Temporary Barrier System for Roadway Visibility Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional concrete roadway barriers are too short, allowing drivers to see over them and causing traffic congestion and disruption when accidents occur, as they slow down to view the incident, which hampers traffic flow and emergency access.
Innovation Solution
A temporary barrier system that can be rapidly deployed alongside concrete dividers, increasing the height to prevent visibility over the barrier, using a planar body with integrated steel cables and fiberglass support members, stored in a trailer for easy transport and deployment, allowing air to pass through while inhibiting sight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If concrete barriers are made taller to prevent visibility over the barrier, then safety is improved, but weight and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier system is divided into two segments: a permanent concrete base barrier and a temporary fabric barrier that attaches to it. The fabric barrier (400) is a separate component that can be independently deployed and removed, allowing the concrete barrier to remain lightweight while achieving greater effective height when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of increasing height in the vertical dimension by making the concrete barrier taller, the solution adds a secondary barrier layer in the horizontal dimension. The fabric barrier (400) extends from the concrete barrier to create an extended obstacle that blocks sightlines without requiring additional concrete mass.
2Reliability
If concrete barriers are made taller to prevent visibility over the barrier, then safety is improved, but cost increases
Solution Approach 1:
The barrier system is divided into two segments: a permanent concrete base barrier and a temporary fabric barrier that attaches to it. The fabric barrier (400) is a separate component that can be independently deployed and removed, allowing the concrete barrier to remain lightweight while achieving greater effective height when needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The system combines concrete material for the base barrier with fabric/material for the upper barrier section. This composite approach uses inexpensive fabric materials to achieve the height extension function, avoiding the high cost of manufacturing an entirely taller concrete barrier.
3Ease of operation
If concrete barriers are reduced in height to maintain safe driving conditions, then visibility is improved, but traffic congestion worsens during accidents
Solution Approach 1:
The fabric barrier (400) is designed to be dynamically deployable and removable. It can be quickly attached to the concrete barrier when accident prevention is needed, and just as quickly removed when emergency access is required, allowing the system to adapt its height based on real-time traffic conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The fabric barrier acts as an intermediary element between the concrete barrier and the driving environment. It provides the additional height needed to block sightlines during normal operation, while its removable nature allows it to serve as a temporary measure that can be deployed only when needed for accident prevention.
4Loss of time
If a temporary barrier is rapidly deployed to block visibility, then traffic congestion is reduced, but deployment complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fabric barrier (400) uses a flexible thin film structure that can be easily stored in a rolled or folded state and quickly deployed by unrolling or unfolding. This simple geometric form factor enables rapid deployment without complex assembly procedures, reducing both storage space requirements and deployment time.
Data Source
AI summary
A temporary barrier system that is configured to be placed adjacent a concrete divider on a roadway wherein the temporary barrier system provides an increased vertical barrier so as to inhibit seeing therepast. The temporary barrier system includes a storage container having the body of the present invention stored in its first position therein. The body of the present invention is planar in manner and stored in a rolled position in the storage container. The body is wrapped around a winding apparatus and includes an end that is configured to be secured to a deployment vehicle. The deployment vehicle traverses away from the storage container to deploy the body to its second position. The body further includes a plurality of support members being configured to be perpendicular to the upper and lower edge. The storage container is configured as a towable trailer.