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WO1999004095A1 - Revêtement reflechissant plisse pour glissiere de securite - Google Patents

Revêtement reflechissant plisse pour glissiere de securite Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO1999004095A1
WO1999004095A1 PCT/US1998/011644 US9811644W WO9904095A1 WO 1999004095 A1 WO1999004095 A1 WO 1999004095A1 US 9811644 W US9811644 W US 9811644W WO 9904095 A1 WO9904095 A1 WO 9904095A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
sheeting
retroreflective
pleated
longitudinally extending
portions
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US1998/011644
Other languages
English (en)
Inventor
David G. Schueler
Original Assignee
Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company
Priority date (The priority date 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 date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company filed Critical Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company
Priority to AU78196/98A priority Critical patent/AU7819698A/en
Publication of WO1999004095A1 publication Critical patent/WO1999004095A1/fr

Links

Classifications

    • 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
    • E01F9/602—Upright or projecting signs or signals permanently installed directly on or in the roadway and designed to be depressed by rolling or other loads and then to return to normal position, e.g. collapsible or rockable stop signs, flexible vehicle-striking members for audible warning
    • 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
    • E01F9/658—Upright bodies, e.g. marker posts or bollards; Supports for road signs characterised by means for fixing
    • E01F9/669—Upright bodies, e.g. marker posts or bollards; Supports for road signs characterised by means for fixing for fastening to safety barriers or the like

