DCA Commercial and Industrial Brochure 002

Over half a century of design.

Since the early sixties we have helped a wide variety of companies design and develop market leading products that users still value every day, ranging from the Stanley knife to the Eurotunnel Shuttle.

Today we focus on building long term relationships with large corporations in four market sectors: ‘Medical and Scientific’, ‘Consumer’, ‘Commercial and Industrial’, and ‘Transport’.

Founded in 1960, we are one of the world’s leading product design and development consultancies, operating globally from our campus in Warwick, UK.

Our History

In 1960 David Carter CBE RDI founded David Carter Associates (DCA) as "a multidisciplinary consultancy involved in designing products for mass production".

Though the tools we use have changed and the range of specialist skills on offer has broadened out of all recognition, we remain true to David’s original multidisciplinary vision.

Our People

They combine to create a vibrant fusion of disciplines including mechanical engineers, electronics and software engineers, industrial designers, usability and interaction experts, researchers, strategists, prototyping technicians and specialist project managers. Each person is an expert in their own field, but has the curiosity, understanding and flexibility to reach

across traditional inter-disciplinary boundaries. Our organisational structures and team culture encourage this synergistic blending and integration of specialist skills. Our clients benefit not only from each individual’s depth of knowledge and experience but also from a team whose combined strength exceeds the sum of its individual members’ expertise.

DCA is a collection of over 130 extraordinary individuals. Intelligent, creative and thorough, our people make the difference to our clients’ projects.

Our connected disciplines

There are no departments at DCA. Our studios, laboratories and workshops have different disciplines working side by side. Over fifty years we have developed an expertise in connecting and integrating the right disciplines, at the right time, in the right way to achieve success for our clients.

Since our foundation a multidisciplinary philosophy has been the cornerstone of our approach to product design and development.

Software Engineering

Interaction Design

Mechanical Engineering

Design Research & Planning

Prototyping

Electronic Engineering

Industrial Design

Human Factors & Usability

Design for business to business brands

This makes for complex, and often contradictory, stakeholder relationships. Added to this there is usually the need to adhere to demanding legislative requirements. We must understand these interactions thoroughly, balancing and prioritising ease of use, for example, against ease of installation, maintenance or disposal.

Separation of ownership and usage often results in harsh treatment of these products. Despite this, they will be expected to function consistently and reliably, particularly in safety critical situations.

As the user’s expectations from commercial and industrial products and consumer products converge new product solutions and experiences are needed to drive your business growth.

For commercial and industrial products and systems, the purchaser, owner and end user are normally separated.

Empathy with multiple stakeholders

This naturally brings many stakeholder perspectives and product requirements. Key to successfully balancing these requirements is a clear understanding of each of the user group’s underpinning motivations, as well as their expectations of the product’s performance.

Balancing these requirements is critical to identifying opportunities for differentiated product propositions.

Commercial and industrial products exist against a backdrop of multiple stakeholders.

Meeting user needs

This provides a prime opportunity for companies to reassess whether their current product portfolio complements the evolving expectations of their customers. By analysing user opinions and observed behaviours we can identify the underpinning requirements that drive product specification and selection. Our multidisciplinary team then translates these insights into new product propositions that can inspire new business thinking.

New players in traditional business to business markets have brought new levels of product and service experience.

Augmented reality cycling helmet concept

Industrial design Interaction design

Thoughtful technology implementation

Central to our approach is assessing how new technology could be exploited to offer new features or functions that elevate a product offering. It is critical that any of these additional features are of true value and are not frivolous. They must serve an underlying user need that justifies the adoption of new technology.

Fuse demonstrates a fresh approach to the design of consumer units, targeted equally on the needs of installers and users. The intuitive casing design and E-ink display supported by an accompanying app provide the user with a clearer identification of circuits and active

monitoring of status and energy consumption irrespective of electrical knowledge.

The event of a circuit tripping, plunging users into darkness can be a stressful incident. Fuse provides a reassuring sense of control to the user by providing guidance on the next steps to be taken to restore the power. This is achieved through the app in conjunction with an updated device display, clearly relaying the next required actions.

Any added features or additional technology increasing the underlying product BOM cost must provide an appropriate and worthy increase in functionality.

Our role in your innovation

What next? Planning how to grow through innovation is complex. Where should you innovate and how?

We specialise in product innovation. It is often considered the most difficult and high risk area in which to invest. But it has the potential of great ROI. Whether you are creating a new range of products or developing an artefact enabled service offering, we can help you deliver innovation. Over the last five decades we have successfully helped to deliver hundreds of innovative products.

