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| ELECTRIFICATION
Manufacturing innovation for the rail industry Tracing its history back to WWII fighter pilot, Arthur Ellis, Ellis Patents is very much the global industry expert when it comes to securing power cables so that they remain operational and in place during a short-circuit
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rom its headquarters in the picturesque North Yorkshire village of Rillington, Ellis Patents has built such a reputation that no matter where in the world a major electrical installation is being planned it’s a fair bet an order for its British designed and manufactured cable cleats is under consideration, says Managing Director, Danny Macfarlane. ‘For any electrical installation to be deemed safe, cables need to be restrained in a manner that can withstand the forces they generate, including those generated during a short circuit, and this is exactly what cable cleats are designed to do’ said Danny. ‘Without them, the dangers are obvious – costly damage to cables and cable management systems, plus the risk to life posed by incorrectly or poorly restrained live cables.’ And in the rail industry this risk can be extended to costly and expensive delays caused by damaged cable installations on busy routes and in hard-to-access locations. Rail, says Danny, is an area that Ellis has focussed a lot of time and effort on in recent years – especially in terms of new product development.
‘The vast majority of work we do in other market sectors is confined to new installations, whereas rail work can, and often does, cover everything from the oldest imaginable electrical systems right through to the very latest. And the challenges we face vary massively between them.’ The challenges Danny refers aren’t simply restricted to securing standard specifications. Instead, the team at Ellis has been tested time and again to deliver innovative, often bespoke solutions; covering everything from curing a Network Rail health and safety headache through to finding a new way to install cable hangers in tunnels without disturbing the already installed power cables they needed to support. Look… no bolts! Ellis’ No Bolts cleat was the answer to a Network Rail health and safety issue that had led to a couple of employees experiencing near misses when adding new cable runs on top of existing ones. The problem stemmed from the fact that existing cleats needed to be disassembled, bolts removed and replaced by longer, protruding ones – all with the added
Installation innovation - the Severn Tunnel: Bespoke – the team at Ellis Patents designed a wholly bespoke solution for Balfour Beatty during its electrification of the Severn Tunnel. Rail Professional
danger of having to remove and place back live cables while doing the work. The innovative solution was a brand new cleat that could be stacked and fixed with nothing more complicated than a quarter turn fixing lock. This meant additional cable runs could be added quickly and easily, without any need to tamper with existing ones. Its rapid fit nature was further enhanced by the replacement of fixing bolts with a push fit locking mechanism that securely fastens the keepers and top clamps in place. Manufactured from a high strength nylon specifically formulated to meet the London Underground’s 1-085 material approval, the No Bolts cleat is suitable for single cables ranging from 18-55mm. Hanging on Ellis Patents has been successfully manufacturing and selling cable hangers for well over two decades, and it’s fair to say that its standard design was tried, tested and completely trusted. But despite this seemingly perfect situation, the team of in-house engineers in Rillington has long felt there was room for improvement and have worked tirelessly on developing various reimagining’s of the original product. Key amongst these is a range of recently launched convex galvanised steel cable hangers that are lighter and astonishingly, stronger than previous versions. And the