Definitions

  • the invention relates to retroreflective sheeting for traffic barricades, and more specifically to pleated retroreflective barricade sheeting that provides retroreflection at all entrance angles.
  • Conventional traffic barricades of the type shown in Figure 1 are typically used to divide lanes of traffic traveling in different directions, or to mark the edge of a road.
  • the barricades may be on the order of 2.4 to 6.1 meters (8 to 20 feet) long, and are typically wider at the bottom than at the top.
  • a series of such barricades may be placed end-to-end along the side of the desired path of travel, to provide both a visible boundary and a physical boundary for the roadway.
  • the barricades are typically made of concrete, and require specialized equipment to install and remove.
  • reflectors may be placed on the barricade to provide increased visibility. These reflectors, known as retroreflectors because they return incident light toward its originating source, may be placed at desired intervals along the length of the barricades to retroreflect the lights of an oncoming car to its driver.
  • retroreflectors because they return incident light toward its originating source, may be placed at desired intervals along the length of the barricades to retroreflect the lights of an oncoming car to its driver.
  • U.S. Patent No. 4,224,002 Heenan et al.
  • Figure 2 illustrates the use of conventional highway barricades along a curved road.
  • the retroreflectors that are placed on barricades along the straight section of the road can effectively retroreflect light.
  • those that are placed on barricades along the curved section of the road may be nearly perpendicular to the headlights of the oncoming car at (A), for example, and therefore provide virtually no retroreflectivity. This can cause significant difficulties for a driver, to whom the barricades may become apparent only after the car has entered the curve.
  • a driver may also become confused between these individual (or “spot”) retroreflectors and other spot retroreflectors mounted on other sources, and be unable to determine which spot retroreflectors are intended to indicate the location of the barrier, and thus the path of the road.
  • German Patent Publication No. DE 443 34 659 Al discloses a retroreflective guidance element used for road traffic, which element includes a corrugated or wave-like shape. Although this element may be useful for guiding motorists, it may also be expensive to make, and thus undesirable. Also, metal structures that are attached to a barrier can be impacted and broken off by a vehicle, and can become a dangerous projectile or an obstruction in the road. Structures such as these may also interfere with the portability of the barrier.
  • the present invention overcomes the disadvantages of conventional retroreflectors by providing a substantially continuous, longitudinally extending retroreflective portion, and pleated retroreflective portions each extending generally perpendicularly to the longitudinally extending portion and spaced along the longitudinally extending portion.
  • the pleated retroreflective portions are formed from the same piece of sheeting as the longitudinally extending portion.
  • Also provided is a method of providing retroreflective sheeting comprising the steps of providing a substantially continuous retroreflective sheeting, and forming a series of spaced pleated retroreflective portions in the sheeting, each pleated portion extending generally perpendicularly to the remainder of the sheeting.
  • Figure 1 is a perspective view of a conventional traffic barricade
  • Figure 2 is an overhead view of a curving roadway having conventional barricades provided along one side thereof;
  • Figure 3 is a perspective view of a pleated retroreflective sheeting according to the present invention
  • Figure 4 is a perspective view of a traffic control device including the pleated retroreflective sheeting of the present invention
  • Figure 6 is a perspective view of a guard rail including the retroreflective sheeting of the present invention.
  • Figure 7 is a sectional view of another embodiment of the pleated sheeting of the present invention, applied to a relatively rigid substrate.
  • the retroreflective sheeting of the present invention includes a substantially continuous, longitudinally extending retroreflective portion, and pleated retroreflective portions.
  • the pleated retroreflective portions each extend generally perpendicularly to the longitudinally extending portion, and are spaced along the longitudinally extending portion. These pleated portions retroreflect light incident at moderate to high entrance angles, whereas the longitudinally extending retroreflective portions retroreflect light at moderate to low entrance angles.
  • retroreflective sheeting 10 includes a substantially continuous, longitudinally extending retroreflective portion 12, and pleated retroreflective portions 14.
  • pleated or “pleats” means that a portion of the sheeting is doubled upon itself and bonded together by, for example, an adhesive or ultrasonic bonding.
  • the pleated portions 14 are bonded together by the adhesive layer 16.
  • Adhesive layer 16 on the back surface of sheeting 10 also enables the sheeting to be bonded to any suitable surface.
  • Figure 4 illustrates retroreflective sheeting 10 applied along the length of a traffic barricade to provide a traffic control device.
  • Figure 5 illustrates the operation of the present invention, in which retroreflective sheeting is applied to a number of traffic barricades that border the left- hand side of a roadway 30 to guide motorists.
  • Vehicle 32 includes headlights 34, which illuminate the roadway for the benefit of the person driving the vehicle.
  • headlights 34 which illuminate the roadway for the benefit of the person driving the vehicle.
  • Ray A strikes sheeting 10 at entrance angle a, which is measured from a line C perpendicular to sheeting 10.
  • the entrance angle of the incident light is very high.
  • pleated portions 14 extend generally pe ⁇ endicularly to the longitudinally extending portion 12 of the sheeting, and thereby retroreflect light incident thereon in accordance with known principles of retroreflection. Stated differently, at high entrance angles the light strikes only the pleated portions, which are then visible to the driver. Thus, the motorist is able to see the light A' reflected by the series of pleated portions 14 along the straight section of the roadway.
  • the pleated portions 14 become less important for retroreflective purposes, and longitudinally extending portion 12 becomes more important.
  • Light ray B strikes the longitudinally extending portion 12 of sheeting 10 at a relatively low entrance angle, and is retroreflected toward the originating source as ray B'. That is, at lower entrance angles the light strikes both portions 12 and 14, and a continuous line is apparent to the driver.
  • the entrance angle changes from nearly 90 degrees to zero degrees, more of the longitudinally extending portions are visible and less of the pleated portions are visible, until at zero degree entrance angles only the former retroreflects any significant portion of incident light. The effect of this is that with proper spacing of the pleats, all incident light strikes a retroreflective portion of the sheeting, regardless of entrance angle.
  • Sheeting be flexible, rigid sheeting may also be used if desired.
  • Adhesive layer 16 may also be of any suitable type, although pressure sensitive adhesives are preferred.
  • One advantage of using retroreflective sheeting having a pressure sensitive adhesive is that the pleated portions 14 may be formed simply by pleating the sheeting in the desired locations such that the adhesive sticks to itself without further processing, as shown in Figure 3 at 40.
  • the optimum height and spacing of the pleats depends on a number of factors that will be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art. The factors include the size and shape of the vehicle, the location of the light source(s), the size and location of the driver, whether the barricades are on the left or right-hand side of the road, and the distance between the light source, the driver, and a given pleat on the sheeting. It is believed that pleated sheeting made in accordance with the dimensions shown below in
  • the left-hand column is pleat height (in centimeters), and the second, third, and fourth columns are the optimum spacing between adjacent pleats for light source-to-sheeting distances of 30, 50, and 80 meters, respectively.
  • the pleat height is 0.5 centimeters
  • the sheeting is being designed for a light source (a headlight) that is 50 meters away
  • the spacing between adjacent pleats should be 40.9 centimeters.
  • pleated sheeting designed for a light source that is 30 meters away will also perform acceptably for distances of more than 30 meters, although the incident light will then fall on a smaller portion (but a larger number) of pleats.
  • the pleated may be spaced uniformly along the length of the sheeting, or nonuniformly, as desired. Also, given that wind may tend to bend the pleats away from the pe ⁇ endicular, shorter pleats (less than 1 centimeter high, for example) may be more desirable than longer pleats. It is also desirable that the retroreflective sheeting used to make the pleats have good angular characteristics. Thus, if a pleat is bent out of position, it may still perform acceptably.
  • the retroreflective sheeting described herein may also be used on structures other than barriers, such as metal guard rails, buildings, tunnel walls, bridge support beams, cones and barrels, pier supports, trucks and buses, and the like.
  • An exemplary guard rail is illustrated in Figure 6, and it includes sheeting 10' applied to a flat continuous surface thereof.
  • Other possible uses for the pleated sheeting include, but are not limited to, cones and barrels used in construction work zones, and as pavement marking tape.
  • FIG 7 illustrates additional features of the present invention.
  • pleats 50 are made from retroreflective sheeting by folding a portion of the sheeting back upon itself, and are then individually applied to a base retroreflective sheeting 52, which includes an adhesive layer 54.
  • the pleats may be made separately from the base sheeting and applied either in the factory or in the field.
  • substrate 60 to which adhesive layer 54 is attached.
  • Substrate 60 may be used with this or other embodiments as a relatively rigid or higher strength underlayment for the pleated retroreflective sheeting, and can be attached (adhesively or mechanically, for example) to a barrier or other surface, such as the side of a building.
  • retroreflective sheeting may be wrapped over a forming member that causes a portion of the sheeting to project from the remainder of the sheeting.
  • the forming member(s) may be of any suitable shape, and can be continuous or discrete, and can be placed randomly or in a regular pattern.
  • retroreflective sheeting could be wrapped over a T-shaped member, a cylindrical member, members that are triangular or rectangular or other- shaped in cross-section, or a multitude of individual cubes or spheres.
  • the projection may be less than pe ⁇ endicular, although for non-pe ⁇ endicular members the use of retroreflective sheeting having good angularity is believed to be particularly useful.

