GERMANY: New system to stop cars and trucks in danger of overheating before they drive into a tunnel

Record ID: 732905

  • Title: GERMANY: New system to stop cars and trucks in danger of overheating before they drive into a tunnel
  • Date: 3rd August 2010
  • Summary: SIEMENS PRODUCT MANAGER MICHAEL SAX TALKING
  • Embargoed: 18th August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Science / Technology,Transport
  • Reuters ID: LVAD13LEX10XPTO0ZXXEXBQDHDYC
  • Story Text: Engineers in Germany are hoping a new early warning system could prevent vehicles in danger of catching fire from entering some of the countries long road tunnels. Electronics company Siemens, along with other partners, is developing a system with cameras and monitors to spot overheating vehicles before they reach a tunnel.
    "There are two technologies that we are looking into," says Siemens product manager Michael Sax. "One is the video technique and the other is using video of heat images. With the video technique we can detect orange signs marking transports with hazardous goods, automatically, and this information will be monitored in a control station. From that station emergency personnel can be activated in case the monitors show there is a problem."
    Some of the most lethal tunnel fires have involved trucks. In 1999, a truck fire in the Mont Blanc road tunnel in France killed 39 people after the vehicle's cargo of margarine also caught fire.
    One of the testing stations is the Aubinger Tunnel in Munich where cameras have been put up about one kilometre before the tunnel entrance. Their video is transmitted into a control room, where potentially dangerous vehicles heading for the tunnel can be spotted.
    Siemens say infra-red 'heat' pictures are compared with 3-D images. A specially developed program scans the pictures for anomalies using model knowledge, i.e. comparing how hot each axle is.
    When it comes to trucks carrying hazardous goods the situation may even be more perilous, particularly if it is not known what the nature of the cargo is. One solution to this an electronic tagging system designed to transmit details of a trucks exact cargo to a reader at the tunnel entrance so that firefighters would know exactly what to expect if a fire does start.
    Siemens' vision is to detect defective lorries using heat image cameras before they enter a tunnel. An alarm would alert the highway control room, allowing them to close the tunnel before the suspect truck could enter.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register