Our multidisciplinary team achieves this through balanced creativity and an understanding of how to control risk. We provide a unique blend of

experience, and vision, combined with an understanding of the type and level of innovation that is right for your brand, your expertise and the market you operate in.

With this knowledge and a culture of iterative physical and virtual prototyping and testing, we can help you nurture new ideas through to robust successful products.

DCA wins innovation award at CES 2018.

LifeFuels new smart nutrition bottle launched on 8th January at CES 2018 and was awarded a CES Innovation Award Honoree for Sports, Fitness and Biotech for the second time. Following on from its recognition in 2016 as a prototype.

Designed by DCA for LifeFuels, this revolutionary smart nutrition bottle helps users understand how much water they should be drinking throughout the day and allows the user to prepare nutritional drinks on the go.

The system is made up of three parts: the bottle itself, the FuelPods and the LifeFuels app. The user selects three FuelPods, then inserts them into the bottom of the bottle. Using either the app or the button on the bottle, the user can dispense precise servings according to their taste and nutritional goals.

LifeFuels

Smart nutrition bottle

Industrial Design

Mechanical Engineering

Prototyping

Colour, material and finish

Product systems

Using system performance measurements to inform design development

Products and services rarely work in isolation. It is imperative they not only integrate effectively but they also contribute to the wider system performance.

Each product system has its own measures of performance that typically include aspects such as, efficacy, efficiency, safety, resilience and usability. These performance measures need to be considered from the perspective of all stakeholders and not just the end users.

Where appropiate we can bring a numerical, evidence-based approach to evaluate designs. By providing quantifiable metrics from a comprehensive suite of tools and techniques, we are able to directly compare different concept proposals to legacy and competitor products.

Delivering your brand

Developing a multi-sensory experience brand language encompassing the signature visual, haptic and acoustic characteristics, provides an opportunity to achieve greater cohesion across your product range. In order to be effective this needs to be carefully constructed and interpreted. It should not be a rigid set of rules on the direct application of form of a button, for example.

Rather it should identify the nature of the experiences that define the core DNA of your brand.

We will work with you to quantify these brand experiences in ways that can be measured and delivered reliably and repeatably throughout your product range.

We believe that projecting your brand values in a clear, distinctive and consistent manner is key to delivering compelling product and service propositions.

Designing Personal Protective Equipment Personal Protective Equipment

It is vital to understand the context of use, the tasks that it will be used to undertake, its operational environment and the physical and emotional barriers that could limit adoption. Improving levels of comfort and instilling confidence in the protection offered in a visually appealing product provides a strong foundation for PPE design.

The addition of task specific technology to support working practises provides an opportunity to further elevate desirability and product adoption.

(PPE) needs to be robust and reliable. It needs to comply with the relevant standards.But most importantly, it needs to adopted by users and worn.

Versaflo M-Series Headtops

Range of faceshields, hard hats and helmets with integrated respiratory protection

Design planning

Design research

Usability and HF

Mechanical engineering

Industrial design

Prototyping

Testing and evaluation

Production support

M Series headtop

Providing high levels of comfort is an essential requirement of this market. The Versaflo™ M-Series™ headgear was developed to provide a range of lightweight, compact and balanced faceshields, hard hats and helmets that allow users to work in comfort for longer periods.

Once comfort has broken down the barriers to usage, PPE's fundamental function is to protect the user. The M-Series range provides closely integrated respiratory, eye and face protection combined with head protection in some models, meeting users' protection needs in a wide range of operating enviroments. The headgear also interfaces seamlessly with 3M's ear protection to provide an intergrated protection system. The visual styling, materials selection and functional features incorporated in the M-Series range project a

highly professional persona. This not only reinforces the self image of users operating in challenging enviroments, it also visibly reflects the value that the employer places on their safety and well-being.

Our over-riding aim was to design a new range of headgear that removed emotional and functional barriers to use. The M-Series range has been developed to make users feel professional and valued when wearing this equiptment. The exterior styling shouts protection, whilst inside surfaces and features speak of comfort.

It is also important that the system is considered as a whole, therefore styling cues have been matched to the accompanying TR-300 air delivery unit, showing the user that their protective equipment has been considered and developed as an integrated system.

Well designed personal protection equipment must be comfortable and ergonomic to encourage users to wear it.