Landscapes

  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Architecture (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Road Signs Or Road Markings (AREA)

Abstract

L'invention concerne un revêtement réfléchissant (10) destiné à être utilisé sur des glissières de sécurité (20) et permettant d'obtenir un dispositif de régulation du trafic. Le revêtement réfléchissant présente une partie réfléchissante longitudinale ainsi qu'une série de plis espacés s'étendant chacun, d'une manière générale, perpendiculairement à la partie longitudinale. Les plis assurent une visibilité considérablement améliorée par renvoi de la lumière incidente sur le revêtement à des angles d'entrée très élevés par rapport à la partie réfléchissante longitudinale.
PCT/US1998/011644 1997-07-16 1998-06-04 Revêtement reflechissant plisse pour glissiere de securite WO1999004095A1 (fr)

Priority Applications (1)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
AU78196/98A AU7819698A (en) 1997-07-16 1998-06-04 Pleated retroreflective barricade sheeting

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US89538497A 1997-07-16 1997-07-16
US08/895,384 1997-07-16

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO1999004095A1 true WO1999004095A1 (fr) 1999-01-28

Family

ID=25404434

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/US1998/011644 WO1999004095A1 (fr) 1997-07-16 1998-06-04 Revêtement reflechissant plisse pour glissiere de securite

