EP0607001A1 - Dispositif rétro-réfléchissant - Google Patents
Dispositif rétro-réfléchissant Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- EP0607001A1 EP0607001A1 EP94300147A EP94300147A EP0607001A1 EP 0607001 A1 EP0607001 A1 EP 0607001A1 EP 94300147 A EP94300147 A EP 94300147A EP 94300147 A EP94300147 A EP 94300147A EP 0607001 A1 EP0607001 A1 EP 0607001A1
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- retro
- reflective
- lux
- white
- performance
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Granted
Links
Images
Classifications
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
- G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
- G09F13/00—Illuminated signs; Luminous advertising
- G09F13/16—Signs formed of or incorporating reflecting elements or surfaces, e.g. warning signs having triangular or other geometrical shape
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E01—CONSTRUCTION OF ROADS, RAILWAYS, OR BRIDGES
- E01F—ADDITIONAL WORK, SUCH AS EQUIPPING ROADS OR THE CONSTRUCTION OF PLATFORMS, HELICOPTER LANDING STAGES, SIGNS, SNOW FENCES, OR THE LIKE
- E01F9/00—Arrangement of road signs or traffic signals; Arrangements for enforcing caution
- E01F9/60—Upright bodies, e.g. marker posts or bollards; Supports for road signs
- E01F9/604—Upright bodies, e.g. marker posts or bollards; Supports for road signs specially adapted for particular signalling purposes, e.g. for indicating curves, road works or pedestrian crossings
- E01F9/619—Upright bodies, e.g. marker posts or bollards; Supports for road signs specially adapted for particular signalling purposes, e.g. for indicating curves, road works or pedestrian crossings with reflectors; with means for keeping reflectors clean
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G09—EDUCATION; CRYPTOGRAPHY; DISPLAY; ADVERTISING; SEALS
- G09F—DISPLAYING; ADVERTISING; SIGNS; LABELS OR NAME-PLATES; SEALS
- G09F13/00—Illuminated signs; Luminous advertising
- G09F13/04—Signs, boards or panels, illuminated from behind the insignia
- G09F13/0418—Constructional details
- G09F13/0472—Traffic signs
Definitions
- This invention relates to improvements in the visual effectiveness of retro-reflective road traffic signs, delineators, barriers, bollards, cones, markers and the like in general, but is particularly beneficial when applied to temporary use products at sites such as road works, accidents or emergency situations.
- the area of a given colour present on the sign as either background, border or text is such that when the area value, combined with the contrast value for the two colours is viewed, the message, legend or pictogramme presented is readily discernible to the human eye in daylight.
- the retro-reflective image present performs adequately for an informative purpose, although often, the legibility or distance to comprehension is achieved by difference in relative brightness rather than difference in actual colour i.e., whilst in daylight, a driver will readily perceive a white legend against a blue background as "a white legend against a blue background”.
- the driver will frequently be firstly aware of a "bright legend against a darker background” followed by at a closer distance "a bright white legend against a less intense blue background”.
- such permanent signs are mounted in a position to one side or above the drivers' line of travel such that the driver is required momentarily to direct his/her line of sight a small part up or to the side to directly view the sign. At night, this is often sufficient to reduce the effect of glare from oncoming vehicles' headlights, or glare produced from lights in rain or vehicle spray, rendering the sign more visible than it would be if it was mounted at road level in an area substantially ahead of the driver.
- red (orange/red is only acceptable for daytime non retro-reflective surfaces) portion should also be retro-reflective that this would provide the same visual message at night time as the device did in daytime.
- This product type is representative of white sign sheetings over printed with a proprietary red ink and it was observed that the red portion was not as striking to the eye at night as may be desirable.
- the effect was an improvement in clear dry conditions with minimal traffic flow and no street lighting (i.e., optimal night driving conditions) but in dense traffic flow with increased glare and in wet conditions, the benefit was much reduced.