Versaflo™ TR-300 Respirator

Design

Design

Prototyping

Testing

engineering

and evaluation

TR-300 Respirator

The TR-300 Powered Air Respirator is significantly smaller than other similar products on the market. It sits closely against the user's back and is profiled to be comfortable for users worldwide. The low profile product envelope coupled with the self-adjusting breathing tube allow users to work in tight spaces with less chance of snagging their equipment on nearby objects. This is complemented by the low weight of the product, with the centre of mass positioned close to the body to minimise the torsional loading which can make this type of equipment feel heavy.

The product was carefully designed to minimise the volume of the consumable filter element. The filter's compact curved design and high pleat density exploited 3M's manufacturing technologies, to provide a consumable with a reduced amount of disposable waste. This is housed within robust removable exterior cover mouldings, secured with an innovative metal clip mechanism to provide a low profile, durable closure.

Enabling users with a low profile, lightweight and powerful design solution.

Effective product designs should not only aim to reduce the cost of consumables, but also provide effective strategies for supporting ongoing service and maintenance.

The new face of Personal Protective Equipment design.

The way in which humans live is changing. Travel, rapid urbanisation and limited access to healthcare in developing areas create conditions for epidemics to thrive and grow. This is in parallel with improving science and understanding means that we are better equipped to respond to health emergencies and our approaches to contain it, as we have recently seen in epidemic outbreaks. The importance of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that is not only comfortable to wear, but can also be fitted and removed without contaminating the wearer is clear. Given the risks of exposure it is critical that PPE is designed to be intuitive to use and resilient to departures from the prescribed ways of use.

Ergonomics has always been an important consideration in the design of personal protective equipment. After all, there is an unambiguous link between the way PPE fits and its user’s task performance. There is an overlapping relationship between efficacy, comfort and fit. Comfort is critical for more than just user preference. Users need to be unencumbered with the freedom of movement to conduct their primary task. As such PPE should be as unobtrusive as possible; weight should be minimised and carefully balanced. Likewise impacts on breathing performance, vision, hearing and thermal regulation should all be controlled.

Article by James May Industrial and Commercial Sector Manager

Dr D. Jenkins Senior Skill Leader Human factors and Usability

Ostensibly, PPE works by creating a barrier between the user and their environment. Dependent on the hazard, this barrier may seek to completely block or reduce access to sound, light, heat, radiation, gases, vapours, particles, or projectiles within the environment.

Good PPE design must achieve both comfort and ease of use. Ultimately, more comfortable products are more likely to be worn, and worn correctly. Furthermore, more comfortable products mean more comfortable users and the relationship between comfort and the reduced propensity for error has been clearly demonstrated.

If PPE is to be used effectively it needs to:

1. Be simple and quick to select and fit.

2. Reduce the amount of user handling and interactions to fit, adjust and remove through the wear cycle.

3. Provide clear confirmation of an effective fit, both to the wearer and those around them.

4. Be comfortable and nonrestrictive in use.

The importance of fit

Where a seal between the PPE and a part of the human body is critical, the obvious challenge comes in the form of the variability between users. This is further compounded by the complexity of this variation. Facial features, such as noses or ears, come in a multitude of different shapes and sizes. Likewise the relationship between these features also changes significantly across the user population.

Historically, this variation between users has been accounted for by either introducing a number of different sized products (e.g. small, medium, large) or by building in some form of adjustability. Introducing size ranges increases the supplier’s costs, resulting in more expensive products. It also requires higher stock levels of product and spares to be held at all levels in the supply chain, and introduces the risk that users will compromise their protection by making do with the product size that is to hand.

Adjustable PPE introduces its own issues. The more complicated the adjustment process, the more complicated the product becomes to use. As such, the burden of responsibility is placed upon user training and ultimately upon the end user themselves to ensure

an effective fit. Furthermore, the increased requirement for handling the PPE, brought about by the need for adjustment, can result in equipment damage or contamination, both of which undermine the value of PPE. Adjustability can also be used to mask inherently poor fit characteristics. Users will attempt to compensate for this lack of fit by over tightening adjustment straps resulting in unevenly distributed pressure and an uncomfortable product.

Identifying requirements for fitting and removal

While fit is a challenge dominated by physical ergonomics and anthropometry, the task of safely and correctly fitting PPE is as much a cognitive challenge as a physical one.

PPE needs to be designed so that it is both intuitive to put on as well as being easy to train in or use with instructions. There are a number of human factors tools that can be used to ensure these cognitive elements of the task are considered throughout the design process.

