Keys were yesterday

Barriers, gates, turn­stiles, locks: auto­mated access control is a part of our everyday life. One of the market leaders in this field is US-based Auto­matic systems. For over 40 years, the company has devel­oped and produced systems for control of access for pedes­trians and vehi­cles. This includes paid access such as to public trans­port or toll stations, facil­i­ties for moni­toring an area for access to sensi­tive areas such as ports or indus-trial spaces, and secured access for build­ings or entrance check­points to grant access to autho­rised persons only.

In the Belgian subsidiary near Brus­sels, the new product from this family of pedes­trian access came into being: Slim Lane. “This is an auto­matic secu­rity access lane with double revolving tempered glass door,” explains Thomas Gasparri, Project Manager Auto­matic Systems S.A. Slim Lane is an inno­v­a­tive secu­rity access system. “The revolving doors are really inno­v­a­tive for a system of its type: before, the doors opened to the left and right; with the Slim Lane, they revolve. It has become a compact and elegant model that combines a large throughput in both direc­tions with advanced protec­tion for the user.”

60 people per minute is what the system can allow through, although it is rela­tively small in design. Thus it has a low space require­ment, but also requires extremely compact built-in motors. “For two years we have main­tained an espe­cially good rela­tion­ship with the people at ebm-papst Benelux,” said the 27-year-old product manager. „They have supplied us with the ideal DC motors for the new system.” The motors open the glass doors of the access device. For this purpose, they have to be espe­cially small and simul­ta­ne­ously high in perfor­mance. Thanks to their high effi­ciency, they need only little energy – an ideal solu­tion for the versa­tile access system. In the mean­time, ebm-papst is devel­oping a higher-perfor­mance version of the current motor for future systems for public trans­port.

All possible secu­rity guar­an­tees are offered by the Slim Lane, intro­duced in september 2011, and it possesses an espe­cially effec­tive moni­toring system that func­tions on the basis of infra-red beams to prevent unau­tho­rised access. Addi­tion­ally, an electro­mechan­ical locking device prevents attempts by unau­tho­rised people who are trying to get access anyway. An acoustic and visual alarm warns of such unau­tho­rised conduct. “During the devel­op­ment of Slim Lane, we also paid special atten­tion to the protec­tion of users,” Gasparri empha­sised. A dynamic, elec­tronic protec­tion system and crush guard are comple­mented by strin­gent fire safety stan­dards. In the event of a power failure, func­tion remains via a battery.

Thomas Gasparri, Project Manager Auto­matic Systems S.A., inspects Slim Lane compo­nents in Auto­matic Systems’ produc­tion

There are also slim lanes for many different appli­ca­tion require­ments. The system is also avail­able in an extra-wide design for people with limited mobility. More­over, there is a so-called “twin design” with which multiple access points can be installed within a limited space. Gasparri is proud of the result that the team achieved: “We have devel­oped an espe­cially effec­tive, compact and successful product that will bring great success around the world.”