Posted on 02 Dec 2018
The Panachrome 3D lift door safety system from Avire has been installed in elevators throughout the British Library. The Panachrome system combines a 154 beam, infra-red light curtain with coloured door indicators which alert passengers when the doors are opening (green) or closing (red). The Ultraslim edges are IP65 rated and compliant with the Disabilities Discrimination Act.
All public and four staff lifts at the British Library’s main St. Pancras site are now protected by the Memco edges, as are two more in the state-of-the-art book storage facility in Boston Spa, West Yorkshire.
The 3D detection extending from the doorway means that the chance of damage to people, book trolleys and the doors themselves is greatly reduced, as the doors are triggered open from the landing. In addition, the illuminated edges clearly indicate when it is safe to enter or leave the lift, and give increased confidence to lift users.
“We are very pleased with them – we’ve not had one negative response, and visitors have expressed positive responses to their installation. It’s a real benefit that they are DDA compliant, and if we get an edge failure now, we get a Panachrome 3D in.”
Gary Hall, Mechanical Handling Systems Engineer
With a total floor area of 112,000 square metres spread over 14 floors, the St. Pancras site is the largest public building to have been constructed in the UK in the 20th century. The British Library houses over 150 million items in its collection, distributed over 625km of shelf space, and over 16,000 people use the collection each day.
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