available to Axpo for analysis and simulation. Proof that IoT doesn't have to be complicated, even in the toughest environments.

akenza was on site and captured the installation on film. See for yourself how IoT works at almost 1,900 metres. And by the way, our sensors have the best workplace of all: they enjoy this view around the clock. 

Watch the film