EVENTS 
This month has seen our screen mounts, trolleys and stands at the Goodwood Festival of Speed and the British Golf Open at St Andrews. I am sure there are many other events where our mounting products support AV equipment but we hardly ever hear of them, probably because our kit is so popular and common place that no one thinks to tell us – after all brackets are boring and content is King!
SINGLE COLUMN TROLLEY Unicol also provided a hospital with more than 250 specially coloured Single Column trolleys as mobile TV stands to go at the end of patients beds. This just goes to show that when you come up with a good design it will last for a very long time. The original single column trolley (pictured below left) was designed over 45 years ago as a versatile and modular unit, with jacking feet, to support 35mm slide projectors and a number of variants have been made since. In fact the name UNICOL was coined from this first design “Uni” meaning one and “col” for column.
OVERSEAS - KUWAIT Recently we were asked by
Micro Nav, leading specialists in simulation and training systems for civil and military ATC operations, airport design and fighter control, to build a bespoke gantry for mounting 10 Canon projectors in a circle. This ten channel visual system emulates the view from the airport control tower at Kuwait International Airport, as part of a 10 seat Air Traffic Control training simulator system. It has been installed in the Higher Institute Of Telecommunications & Navigation College, provided by the Kuwait PAAET - Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. This facility will be used to train students to become Air Traffic Controllers and due to the representation of the airport in the simulator, they will be familiar with the layout of the airfield when they progress to the control tower. Micro Nav, winners of the Queen’s award for Enterprise in the category for International Trade 2010, produce simulation systems that incorporate some of the most advanced image generation technology for rendering aircraft, airside infrastructure, airport buildings, time of day, weather and emergency special effects. The installation of our mounting gantry was straightforward and Micro Nav’s Richard Cass commented “The design and manufacture of the components was first class, and there were no major issues with it. Once finished, the overall projector assembly looked good”. Well from the photographs we also think it looks good.
DISCO CRAZY Birmingham based
Pebu has utilised our low level Parabella stand in a novel and unique way by turning it into a touchscreen Deck for Disc Jockeys . The “Tek-Dek” system uses a high definition Panasonic 42” screen with a U-Touch overlay to allow interactivity. Other touch applications for this arrangement are board games, casinos, public information points in dwell areas, where customers may be waiting or travel and estate agents. We are sure that with more and more touch screen applications coming onto the market more uses for this unit will become apparent.
Unicol shared Booth D1 with NEC and U-Touch at Screen Media Expo, Earls Court. On the stand was our Titan Powa-Lift supporting an NEC 82" integrated touch screen by U-Touch. This trolley had a brand new Rotating mount, moving the screen from landscape to portrait in one easy movement. However, it was the
138" Touch screen, largest in the World to date, that really caught the eye of visitors to the show. This huge display was made up of 9 NEC X461UN screens on a Unicol mobile video-wall trolley with a giant U-Touch touch screen covering all 9 screens. The wow factor was extraordinary and the unit was voted product of the month.
ISE saw our Unicol European Offices all come together on what turned out to be a very busy booth. Partners on the booth were Conrac - supplying the screens, 42 Media Group - supplying Signage software, ITWorks - supplying Signage software, Imago - supplying video conferencing equipment with a live link and U-Touch who provided a Panasonic 103" Touch screen using Windows 7 multi-touch. Of course Unicol provided all of the mounting systems to support the equipment from are partners. This included the Excalibur - thinnest mount in the world, Axia Titan Powa-Lift trolley lifting and lowering the 103", Axia stand with back-to-back screens with VC equipment, our latest PZX Universal mounts with adjustment to allign screens and a bespoke trolley with 3 x 57" NEC screens mounted in portrait. All in all a very busy and satisfying show.
