Lightweight crash management systems are of increasing importance for most forms of ground transport. Automotive OEMs like JLR have advanced aluminium automotive body designs but still depend on steel for bumper beams. For rail applications steel based crash systems predominate. Constellium has developed considerably stronger extrusion alloys based on the AA6xxx alloy system that are fully recycling compatible with the sheet used for automotive structures and body panels. Brunel University has developed alloys and casting technologies that enable extrusions and castings to be combined in novel ways to produce a new generation of compact lightweight crash management systems. The envisaged work programme will include a high strength alloy being combined with casting alloys using overcasting techniques and the use of bonded and riveted joints to demonstrate the potential for both increased crash resistance and weight saving. The project will demonstrate and evaluate optimised designs for crash management systems for both automotive and rail transport.

Oleo International designs and manufactures energy absorption technologies across a range of industries and is the world leading manufacturer of large elevator buffers. Under every elevator there is a buffer which is part of the speed management system. The stroke of the elevator buffer is specified according to the speed of the elevator. They can range from a few centimetres to several meters. As buildings get higher, elevators need to become faster to provide effective transport systems for ‘vertical cities’. Consequently, elevator buffers require increasingly longer strokes, resulting in larger elevator buffers. Large elevator buffers are expensive but the installation costs are even greater as large elevators buffers require significant space in the elevator shaft. If Oleo can develop a buffer with the properties of a large buffer but which is shorter and capable of being installed in a smaller footprint it will provide a desired solution for a worldwide construction market. There is no such product currently available. The objective is to design, develop and manufacture the world’s longest stroke elevator buffer. It will be capable of stroking 70% of its installation height. The technical challenges will be to devise a method of controlling the hydraulic pressure to allow the buffer to accelerate and decelerate the elevator in a prescribed manner. The stages will include a means of accelerating the buffer itself without generating high transient force which could damage the elevator, designing a telescopic buffer with a footprint capable of fitting in an elevator shaft and a mass flow rate dependent metering system. The successful completion of this project will develop a new market and will provide a cost effective sustainable solution for the construction of higher buildings, maximising land use. The design concept would also have application in other sectors of Oleo’s global business where installation space is of a premium, such as rail terminal stops.