ROYAL Boon Edam Group Holding, a global market leader in revolving doors, has introduced a novel product that not only helps conserve energy but also generates it.

The Tourniket energy-generating revolving door, which the company developed for the Driebergen-Zeist railway station in The Netherlands, generates energy with every person passing through it. The station, which handles 8,500 commuters daily, was recently converted into a multifunctional area with a restaurant, tourist information and a visitor centre.
The refurbishment of the station was done by RAU, an architect firm specialising in ecological buildings, together with various environmental-conscious companies.
“The Tourniket revolving door will help primarily to save carefully-generated and conserved energy. A calculation made for this particular application indicated an energy saving of around 4,600 kWh per year, a considerable saving when compared to a conventional sliding entrance,” says Dirk Groot, product manager door systems at Boon Edam.
“For this very special project, Boon Edam has gone one step further to become the first manufacturer in the world to develop an energy-generating manual revolving door, which will not only save energy but also generate energy with every person passing through the door,” he adds.
The revolving door is equipped with a special generator that is driven by the human energy applied to the door whilst the generator controls the rotating speed of the door and makes it safer. The ceiling of the revolving door is made of safety glass and gives a clear view of the technology.
Groot explains that a set of super-capacitors stores the generated energy as a buffer and provides a consistent supply for the low-energy LED lights in the ceiling. “In case the LED lights have used up all the stored energy, the highly-efficient control unit will switch to the alternative mains supply of the building. This ensures that the door is illuminated at all times, even when the passenger flow is minimal,” he continues.
LED scales inside the door indicate the amount of energy that is generated. “When passing through the door at a slow speed, the scale will end up in the red or orange zone, whereas a normal or fast pace pushes the scale into the green zone, indicating that significant electric energy is generated. Another LED indicator at the control unit shows when the illumination of the revolving door is powered by human energy, or by the mains supply,” says Groot.
“Human-powered Energy” stickers on the revolving door make users aware of their contribution to this green building. The total amount of energy that is generated by the revolving door is shown on a large display inside the building.
Boon Edam supplied its first revolving door over 100 years ago. Since then, the group has become the world market leader in revolving doors. Its core business focuses on door systems, security access and advanced door care.
The Royal Boon Edam Group Holding has manufacturing subsidiaries in the Netherlands, the US and China, with sales subsidiaries in Belgium, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden, the UK, the US, and India.