Siemens Automation and Controls System for a Deep-Water Standing Wave Pool

A seasonal crew, a 100-day window, and zero tolerance for downtime. That’s what the controls were designed around.

The Challenge

Slidewaters Waterpark has operated on the shores of Lake Chelan, Washington, since 1983. When owners Burke and Robert Bordner decided to add a surf wave attraction, they didn’t start small. They partnered with Citywave®, a German company known for bringing world-class standing waves to urban venues, and set out to build the first deep-water Citywave installation in the United States.

The physics were straightforward, but the operations problem was not.

Lakeside Surf is only open 100 days a year, so every lost day matters. The wave pool would be run by a seasonal workforce of teenagers and college-age staff, not experienced engineers. And the system would need to handle twelve 132kW pumps circulating up to 667,000 gallons of water per minute, generating a six-foot wave consistently and safely, shift after shift.

Three requirements shaped the design from day one: it had to be reliable enough that a single mechanical fault wouldn’t close the park; safe enough that young operators could respond quickly and correctly in an emergency; and flexible enough to evolve as the park grew.

The Solution

The Bordners needed a U.S.-based partner to design and build the electrical and control systems. They came to Applied Motion Systems.

AMS had worked with Siemens automation platforms for years and knew the G120 drives and S7-1500 PLC well. The combination offered the performance the application needed and the diagnostics the team would need to keep the system running without needing to call in specialists in mid-August.

The design centered on twelve identical SINAMICS G120 132kW drives, one per pump, connected via PROFIsafe to enable Safe Torque Off on each drive independently. A pre-fabricated TIASTAR Motor Control Center simplified the electrical enclosure and power distribution, reducing both engineering time and long-term maintenance complexity.

Control and Safety

A SIMATIC S7-1500 PLC handles all system control: safety logic, wave adjustments, and real-time monitoring of power usage and fault codes across all twelve drives. The modular design means a failed component can be swapped without taking the system down or disrupting I/O processing.

Emergency stop pushbuttons, SIRIUS ACT units with enhanced diagnostics, were installed at multiple locations throughout the facility and wired directly into the PROFInet network. Installation and commissioning time were significantly reduced; more importantly, operators anywhere on the property can quickly stop the wave if needed.

The Operator Interface

The wave pool’s central control point is a 12-inch SIMATIC Comfort Panel HMI, configured with user-group access levels that separate operation, maintenance, and configuration functions. AMS connected a secure SCALANCE industrial Wi-Fi network so the Siemens SmartClient App could run on an Apple iPad reserved for operator use.

The iPad mirrors the HMI panel exactly. Staff can adjust flow rate and wave height, switching between beginner, intermediate, advanced, and expert wave profiles, from anywhere in the park, without stopping the wave or calling the booth.

Integration

Every component, except the power supplies and IWLAN access point, was configured within a single TIA Portal project. That decision wasn’t just for engineering convenience; it ensures diagnostics are consistent across the entire system and that any future expansion can be added within the same framework without rebuilding the integration.

SITOP power supplies, rated at 96% efficiency, handle all DC power for the system. SIMATIC ET200SP remote I/O manages the auxiliary motor contactors, with channel-level diagnostics and tool-free installation that keep maintenance from interrupting operations.

The Result

Lakeside Surf is now the largest and tallest Citywave® wave pool in the world: 50 feet wide, 75 feet long, with a six-foot wave.

Before opening to the public, the Bordners ran a full summer of testing: 15 hours of continuous, full-speed operation, with zero issues.

The system the Bordners needed had to be rugged enough for volume, safe and intuitive enough for a young workforce, and flexible enough to grow. The Siemens system AMS delivered is all of those things. Operators who have never seen industrial automation before learn the iPad interface in minutes, and wave profiles can be swapped on the fly. The control architecture provided flexibility and capacity that the park is still learning to tap.

The park anticipates a 20 percent increase in attendance from the new attraction. The season is short. The system is ready for it.

“AMS has a great reputation for forward-thinking solutions and its engineers don’t shy away from a challenge,” says Robert Bordner.

Read the full story from Siemens here.

About Applied Motion Systems

AMS is a systems integrator and machine builder. Our work spans motion control and industrial automation systems across paper converting, web handling equipment, aerospace tooling, renewable energy, and applications most companies haven’t tried before.

We design for the environment the system will actually operate in, not the one we’d prefer it to occupy. And we think about what the system looks like five years after commissioning, because that’s when the value of building it right becomes obvious.

If you are working through a motion control challenge in a difficult environment, we would welcome the conversation.