1. Task analysis can be used to identify and map individual task steps, allowing tasks to be combined or removed.

2. Structured error identification tools can be used to identify possible fitting errors leading to designs that either prevent these actions or provide greater feedback.

3. Video-recorded observations with a range of users can offer rich insights. When the video records of user interactions with different products are compared, performance metrics, such as time breakdown and touch counts, can be used to optimise designs.

Ultimately, more comfortable products are more likely to be worn, and worn correctly.

Each of these tools offers the potential to objectively describe the differences in performance between legacy products, competitor products and design concepts, at the same time, identifying opportunities for improvement.

Designing a better fit

The relationship between comfort, fit and protection has long been understood. However, as those who have worked designing PPE will be aware, it can be very difficult to design new products and be confident of their level of fit. The typical response to this is to start the design process with an existing product and make iterative changes. These changes are themselves then iterated with prototypes and small sample size testing. Once the team believes they have a winning design, this is then usually rolled out for more extensive testing across a large representative sample population.

This highly iterative process can be both protracted and expensive. Furthermore, as a result of the process of refining proven designs, the design of PPE can remain relatively conservative.

One opportunity for streamlining this process lies in the use of the increasing number of digital headform libraries. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) have produced a range of five headforms (small, medium, large, long/narrow and short/wide) based on anthropometric data from nearly 4,000 users. These CAD models can be used to assess a design for fit. Being digital, these headforms are also editable, allowing them to be scaled and modified to meet the needs of specific populations. The models can also be sectioned to investigate fit at various intersections.

Incorporating digital fitting using CAD headforms into the design process has a number of potential advantages:

1. A greater number of more innovative solutions can be generated and evaluated very early in the design process.

2. The development timeline can be shortened as the design converges towards a product that provides a mutual fit.

3. The cost and time associated with repeated user testing can be reduced.

4. The design can be evaluated against population extremes or populations that may be difficult to recruit for.

There is, of course, no substitute for user testing and we are not advocating a complete move away from this. However, with the use of CAD models it is possible to assess and refine the design to create a better quality of output before the first fitting trial.

Conclusions

A structured, iterative and evidence based approach is fundamentally important for the design of revolutionary, rather than evolutionary, PPE products.

The use of digital headforms enables designers to make an earlier assessment of the capacity of a design proposal to accommodate global user geometry extremes. In combination with established iterative physical prototyping these headforms can greatly speed up the iterative loops of the design process.

Engaging with HF specialists to integrate a structured consideration of usability and fitting errors into the design process allows more accurate and robust prototypes to be implemented into real life testing, increasing the quality and innovation of the designs.

Ultimately, sealing PPE is most effective if it fits well, is comfortable to use and easy to don correctly without damage, errors or contamination. The tools and techniques are available to achieve this, but success requires designers and HF specialists to work together closely and cooperatively.

Versaflo™

S-655 Soft Headtop

Premium reusable headtop PPE with integrated respiratory protection

Design planning

Design research

Usability and HF

Mechanical engineering

Industrial design

Prototyping

Testing and evaluation

Production support

S-655 Soft Headtop

The innovative head harness design at the heart of the S-655 Soft Headtop allows users to dynamically control airflow around the hood by rotating the external collar attached to the supply hose, to optimise their working conditions.

This is the first product of this type to have customisable airflow that can be adjusted whilst the user is still in the hazardous environment.

The new lightweight head cradle is designed to spread the load across the head, avoiding key pressure

points allowing the user to work comfortably for longer. This is combined with a new replaceable fabric cover that fits over the cradle and is constructed using a unique panel arrangement, to provide a more contoured appearance that is closer fitting to the head than previous designs.

Well designed Personal Protection Equipment helps to improve user efficiency.

UTC Building & Industrial Systems

FX range

A fire extinguisher handle set

Usability and HF

Mechanical engineering

Industrial design

Prototyping

Testing and evaluation

Production support

Chubb FX fire extinguishers

Fire extinguishers are used in stressful situations. It is paramount that users with no previous experience can immediately understand how to use and interact with the extinguisher to prime and deploy it.

The handles and levers have been ergonomically designed to improve the level of user comfort, considering the range of hand sizes and force capabilities of the target user population. It includes a patented safety clip mechanism designed and developed by DCA. Before deploying the extinguisher, the user primes it by pulling out the safety clip. The action of withdrawing the safety clip shears the stem of the OK indicator away from the visible disc on the front face. The safety clip mechanism arrangement comfortably accomodates left or right handed users. It has been positioned to actively discourage accidental activation.

