Designing Safer Airport Security Systems

KAI was selected for engineering design of the Airport’s $55 million renovation at both Terminal 1 and 2 for their secured check-in baggage inline screening system.

KAI designed the power, HVAC, plumbing and fire protection systems for eight inline EDS (explosive detection systems) machines in the baggage handling area at Terminal 1, and four inline EDS machines at Terminal 2. Work included a field survey of existing facilities to determine available capacity and then design of MEP improvements to accommodate the new baggage handling conveyors and EDS machines. KAI designed and implemented the original EDS system, as described below.

The catastrophic events of September 1, 2001 resulted in the U.S. Congress mandating airports to implement 100% baggage inspection. EDS provided the fastest and most accurate process. KAI provided services for the initial EDS system at St. Louis Lambert International Airport, completing a study in 2002 and implementation of the design in 2003.

In the study phase, KAI engineers evaluated existing utilities to assess whether they could accommodate the additional MEP/FP loads that would be required once Explosive Trace Detection (ETD) and other EDS systems were online. A new steam and chilled water distribution was designed to accommodate load imposed by ETD and EDS machines.