Road and parking blockers.

Road and parking blockers.

Devices for blocking the passage of vehicles are used, as a rule, as part of access control and management systems of the general complex of security systems of any facility: banking institutions, office centers, strategically important facilities, for example, defense enterprises, embassy buildings.
The device for blocking the passage of vehicles can also work as an executive part of an automated parking system. This is a fairly common option in small parking lots in large cities. But not in Russia and not in Eastern European countries. The reason is banal — climatic conditions. Snow, frost, ice — all these natural and familiar phenomena for most regions of our country can become an insurmountable obstacle to the operation of automated blocking devices. Basic cleanliness is also needed, the absence of soil contamination: dirt, dust. That is, Russian cities, even our megalopolises. — are not a very suitable place for the installation and use of such equipment. This device is for those places where the main landscape is asphalt and concrete.
There are other reasons preventing the widespread use of such equipment in Russia. It should be said that most devices for blocking the passage of vehicles, the same anti-ram devices in the form of bollards, built into the road surface and automatically raised to block the passage of vehicles, have a fairly high cost. In addition, their installation is a complex and labor-intensive task. After all, the entire executive part of the equipment must be hidden in the ground.
By the way, it is very difficult to obtain permission to carry out excavation work in a large city, and not every parking lot owner is able to solve this problem.
Such devices are available in Moscow. As a rule, they are used before entering the offices of large companies or embassies.

Nevertheless, the market offers consumers a fairly wide range of such equipment.

1. Automatic anti-ram barriers. They can be mounted outside or built into road surfaces.
2. Spikes that appear when there is a need to stop traffic.
3. Anti-ram devices in the form of poles – already mentioned by me – hydraulic devices built into road surfaces and, according to one algorithm or another, blocking the passage of cars into a certain area.
4. Automatic chains. The device has a self-locking reducer that securely fixes the chain in the raised position. Unlocking is carried out using a key. The devices can be equipped with remote control boards.
5. Non-retractable parking bollards. They can be stationary.

Such parking barriers are installed in places where it is necessary to fence off the movement or parking of cars and at the same time leave the possibility of pedestrian movement. There is another option — removable posts, the use of which allows you to temporarily fence off the entrance to parking spaces and any other territory. This design does not interfere with the passage of people, does not create obstacles for cleaning the territory, but at the same time does not allow the passage or parking of unwanted vehicles. And, finally, mobile posts, using which you can temporarily reserve parking spaces both along the roadway and on the sidewalk.
There are also very simple options: mechanical or manual parking devices — they are also called individual parking attendants — fencing a certain parking space. The most common devices are those built into the asphalt surface. The user opens the lock, lowers the blocking bracket. And after leaving the parking space, he raises it again and locks it. Such options are often practiced in large paid parking lots or in parking lots in office centers, where parking spaces are allocated in advance. There are also more complex options — electromechanical posts. This design, as a rule, has radio control using key fobs.
The companies that manufacture this equipment are BAVAK (anti-ram bollards), ELKOSTA and AUTOMATIC SYSTEMS (anti-ram barriers), GUNNEBO (almost the entire range of these devices). Automatic chains and mechanical parking devices are offered mainly by Italian manufacturers of barriers and gate drives (CAME, BENINCA, etc.)
Of the entire range of barrier devices, anti-ram barriers are the most widely used. These are very effective means. The most powerful of them, as declared by manufacturers, can stop even armored vehicles, including light tanks, at certain speeds.
Most likely, we cannot talk about their mass use, but many such devices have been installed. Structurally, barriers are divided into electromechanical and hydraulic. Barriers with an electromechanical drive are easier to install. And their cost is significantly lower than hydraulic ones. Of course, there are disadvantages. The main one is the low response speed.
The installation of hydraulically driven anti-ram barriers is much more complicated. And their operation requires a serious and thoughtful approach to the smallest detail. But if everything is done correctly, namely: strictly follow the installation and use instructions, organize and carry out the required routine maintenance, the user will receive reliable equipment. In addition, hydraulic barriers have a high speed of lifting to the working position. And it is this characteristic that is often decisive for the customer. He needs to be able to quickly block the entrance to the territory or to some vestibule in which the vehicle is located in the event of any emergency.
Barriers come in different lengths. The longer the reach, the more expensive the device. In Russia, surface-mounted barriers are the most common, when the main part of the actuator, the barrier itself and all elements leading to it are located outside or at a shallow depth. Their installation requires a minimum of excavation work, and no special permits for this work are required. The main customers of such devices are banking institutions, large companies, embassies.
Spikes are essentially a type of anti-ram barrier. In the working position, a row of metal spikes rises from the ground, and according to the algorithm determined by the access control and management system, they are lowered only when it is necessary to let a vehicle through whose passage is authorized. A variation of this type of road blockers is unidirectional spikes. They are installed in such a way that vehicles can only pass in one direction, specified by the system. Naturally, their functionality is much narrower, but the cost is lower. Therefore, installers use them in budget solutions.
We can also mention barriers with special booms that can withstand a very strong impact. They are made of high-strength steel, and can be retracted into the locking device rather than raised. Such equipment has a very narrow and rather specific range of applications, so it is extremely rare on the commercial market of technical security equipment.