MABA and transformer substations – a long history to which another chapter is being added: Right up until 100 years ago, MABA’s office building was really a giant transformer station . In 1924, MABA was basically established in order to start the production of precast concrete substations. And with their iconic free-standing substation poles, the company contributed to the electrification of half the country.
In order to provide the perfect housing for a really large transformer station, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria put his faith into a brand new reinforced concrete building technique to power the country’s largest arms and explosive manufacturing site at the onset of World War 1. A hundred years later, this very building houses the modern administrative headquarters of MABA and it’s parent company, Kirchdorfer Group. Nowadays, substation housings are still best produced with reinforced concrete: Compact in design, as precast elements and at MABA! While the substations mounted on poles are still standing after 90 years, the spirit of the age however is moving electrical installations more and more underground.
Elegant Transformer Stations for „Wiener Netze”
In cooperation with HEIN ELEKTRO in Wien-Liesing (part of UHL group), the production of new substations will start for the Vienna Electrical Grid provider Wiener Netze. The newly designed housing consists of just a few, monolithically precast concrete elements. The module construction design will be available in three different sizes. The concrete structures are equipped with all necessary electrical components directly on the MABA production site in Wöllersdorf. The elegantly designed transformer stations blend perfectly into the landscape and match the style of the numerous new industrial and housing developments in and around Vienna . But irrespective of the elegant architectural design aspect, a number of functional requirements had of course to be met, necessitating a fair deal of conceptual and technical development work in order to comply with the customer specifications.
Simple form, complex production
Even though the structure of the housing looks indeed very simple at first glance (a monolithic cuboid with a ceiling slab), the production of it is anything but: A lot of detail concerns make the production of monolithic forms very challenging indeed, not only for the construction of the necessary formwork, but for the entire production process in general – especially with high efficiency goals . A lot of details, such as openings for doors, cable passages and the like had to be structurally redesigned, tested and standardized – even though similar housings are being constructed for many years already.
The specific requirements for the electrical installations being housed are especially varied: The structure has of course to be resilient to wind and weather (think of the influence of de-icing salts …). But more specifically, the electrical equipment has it’s own surprises in store: In case of an „internal arc” – basically a rather violent short-circuit with explosive pressure and sparks flying around – the whole thing has to stand ground. But given the fact that MABA’s production site used to produce a lot of explosives in old times, the experience of the location will certainly help. Besides, MABA and substations are just a perfect match anyway.
