The VMC Pole™ is a rotating and lowering counter balanced cantilevered pole. Supporting sign or surveillance equipment it will be mounted by side of the carriageway. The pole can be rotated off carriageway and then lowered for access to the equipment mounted on it to allow for repairs and regular maintenance. The inbuilt safety features ensure the pole must be fully rotated before the lowering mechanism can be driven.

Designed to fulfil a number of functions the VMC Pole™ will be used for mounting VMS equipment as well as traffic monitoring and enforcement equipment. However the design can be extended to other applications and can be both upscaled and downscaled depending on need.
The VMC Pole™ delivers significant cost savings over fixed posts, removing the need for lane possession and additional safety and access equipment when maintenance is required.
A new and innovative design, already nominated for three industry awards. The pole’s first implementation will be on a managed motorway scheme in the UK.
VMC Pole

The Project
Atkins Global working with Balfour Beattey approached us at Crown International with a custom design project for the Welsh Assembly. The Welsh Assembly was planning a regeneration of a section of the M4 in Wales. As part of this project they wanted a product that would hold a variable message sign over the motorway, but allow the sign to be maintained easily.

Currently the products they had available to them were:
• A gantry, which is expensive to purchase, but once installed any maintenance that is required on the sign is cheep, due to minimal traffic management.
• A fixed pole, which has a low purchase cost, but when installed if the sign needs maintenance two lanes of the motorway would need to be closed, which means high traffic management costs and large disruption.

So they wanted a product that would take the positives of both of these, they wanted a low-medium cost product that would allow minimal traffic management and disruption if a sign needed to be maintained. On top of this they wanted a product that would also look better than both of the current solutions, The Welsh Assembly are know for wanting a product with a high quality look, feel and finish.

We approached this project open minded, using the experience the company has in its manufacturing team, and the creativity of the design team. We developed a huge number of concepts that we presented to the clients. The product that interested them the most was a pole that would be able to rotate away from the motorway over the verge, and then lower down to ground level to allow access to the sign for maintenance.

When we had settled on a concept, we listed some key issues that we needed to solve.

1. Ensuring correct use
For example we did not want it to be possible for somebody to be able to lower or rotate the sign into the road, so we developed a mechanism that only allowed the user to lower the sign once the pole had been rotated 90 degrees. Along with that the mechanism needed to also stop them rotating it back into the road before it had been raised back to the top.

2. Making it simple
The Welsh Assembly did not want a product that used complicated electronics and hydraulics. So we developed a method of rotating and lowering the pole completely by hand, using Crown International core expertise in counter-balance solutions.

3. Weight
With a product like this where the user has to manually drive it with only gearing and chains to help we had to minimise the weights and forces involved. We did this for example by using an aluminium truss frame, to construct the arm, this made it both strong and light weight.

4. Visuals
The Welsh Assembly was keen for it to look better than any similar product. We wanted the pole to fit in to its environment, but also to stand out to be better looking and a different class from the other products. We utilised some of its engineering features such as it beautifully constructed truss framed arm, and the bearing rails down the side of the pole, but we covered up some of the raw engineering with smooth clean curved cladding to soften the product.

5. Cable Management
With a product like this which moves not only from side to side but also up and down cables can be difficult to route. We developed an automated mechanism that would allow the cables to move with the product allowing the cables to stay connected and safe what ever position the pole was in.

The design is now completed and the first batch has been manufactured ready for installation on the M4 this summer.

The pole was awarded an innovation award at the international traffic exhibition Inter Traffic in Amsterdam this year.

My Role
I was one of two designers that were assigned this project, I was heavily involved from the initial concepts through to the manufacture and assembly drawings. My key tasks included concept and idea generation, problem solving, mechanism design, core structure design, CAD modelling, design detailing, initial FEA/structure analysis, manufacture drawings (including part, fabrication and assemblies), cost engineering, liaising with both customers and suppliers.