PACS was formed in 2006 due to an initiative to make the roadside safer called passive safety. This involved using softer materials for street furniture such as street lights and traffic signals, in this way if an accident should occur the vehicle occupants were less likely to be hurt by the street furniture itself.
This was a Europe wide initiative (BS EN 12767) but here in the UK it was decided that softer materials could mean more likelihood of cable damage and therefore more possibility for electric shock or sparking from the damaged cabling. To guard against this the UK highways authority decided that street furniture classed as passive would also electrically disconnect on impact. Initial thoughts were to use snatch plugs and sockets, but these proved to be impractical.
This is where PACS came in, to ensure reliable isolation on impact we designed a system using an impact sensor in the street furniture coupled to an electronics monitoring unit and a miniature circuit breaker. When the street furniture is struck the impact sensor operates the connected electronics unit, then tells the miniature circuit breaker to switch off providing isolation in less than 200 milliseconds.
This has come to be known as the SIS isolation system, the system is widely used for street lighting and traffic signals throughout the UK and Ireland. Previously only available through NAL Ltd the full system is now available to purchase direct from PACS Services Ltd.
By supplying direct we can offer competitive prices as well as direct contact with the system manufacturer.
