Enclosures protect motorway controls
A
Fibox product story
Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team
Jul 13, 2004
The new M6 toll road uses Fibox enclosures to house gantry lighting controls along the entire 43km stretch of motorway.
Opened in late December 2003, the eagerly awaited M6 toll is designed to relieve congestion and improve travel times around the Birmingham area.
As part of this major civil engineering undertaking, 36 sign gantries, housing a total of 221 lighting units, are included along the motorway.
Providing power to these, reliably and safely, called for panel building expertise and some high quality enclosures.
Using the Fibox EK range of high impact resistant polycarbonate enclosures, electrical contractor H Woodbine built and installed lighting termination boxes and consumer units on the overhead gantries which span the motorway, giving motorists vital routing information.
Being able to turn off lights separately is critical for maintenance and safe operation of the units.
Fibox EK TH enclosures were selected to form the basis of these individual termination boxes, which house automatic cut out devices, and double pole MCBs, connected to every light on the gantry.
H Woodbine, working on behalf of the main contractor CAMBBA (The Carillon, Alfred McAlpine, Belfour Beatty and Amec Consortium) also used Fibox EK UH enclosures to house the electronics and electrical components required to control each of the gantry's lighting functions.
A photocell light sensor unit, used to automatically control switching, is housed on the enclosure, the complete housing is connected via armoured cable through weatherproof glands.
As well as being incredibly robust, the Fibox EK range is IP67 rated and come with an enormous range of accessories and fittings - covers, hinges, internal mountings, DIN rails, glands and cable entry systems.
Because they are constructed from polycarbonate they are also entirely rustproof, and maintenance free.
This makes the Fibox EK ideal for gantry mounted electrical equipment, where service access is restricted once the motorway is open.
Commenting on the completed project, Brian McCann, Atkins' Consultant, said: "We specified Fibox from the very start because we felt confident that the EK range would be most suited to the environment in which the M6 lighting operates".
"Reliability is obviously key, so high IP rating and durability are important factors".
"Another consideration was the ease with which the panel building contractor could populate the enclosures and integrate them into the entire lighting scheme".
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