Penny + Giles – a business group of Curtiss-Wright Controls and designer and manufacturer of joystick controllers, sensors and solenoids – is supplying its door-lock and shot-bolt solenoids to Preston-based Fleet Service. The products for use by the company’s Fleet Care division, which specialises in commercial vehicle security, cash-in-transit (CIT) and cash and valuables in transit (CVIT) vehicle conversions. The company is also diversifying by offering similar solenoid-based locks for building applications.
Fleet Service carries out vehicle conversions and installations and offers a range of security products to organisations whose business involves transporting valuable goods or cash securely or eliminating opportunities for fraud. At Fleet Service, technical director Darren Clayton says: “We started out as a repair service for several cash management specialists, and whilst we were carrying out regular routine servicing and repairs to the vehicle fleets we experienced many breakdowns relating to the conversion of the cash-in-transit fleet. Eventually we were asked to review the control systems and repair other issues with the conversions.”
Most of the security locks used by Fleet Service are controlled by solenoids and where possible, the company has always specified Penny + Giles (formerly Mechetronics) solenoids.
Fleet Service’s controls are industrial PLC-based systems that provide the driver with feedback via a cab-mounted graphical user-interface, enabling them to interact and control different vehicle operations, including the solenoid-based locking systems. Penny + Giles is supplying Fleet Service with two solenoids types, the SB291 (previously the MS SD291) power-to-unlock 90 degree door-lock and a bespoke version of its SB244 (previously the MS SD244) shot-bolt, the latter featuring a shaft specifically machined to a unique angle for Fleet Service.
Currently being assembled into locks which secure heavy-duty floor-to-ceiling roller/shutter doors, the Penny + Giles SB244 solenoid shot-bolt features a bolt with a chamfered edge that is mounted into a steel housing installed into the back of the vehicle. When the shutter door is closed, an integrated arm on the door itself locks behind the solenoid. This is used on multiple vehicle types, from small box vans to 26 and 33 tonne dry freight box trucks, and is proving durable and reliable under the harsh operating conditions the firms say. In fact, Fleet Service reports that some solenoids are still operational after more than 12 years and have even been recycled and reused after the original vehicles on which they were installed have reached their end of life.
One Fleet Service customer is retro-fitting the locks to existing vehicles and specifying them on trucks designed and made by other conversion specialists.
The Penny + Giles’ SB244 power-to-activate shot-bolt solenoid can also be used in a variety of industrial security applications including machine tool guards, security doors and gates, and for general interlock applications. It features a 15mm stroke and 50 per cent duty rating from 24 Watts rated power, and is available with a variety of optional bolt ends. Other features include a high side-load capability and optional operating voltages.
The SB291 power-to-unlock 90 degree locks are being used as slam locks on cab doors and for sliding, side-load doors on vans. They are specified because vehicles needed a more robust system than the magnetic solenoids previously used.
The SB291 solenoid activated 90 degree lock can be energised to unlock in a variety of industrial security applications including machine tool guards, security doors and gates, and for general interlock applications. It offers a 16mm stroke and 100pc duty rating from 40 Watts rated power, with features including optional operating voltages, high side-load capability and bolt position sensing.
Summing up
Darren says: “Over the years we have used many different solenoids and seen most fail when bolt-ends and bushes wear and coils fail or become lazy. But the quality of Penny + Giles solenoids is second-to-none, they are designed for heavy-duty applications, are much better built and built to last. This was always important when we were maintaining vehicles and repairing them on the road, and is especially important now that we are designing and manufacturing our own control systems and converting our own vehicles.”
For further information call Penny + Giles on +44 (0)1202 409499, email [email protected] or visit www.pennyandgiles.com.
