详情

Safer Cushions

项目名称：	Safer Cushions
摘要：	This project will develop and test an automated, self-restoring crash cushion to help enhance safety of motoring public and workers on the highways while minimizing or eliminating maintenance and reducing life cycle costs. Work in Stage 1 will focus on systems check and readiness. The crash cushion, upon impact, telescopes backward while unspooling a strap from a drum that rotates on an axis. A motor will be attached to that axis to reverse the drum rotation direction, pulling the crash cushion out of its compressed state and back into its original position. The motor will be controlled by a programmable logic controller (PLC). With the motor sized and the system check controls programmed, the electronic components that sense the position will be procured along with the motor and the PLC and added to the SaferCushion. The SaferCushion will be set in its compressed, telescoped form. From that position, the PLC will be powered on to begin a resetting test. The PLC will be programmed to account for the lack of an impact, which ordinarily will trigger the resetting algorithm. Multiple tests will be done from different starting positions to test the sensors� ability to detect starting position and stop the motor accurately. Other non-impact tests will include intentional sabotaging of the system to evaluate the self-checking and self-healing features. In Stage 2, crash testing will be done at the Barber Laboratory for Advanced Safety Education and Research (BLASER) which has a large concrete pad with a semi-rigid bogey block on one end. The crash cushion prototype, with the proposed electronic motors and controls, will be installed against the bogey block and impacted by a bogey vehicle. Speeds will range from 20 to 40 mph, and angles will range from 0 to 15 degrees, totaling nine different test configurations. Each of the nine tests will be repeated five times, for a total of 45 impacts. The braking efficiency of the system will be monitored over the course of those 45 crash tests. A detailed final report will be prepared that will include recommendations on how to use the technology to further the safety goals of the highway agencies and industry.
状态：	Active
资金：	100000
资助组织：	Federal Highway Administration
项目负责人：	Jawed, Inam
执行机构：	Univerity of Alabama - Bimingham
主要研究人员：	Sicking, Dean
开始时间：	20180814
预计完成日期：	0
实际结束时间：	0