Once the extinguisher has been activated, the resulting sheared OK indicator cannot be refitted to the extinguisher. The area of the lever exposed when the OK indicator is removed is printed with the text 'USED', clearly warning users of the operational status.

The design of this mechanism also prevents other non-Chubb service providers from retrofitting alternative, potentially unsafe, status indicators. This ensures that the customers remain protected in line with approved maintenance procedures.

The Chubb FX extinguisher was designed with a focus of providing a more usable fire extinguisher.

To feed this evaluation we initially prepared a task model of the user steps to prime and deploy an extinguisher. We then captured footage of participants extinguishing a real fire and observed their behaviour. The data was analysed to establish what were the longer duration tasks and where there was the opportunity to improve performance. The findings provided powerful metrics, delivering compelling marketing claims on performance.

We sought to characterise the performance of the FX extinguisher design through a number of controlled usability assessments.

Designing a more ergonomic fire extinguisher.

A fire extinguisher is one of those products that we hope we will never have to use, though industry surveys suggest up to 3% of workplaces across Europe experience a fire every year. Despite fire extinguishers having a clear presence in our workplaces, public spaces and sometimes homes, most people pay little, if any, attention to them until facing a potential crisis.

From a usability perspective, the fact that a user rarely or potentially never engages with a product provides a real challenge, as users are required to intuitively understand how they function. This is particularly pertinent in the case of fire extinguishers, as they are to be used in highly stressful, time-pressured situations.

At first glance all fire extinguishers look alike, and the importance of design is not always recognised.

However, given the safety critical nature of use, design is important. Fire extinguishers need to be intuitive, efficient to use and ergonomic. The mode of operation is deliberately simple:

1. Assess risk (fires should only be tackled with a fire extinguisher if it is safe to do so)

2. Locate extinguisher

3. Confirm suitability (correct suppressant, in usable condition)

4. Move extinguisher to location of fire

5. Prime device (remove safety clip)

6. Discharge contents to tackle fire

With the exception of the first task step, the ergonomic performance of the extinguisher has a role to play in improving performance in each task. Once the user finds it, he or she

Article by James May Industrial & Commercial Sector Manager

Dr D. Jenkins Senior Skill Leader Human factors and Usability

needs to quickly confirm that it is suitable for the fire at hand, and that the extinguisher is fully functional. The handle should be designed to support both carrying and handling the product. Priming the device should be simple and intuitive, providing a consistent actuation force regardless of whether the user is left or right-handed. When tackling the fire, the handle should also support a range of different hand sizes to comfortably actuate the extinguisher.

Chubb Fire & Security Limited, a leader in firefighting technologies and a part of UTC Building & Industrial Systems, sought external expertise on ergonomic product design when embarking on an extinguisher New Product Development programme. DCA were asked to help them manage these challenges by developing a new range of fire extinguishers, now called the Chubb FX range. Chubb identified usability as a market differentiator and central to the design.

An iterative design process led to the development of the extinguisher shown. It looks very much like many of the products that have come before it, but this is no accident. The basic form follows accepted conventions to ensure that it is easily recognised and that the mode of operation is familiar. Perhaps the most obvious difference to conventional extinguishers is the large yellow safety clip between the handles. The clip, along with the green disc, which a service technician will replace with a different colour each year to indicate that the product has been serviced, replaces the traditional metal pin. It serves two purposes: to prevent the device from being inadvertently operated and to

communicate the product is ready for use. When the ring is pulled, the green disc falls away replacing the word ‘OK’ with the word ‘USED’.

The new yellow safety clip is designed to make it easier to use the product irrespective of which hand it is held in. The bright colour and salience of the component is designed to communicate to the user the need to remove the component before use. The chevrons in the moulding and the ring are designed to help communicate the direction of required force.

The traditional metal handle and lever have been replaced with specially selected high-performance glass-filled polymers. This allows for a more contoured design that distributes the load more evenly. The use of tactile over-moulding (grey area) allows a textured high-grip surface to be applied to the handle. Combined with other weight savings, this results in a 10% lighter product.

As for user suitability, this can be simplified by ensuring that all extinguishers are properly serviced and fitted with the correct components. One concern with third-party service contracts is that substitute safety pins are used with incorrect and potentially dangerously high break forces. This product has been designed to accept only the correct components.

The product specification and approach has explicitly considered the user experience, intuitiveness and efficiency from the outset.

