DOCUMENTATION:
- INNOVA Aplus Buffer 150 kJ overview (.pdf, 372 kB)
- INNOVA Aplus Buffer 150 kJ certificate (.pdf, 268 kB)
- TSI Certificate by Bureau Veritas (2001/16/EC), issued for
buffers manufactured by AZOMA (.pdf, 107 kB)
- INNOVA Aplus Buffer 150 drawing (.pdf, 77 kB)
As per the latest RID regulations, wagons transporting dangerous goods that are already in exploitation must be able to absorb at least 500 kJ per wagon end; while newly built wagons must be equipped to absorb no less than 800 kJ per wagon end. The purpose of these measures is to ensure adequate protection to accidental impacts at speeds over 12 km/h. To meet these regulations, existing wagons are fitted with crash buffers min. 250 kJ, and new wagons carry crash buffers min. 400 kJ.
Most wagons – over 90% – are currently fitted with standard 30 kJ A category buffers. Based on our extensive experience, we believe all wagons should be protected at accidental impacts at speeds over 12 km/h, and not just the ones transporting dangerous goods. Current prices for crash buffers, however, discourage wagons owners from utilizing crash buffers unless RID specifically requires to do so – which is the very issue addressed by INNOVA’s revolutionary Aplus Crash Buffers.
The INNOVA A Category buffer (code IST-01.00.00), in its Aplus constructive variant, provides a cost-efficient solution to the dilemma whether all wagons should be upgraded to crash buffers.
INNOVA’s Aplus buffer, developed by INNOVA Systems & Technologies and manufactured by AZOMA, has a storage capacity for mechanical work in excess of 150 kJ in dynamic regime: this translates to 5 times more than a standard A category buffer, and twice as much as a C category buffer. Live impact tests have, in fact, recorded over 170 kJ energy absorption per buffer.
The price of an Aplus buffer is, however, comparable to that of the standard A category.
The INNOVA Aplus crash buffers 150 kJ are equipped with A cat. thermoplastic shock absorbers (i.e. MINER TecsPak), or butyl shock absorbers (i.e. Spencer Moulton).
The buffer deformation comprises two phases:
- elastic deformation, observed at impact speeds under 12 km/h and forces not exceeding 1.5 MN;
- elastic + plastic deformation occurring at speeds exceeding 12 km/h and forces over 1.5 MN.
Compliant with:
- UIC leaflets: 526-1 ed. 3/2008, UIC 573 ed. 7/2007
- EN15551:2009.
Homologated with: AFER (Romanian Railways Authority), 2009.
Certifications: The buffer has undergone certifications as constitutive element of interoperability (ECI) and has received the type examination certificate from Bureau Veritas as Notified Body. The certification is based on modules B and D of the annex to the Commission Decision 2006/861/EC of 28 July 2006 concerning the technical specification of interoperability relating to the subsystem rolling stock – freight wagons of the trans-European conventional rail system. The buffers are delivered with a certificate of conformity as constitutive element of interoperability.
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