How the strictest guidelines demand the most innovative solutions

The brief

After winning a contract to supply the next generation of digital motorway signage For Wales, Techspan partnered with us to help deliver it.

What we did

The challenge with this project was that competitors had already been awarded contracts for the rest of the country, and their designs had been patented. So we needed to develop new solutions. We also had to comply with the very stringent Highways Agency optical and mechanical specification guidelines, taking into account everything from viewing angles to reflection resistance. On top of all this, the modules needed to be able to withstand ‘life in the hard-shoulder’ - driving rain, wind loads and high speed impacts from vehicle debris. Our solution was to engineer a structural, louvered chassis within a single component front panel. This provided thermal management and optical paths, internal reflection and mechanical structure. Extensive use of optical ray tracing, Finite Element Analysis and 3D CAD helped us optimise the design before making the prototype for testing. The final product was able to withstand:

• Cleaning with high-pressure jets (IP66)

• 20J impacts that replicate flying vehicle debris

• 1.5g vibrations over 6 hours

• Drop tests imparting 10g 

Result

The Display Modules met all of the requirements and over 5,000 are now set up across Wales.

Client's Comments

"The depth of skills offered within PDD and the wealth of experience meant that our concept ideas turned into reality faster than anticipated. This coupled with excellent communication between PDD and ourselves enabled us to meet demanding deadlines and finish the project to budget."

Techspan