Country Status (2)

Country Link
AU (1) AU7819698A (fr)
WO (1) WO1999004095A1 (fr)

Cited By (5)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1103661A1 (fr) * 1999-11-25 2001-05-30 Cofino SA Réflecteur
WO2004029365A1 (fr) * 2002-09-24 2004-04-08 3M Innovative Properties Company Reflecteur
ITMO20090241A1 (it) * 2009-10-02 2011-04-03 Giorgio Corradi Elemento strutturato per segnaletica stradale orizzontale e/o laterale.
AT509462A4 (de) * 2010-03-23 2011-09-15 Swarovski D Kg Reflektor für fahrbahnbegrenzungen
JP2021147931A (ja) * 2020-03-22 2021-09-27 由弘 山崎 双方向光反射板

Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3879148A (en) * 1973-03-21 1975-04-22 Ludwig Eigenmann Grazing light reflector for roadway pavement markers
US4224002A (en) 1978-08-04 1980-09-23 Amerace Corporation Highway delineator
US4349598A (en) * 1976-12-01 1982-09-14 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company High incidence angle retroreflective material
WO1991019857A1 (fr) * 1990-06-20 1991-12-26 Giorgio Corradi Bande de marquage
EP0509788A1 (fr) * 1991-04-15 1992-10-21 Allan Jarvis Dispositif de signalisation routière et système de sécurité de la route
FR2678963A1 (fr) * 1991-07-12 1993-01-15 Skrzypczak Francois Dispositif de signalisation visuelle pour voie de circulation.
DE4334659A1 (de) 1993-10-12 1995-04-20 Johannes Dipl Ing Aulbach Optische Leiteinrichtung, insbesondere für den Straßenverkehr

Patent Citations (7)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US3879148A (en) * 1973-03-21 1975-04-22 Ludwig Eigenmann Grazing light reflector for roadway pavement markers
US4349598A (en) * 1976-12-01 1982-09-14 Minnesota Mining And Manufacturing Company High incidence angle retroreflective material
US4224002A (en) 1978-08-04 1980-09-23 Amerace Corporation Highway delineator
WO1991019857A1 (fr) * 1990-06-20 1991-12-26 Giorgio Corradi Bande de marquage
EP0509788A1 (fr) * 1991-04-15 1992-10-21 Allan Jarvis Dispositif de signalisation routière et système de sécurité de la route
FR2678963A1 (fr) * 1991-07-12 1993-01-15 Skrzypczak Francois Dispositif de signalisation visuelle pour voie de circulation.
DE4334659A1 (de) 1993-10-12 1995-04-20 Johannes Dipl Ing Aulbach Optische Leiteinrichtung, insbesondere für den Straßenverkehr

Cited By (9)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
EP1103661A1 (fr) * 1999-11-25 2001-05-30 Cofino SA Réflecteur
WO2004029365A1 (fr) * 2002-09-24 2004-04-08 3M Innovative Properties Company Reflecteur
ITMO20090241A1 (it) * 2009-10-02 2011-04-03 Giorgio Corradi Elemento strutturato per segnaletica stradale orizzontale e/o laterale.
WO2011039720A3 (fr) * 2009-10-02 2011-06-16 Giorgio Corradi Élément structuré pour signalisation routière horizontale et/ou verticale
AT509462A4 (de) * 2010-03-23 2011-09-15 Swarovski D Kg Reflektor für fahrbahnbegrenzungen
AT509462B1 (de) * 2010-03-23 2011-09-15 Swarovski D Kg Reflektor für fahrbahnbegrenzungen
EP2369059A2 (fr) 2010-03-23 2011-09-28 D. Swarovski KG Réflecteur pour limitations de voie
EP2369059A3 (fr) * 2010-03-23 2013-09-25 D. Swarovski KG Réflecteur pour limitations de voie
JP2021147931A (ja) * 2020-03-22 2021-09-27 由弘 山崎 双方向光反射板

Also Published As

Publication number Publication date
AU7819698A (en) 1999-02-10

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