This has resulted in a product that is differentiated from its competitors by its class-leading usability and ergonomics.

Priming the device should be simple and intuitive, providing a consistent actuation force regardless of whether the user is left or right-handed.

FX extinguishers are 30% faster to prime and deploy than traditional extinguisher designs.

Honeywell Gent

Nano fire panel

Fire detection control panel for industrial premises

Design research

Mechanical engineering

Industrial design

Colour, material and finish

Prototyping

Production support

Insight based design

Labour costs mean that the time spent at sites by installation or service engineers is a high proportion of the installation or life cycle cost. Therefore to increase product adoption we need to consider not only the end user but also all the other stakeholders who will interact with the product during its complete lifecycle. Understanding the challenges facing each of the stakeholders is key to determining the features and requirements of new products.

Our fire panel design for Honeywell Gent is a good example of how we work with clients, using in this instance contextual research tools to collect insights. Once the key stakeholders in the product lifecycle

had been identified, DCA spent time shadowing and interviewing these key stakeholders in their working environments. This activity captured previously non-communicated behaviours and practices. These insights then informed the creation of a series of opportunities for the client.

These opportunities included features that DCA then incorporated into the design of the new fire detection control panel. They also included opportunitiesto refine and develop other aspects of the Honeywell Gent service. This is one of a number of projects that we have recently completed for different Honeywell divisions across many categories.

Products in business to business environments need to serve the requirements of multiple stakeholders.

Malvern Panalytical

Morphologi® 4 and Morphologi® 4-ID

Detailed automated imaging particle characterisation instrument range

Industrial design

Visual brand language

Colour, material and finish

Interaction design

Usability and HF

Graphic design

Production support

Ametek Taylor Hobson

Surtronic S-Series

Portable surface metrology instrument

Mechanical engineering

Industrial design

Visual brand language

Prototyping

Ametek Taylor Hobson

Surtronic Duo

Portable surface metrology instrument

Electronic hardware engineering

Mechanical engineering

Industrial design

Visual brand language

Prototyping

Foster Refrigerator Counter Refrigerators

Modular range of commercial refrigeration units

Robust software for critical applications

These pumps operate in many critical environments and applications such as highly accurate dosing into potable water supplies to ensure the supply of safe drinking water.

These systems have long operational lives and very long periodic service and maintenance intervals. It is therefore imperative to ensure that the system maintains robust control of the device during long periods of operation.

DCA worked with Watson-Marlow to develop the control software for their QDOS chemical metering peristaltic pumps.

Watson Marlow

QDOS 30

A range of peristaltic pumps

Electronic hardware

Software development

Prototyping

Testing and evaluation

Guidance Marine

Cyscan Dashboard

Maritime positioning system

Design research

Software development

Interaction design

Cyscan Dashboard

Interface design of an innovative touch based system to meet the varying task requirements and interaction frequencies involved in dynamic positioning of vessels in marine environments.

Development of a more effective task focused user interface to improve efficiency

Adoption of alternative manufacturing processes and materials

Replacing traditionally processed metallic extinguisher headcaps with new high performing polymers.

UTC Building and Industrial Systems

Gloria Fire Extinguishers

Cartridge Fire Extinguishers

Mechanical Engineering

Prototyping

Testing and Evaluation

Production Support

Rugged complex mechanical design

The X-net® has been extensively and independently tested and deployed by military, police and security forces around the world. DCA developed this portable mechanical X-net® deployment device for QinetiQ.

It rapidly deploys a net in front of moving vehicles to bring them to a halt safely and under control. This fully mechanical deployment system operates by quickly

discharging four coil springs, rotating a drum and drawing the net into position. The system is primed by rotating the handle, charging each of the springs. A magnetic safety-brake mechanism has been incorporated into the device in the event that the net becomes separated, protecting the device from the large amount of stored energy.

Design and development of a mechanical device for the high-speed deployment of X-Net ®, a portable, non-lethal vehicle arresting solution.

QinetiQ

X-Net Remote Deployment Device

High speed deployment device for a net based vehicle arrest system

Mechanical engineering

Prototyping

Testing and evaluation

Production support

Our Location

We work globally from our campus of offices, studios and workshops in the historic town of Warwick, UK. We are located in the heart of the UK with easy road, rail and air transport links.

From Birmingham International Airport

Travel time 25 minutes

From London Heathrow Airport

Travel time 1 hour 30 minutes

Helping clients achieve success through great product design.