Meet Yoni Carver! He’s a Controls Integrator at TAIT HQ participating in the co-op program between TAIT and Drexel University. Yoni will be working full-time upon graduation in Spring 2020. His episode of TAIT Take Over features a behind the scenes look at the electrical engineering and integration of the Wells Fargo Center’s Kinetic Scoreboard.
Hi. I’m Yoni Carver. I am a Controls Integrator at TAIT HQ. This is my TAIT Take Over.
I am also a student at Drexel University working towards a B.S. in Electrical Engineering with a Minor in Entertainment Engineering.
Drexel University and TAIT have a Co-Op program that allows me to study on campus for 6 months of the year and work full-time at TAIT for the other 6 months.
As a Controls Integrator, I commission and program all of the automated elements on a project.
That means I am responsible for verifying that everything functions properly according to the design specs.
Right now, I am working on the Kinetic Scoreboard at the Wells Fargo Center.
The scoreboard consists of 4 elements: the header, the expandable center-hung scoreboard and the 2 crown trusses.
The center-hung scoreboard expands and contracts. When it’s in its closed position, the center-hung can lift up into the ceiling of the arena and live inside a built in garage. The 2 crown trusses compliment the center-hung scoreboard and move up and down at 4 ft. per second. All of these elements are controlled by TAIT Navigator. Technically, TAIT Navigator is an entertainment automation platform but really, it’s what makes the magic happen.
Earlier in the project, we integrated all of the elements in The Studio at Rock Lititz. This is where we tested everything before we installed it at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA.
Some people pay to go climbing, but I get paid to climb and work on the brains of the Wells Fargo Center scoreboard.
Another part of my job is wiring up the different components of the machine: the motors, the breaks, the encoders and the various input/output devices.
I also power up and test the functionality of the controls cabinets, I program PLCs, I write safety code and set up the drives so that TAIT Navigator can control and communicate with all of the automated pieces.
Another cool fun fact about the scoreboard is that it’s 90,000 lbs. with each crown truss weighing 12,000 lbs. The crown trusses also have lighting, video, audio, pyro and cryo installed on them all adding the insane scale of this project.
The Wells Fargo Center scoreboard project will be the first time that I have worked on an automation project to this scale.
I am proud to have this opportunity to work on this project as part of my education and training. Being surrounded and supported by the extraordinary people at TAIT has made my entire experience worthwhile.
Want to learn more about careers in Controls Integration at TAIT?
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For more information on what TAIT provided for the Wells Fargo Center’s kinetic scoreboard, Click Here!