- a retro-reflective device comprising a white retro-reflective portion and at least one further retro-reflective portion displaying a blue or red colour, wherein the white retro-reflective portion has a performance of less than 180 cd/lux/m2 and the coloured portion has a performance of at least 10 cd/lux/m2 when blue and of at least 15 cd/lux/m2 when red, said performance being measured in accordance with the requirements of British Standard 873 parts 6 and/or 8 (1983) at an entrance angle of -5° and an observation angle of 20'.
- the invention rests on the discovery that a much improved visual performance at night could be achieved without detriment to daylight appearance by means of applying retro-reflective surfaces to the signs/cones/delineators which were of different retro-reflective performance. It was found that the application to a sign of a Class 1 (BS:873 Part 6) blue ground material with white legend to the basic requirements of Class 2 (BS:873 Part 6) (i.e. approximately 60 cd/lux/m2) gave much earlier colour recognition and marginally less legibility at night than an overall Class 2 equivalent without the potential glare experienced using Class 1 white legends.
- the performance of the blue coloured retro-reflective portions is at least 14 cd/lux/m2 and that of the red portion at least 25 cd/lux/m2.
- the device may be assembled from different pieces of different colour.
- the device may be a single piece of material in which different colours are provided covering a retro-reflective substrate with an appropriately coloured transparent or translucent coating.
- the retro-reflective substrate can be covered by a transparent layer such as of plastics, printed or coated on one or both surfaces with the desired colour.
- the retro-reflective device may comprise glass microspheres or microprisms or a combination thereof.
- the device can be rigid or flexible.
- Either of the examples given above and illustrated in figures 1 and 2 can be manufactured by applying separate pieces of material of different retro-reflective performance but this is time consuming and difficult to achieve, especially if the final product is intended to be flexible, without joins, and minimum cost.
- a substrate sheet of 250 microns thick plasticised PVC sheet which was reinforced with woven textile was coated using known art with a white binder layer onto which was cast and partially embedded, a layer of glass microspheres of between 54 and 120 microns diameter , the said beads having a coating of metal, the metal layer not embedded in the binder layer then being removed by known techniques.
- the proportions of beads present being sufficient to provide a retro-reflective performance of 120 cd/lux/m2 when covered with a clear PVC top layer. All this is known art.
- the said top clear layer was, prior to being introduced to the substrate layer, coated in the desired areas with a transparent red lacquer having the minimum visible light absorption characteristics so that when laid over the substrate, the portion not coated red would retro-reflect light at the desired 120 cd/lux/m2 and the portion coated red would retro-reflect light at greater than 25 cd/lux/m2.
- a transparent red lacquer having the minimum visible light absorption characteristics so that when laid over the substrate, the portion not coated red would retro-reflect light at the desired 120 cd/lux/m2 and the portion coated red would retro-reflect light at greater than 25 cd/lux/m2.
- Such a coat comprised of Marler Red screen printing lacquer thinned slightly more than normal by the addition of a standard thinner.
- the resultant product had the following characteristics.
- the top cover may be joined to the substrate at the edges and/or at other desired points by adhesive means or welding, for example by high frequency radio energy or by ultrasonic sound.
- the substrate and top cover do not need to be flexible as any suitable substrate and top cover may be employed.
- the embodiments described are air incident microsphere materials, but the principle is equally suited to encapsulated non air incident materials.
- the invention is particularly useful for marking or delineating hazards on the road, such as roadworks, an accident or the like.
- the higher performance of the coloured part of the assembly means that the said coloured part will be visible to the driver of an oncoming vehicle while still at a considerable distance away. Moreover the fact that a colour is being perceived, not just white, alerts the driver that something out of the ordinary is ahead.