UNICOL attended the 2010 BETT show, which was highly successful and we would like to extend a big thank you to all of our customers who dropped in to say hello. Along with a number of new products we had a demonstration of how safe our products are in the form of a cage suspended under one of our standard Guardboxes. Passers by were asked to enter the cage and see how much weight the standard installation could take - 2 men totalling 46 stone had no effect and a group of lads pulled and tugged at the structure with no effect. The total weight applied was over 400Kg to a Guardbox holding a Panasonic PTDZ 6710 weighing 16Kg - so what, you might say - why would you want to do this? .... Read on:
PAS 122 Specification for the installation of audiovisual equipment in classrooms and general publicly accessible areas, sponsored by BECTA and published by the British Standards Institution states that the AV installation bracketry must take 5 times the load including peripherals and in addtion should take into account any miscreant behaviour. The HSE has said that this could be construed as hanging from the projector or screen and associated mounts. The customer has to carry out a risk assessment and if there is a possibility that hanging from AV equipment poses a risk then consultation with the AV installer should take place to mitigate the risk.
We at UNICOL have always taken safety very seriously and are in no doubt that our products will meet the most stringent safety regulations - the pictures speak for themselves!
Also at the show we had our Powa-Lift trolley with an Hitachi A1 and Smart Board fitted, the new heavy duty Titan Powa Lift, capable of lifting a 103" screen (below) and probably the thinnest mount in the world at only 7.5mm thick - the Excalibur wall mount (also below).
Next thing on the horizon is ISE - Feb 2 - 4 - so we will see you all there:
HALL 4 P72
AV installations in schools
We take a look at AV installations in schools from a mounting equipment view point - the challenges for teachers and installers in specifying the right equipment.
There is a new Public Accessible Specification (PAS) being written, sponsored by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) and published by the British Standards Institute (BSI). This is intended as a reference point for audio visual (AV) installers to ensure that the quality and standards of AV installations are raised to a sustainable level, where any customer can be aware that specific criteria are being met. The quality, reliability, suitability and integrity of AV equipment, fittings, fixings, together with proposed locations for the attachment and support of such equipment needs to be taken into account when planning such installations.
Unicol has been in the business of providing mounts for the AV industry for 45 years and has stuck to its conviction of providing strong and safe mounts for even the smallest of projectors and screens.Unicol has been in the business of providing mounts for the AV industry for 45 years and has stuck to its conviction of providing strong and safe mounts for even the smallest of projectors and screens.
Much of the responsibility for equipping schools has devolved from Local Authorities to the schools themselves, which whilst concentrating decision making where it is most needed, can lead to a dilution of the right equipment for the job in hand. The advice that AV Installers can give in this regard has underpinned the proliferation of AV equipment into the Education sector thus far.
Objective
Risk assessments for the safe installation of whiteboards, projectors and screens into schools and elsewhere is carried out at each install but where is the guidance given for this? The installation of suspended AV equipment, whether from a ceiling or wall, has the most potential risk attached to it. The following points should be seen as additions to the guidelines already set out by BECTA and accreditation bodies.
Implementation
Individual schools management should ensure that they nominate competent staff to undertake health and safety management for the procurement and installation of AV equipment.
The structural integrity of the AV equipment and supplied fittings must be established by installers and school responsible persons. Suppliers/manufacturers should provide specifications which detail load restrictions and other safety information. Installers must provide this information and demonstrate compliance to school procurement officers.
At the site survey stage a school responsible persons should:
• Provide risk assessments to installers based upon the consideration of the potential misuse of equipment by students and others who may be present. Imposed loads from persons hanging from AV equipment must be taken into account according to HSE guidelines.
The key issue is whether a person, and in particular a child, could gain access to the suspended AV equipment. If so, the installation should bear the weight of an average child within the age group having access. The Department of Health Survey shows children's weight by age, which can be used as a guide in order to carry out the risk assessment. A safety load factor of 5 times the load should be applied to the child’s weight in order to calculate the total load.
At the site survey stage the Installer should:
• Provide full written details of their proposals and supply Method Statements for the supply and installation of the AV equipment based upon any risk assessments given.
• Provide information on proposed fixings together with details of suitability and structural integrity. AV fixing locations must be carefully considered by installers especially ceiling structures (e.g. suspended ceilings) and the leverage forces acting upon walls (e.g. projector booms).
Standard
We have looked at the installation of mounts and safety issues. A standard by which to work to would be a huge benefit and we look forward to the publication of the new PAS from the BSI. This will uphold the professional way the AV Industry and Unicol goes about its business.