Performance engineering

Saving lives with

safer lamp posts
Collisions with steel or concrete lamp posts account for
nearly 100 deaths and more than 800 injuries annually in the
UK. Eureka project E! 2534 Thermopole, led by UK company
Euro-Projects Ltd, has developed a safer, energy-absorbing
and maintenance-free alternative which promises to
significantly reduce this carnage.
A conventional lamp post made of glass fibres to form hollow shapes that
concrete or galvanised steel acts like a are stronger than steel, faster to produce
cheese-cutter when hit at high speed, and more environmentally friendly. The
cutting a car in half and invariably killing result is a lamp post or column which not
or seriously injuring the occupants. The only withstands the full force of the
team of British, Danish, German and elements but crumples or, thanks to a
Canadian companies collaborating on strategically placed access hatch, hinges
Eureka project Thermopole set out to when a car hits it, absorbing the impact.
develop a safer alternative which would Led by Euro-Projects Ltd from
be capable of absorbing much of the Rothley, near Leicester, specialists in the
force of a crash and save the car’s development and processing of
occupants from the full impact. thermoplastic composite materials and
The Thermopole lamp post is made processes, the team researched,
from glass fibre reinforced thermoplastic developed and tested a number of
composite materials; the thermoplastic technological developments ranging from
composites are solid at room new jointing techniques to specialist
temperature but melt on heating, and can software for designing fibre preforms
be moulded and remoulded around the that taper in length and vary in thickness.

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‘Nine lives were saved
following four serious crashes
at a pilot site testing one of
the earlier prototype columns.
We’ve had a car hitting one of
our composite poles at 90
miles an hour and the driver
walked away from the crash’
Gerry Boyce
Euro-Projects Ltd
The Thermopole column has a number
of key advantages over the conventional
steel or concrete column. Its greater
strength enables it to take the full force of
high winds and vehicular impacts, and it is
also corrosion-resistant - unlike steel
columns for example, which are easily
corroded by road salts and dog’s urine. The
column is fully recyclable at the end of its
lifetime – potentially 40-50 years, compared
with a traditional column’s 10-25 years –
and as its method of manufacture doesn’t
require the use of solvent-based resins, it
also meets strict European directives for
reduction in solvent emissions.
Composite columns are currently
more expensive to produce than
traditional columns. However, factor in
JUNE 2005 www.globalwatchservice.com
economies of scale as the production
process continues to be refined and the
fact that they are maintenance-free and
last twice as long as conventional
columns, and it becomes evident that the
initial investment soon starts paying off.
Easy to replace
Also, when council highways
departments install steel columns, health
and safety regulations dictate that a
protective barrier is placed in front of
them, or that they are positioned further
from the roadside and therefore need to
be taller. Composite columns, on the
other hand, being ‘passively safe’, can be
positioned close to the road without a
protective barrier, representing a
measurable cost saving. Being
remarkably light, they are also cheaper to
transport and install, and if a column is
knocked down it is very easy to unclip
and replace it.
‘The composite column has already
proved itself a lifesaver,’ says Gerry
Boyce, Director of Euro-Projects. ‘Nine
lives were saved following four serious
crashes at a pilot site testing one of the
earlier prototype columns. We’ve had a
car hitting one of our composite poles at
90 miles an hour and the driver walked
away from the crash.’
Low-cost inspection
One interesting issue raised by
maintenance engineers has formed the
basis of a new project under the DTI
Technology Programme which comprises
a consortium of eight companies. ‘If a
car hits a composite column at low
speed and then drives off, maintenance
engineers need to know if the column
has been damaged,’ says Gerry Boyce.
‘A steel or concrete column will have a
dent or the paint will be chipped, while a
composite pole may have internal
damage which isn’t obvious externally,
but which may compromise its
resistance to the wind or another impact.
So we’ve put together a project to
develop a low-cost inspection technique
based on ‘bruisable composites’, which
involves applying an outer coating which
contains a dye. If a car hits the column
Performance engineering
the dye is released and can be spotted
as an engineer drives past.’
Given the global nature of the
concept, which Euro-Projects is also
applying to wide-based street signs,
utility poles and traffic lights, the
potential rewards are considerable. There
are 6.5 million lamp posts in the UK
alone, for example, of which 200,000-
300,000 columns annually need
replacing or refurbishing, representing 2-
2.5 percent of the overall market. To
market the column, the company has
teamed up with Newark,
Nottinghamshire-based Poletech
Systems Limited, manufacturer of the
ground units into which columns are
inserted. ‘Without Eureka’s support and
funding we would not have got as far as
we have, and in the time we have,’ says
Gerry Boyce.
‘Eureka endorsement has
enabled us to partner with
three key companies from
Europe and Canada to bring
our skills together and take
forward a technology which we
know will save many lives’
Gerry Boyce
Euro-Projects Ltd
Further information
For further information about project
Thermopole, please contact Gerry Boyce,
Director, Euro-Projects Ltd
t: 0116 237 6693
e: g.boyce@europrojects.co.uk
www.europrojects.co.uk
For further information about Eureka,
the European collaborative R&D scheme,
please contact Robert Cameron,
DTI Eureka Unit
t: 0207 215 1707
e: robert.cameron@dti.gsi.gov.uk
For information about the DTI
Technology Programme, please visit
www.dti.gov.uk/technologyprogramme
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