Landscapes
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Theoretical Computer Science (AREA)
- Geometry (AREA)
- Architecture (AREA)
- Civil Engineering (AREA)
- Structural Engineering (AREA)
- Road Signs Or Road Markings (AREA)
- Illuminated Signs And Luminous Advertising (AREA)
Applications Claiming Priority (2)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
GB9300538 | 1993-01-13 | ||
GB9300538A GB2274295B (en) | 1993-01-13 | 1993-01-13 | Retro-reflective device |
Publications (2)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
---|---|
EP0607001A1 true EP0607001A1 (fr) | 1994-07-20 |
EP0607001B1 EP0607001B1 (fr) | 1996-09-25 |
Family
ID=10728619
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP94300147A Expired - Lifetime EP0607001B1 (fr) | 1993-01-13 | 1994-01-10 | Dispositif rétro-réfléchissant |
Country Status (3)
Country | Link |
---|---|
EP (1) | EP0607001B1 (fr) |
DE (1) | DE69400580T2 (fr) |
GB (1) | GB2274295B (fr) |
Cited By (3)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO1999024671A1 (fr) * | 1997-11-12 | 1999-05-20 | Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company | Manchon a bandes retroreflechissant multicolore utile pour dispositif de signalisation routiere et procede de fabrication |
EP1054266A2 (fr) * | 1999-05-21 | 2000-11-22 | Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon | Cible |
WO2004074910A2 (fr) * | 2003-02-14 | 2004-09-02 | Tenebraex Corporation | Systeme et procede permettant d'acheminer des signaux visuels ameliores vers un observateur |
Families Citing this family (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US11603633B2 (en) | 2015-02-11 | 2023-03-14 | Terry Utz | Traffic control channelizing system and method of use |
US10094080B2 (en) * | 2015-02-11 | 2018-10-09 | Terry Utz | Traffic cone |
Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0269327A2 (fr) * | 1986-11-21 | 1988-06-01 | Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company | Panneau routier |
US5050327A (en) * | 1989-11-17 | 1991-09-24 | Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company | Retroreflective sign having improved legibility |
Family Cites Families (1)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
GB2171440B (en) * | 1985-02-22 | 1988-04-20 | Glasdon Ltd | Planks for temporary roadway or pavement barrier systems |
-
1993
- 1993-01-13 GB GB9300538A patent/GB2274295B/en not_active Expired - Fee Related
-
1994
- 1994-01-10 EP EP94300147A patent/EP0607001B1/fr not_active Expired - Lifetime
- 1994-01-10 DE DE69400580T patent/DE69400580T2/de not_active Expired - Fee Related
Patent Citations (2)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
EP0269327A2 (fr) * | 1986-11-21 | 1988-06-01 | Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company | Panneau routier |
US5050327A (en) * | 1989-11-17 | 1991-09-24 | Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company | Retroreflective sign having improved legibility |
Cited By (5)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
WO1999024671A1 (fr) * | 1997-11-12 | 1999-05-20 | Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company | Manchon a bandes retroreflechissant multicolore utile pour dispositif de signalisation routiere et procede de fabrication |
EP1054266A2 (fr) * | 1999-05-21 | 2000-11-22 | Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon | Cible |
EP1054266A3 (fr) * | 1999-05-21 | 2002-10-02 | Kabushiki Kaisha Topcon | Cible |
WO2004074910A2 (fr) * | 2003-02-14 | 2004-09-02 | Tenebraex Corporation | Systeme et procede permettant d'acheminer des signaux visuels ameliores vers un observateur |
WO2004074910A3 (fr) * | 2003-02-14 | 2005-05-19 | Tenebraex Corp | Systeme et procede permettant d'acheminer des signaux visuels ameliores vers un observateur |
Also Published As
Publication number | Publication date |
---|---|
DE69400580T2 (de) | 1997-04-30 |
GB2274295A (en) | 1994-07-20 |
EP0607001B1 (fr) | 1996-09-25 |
GB2274295B (en) | 1996-01-17 |
GB9300538D0 (en) | 1993-03-03 |
DE69400580D1 (de) | 1996-10-31 |
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