OLEO INTERNATIONAL ENERGY ABSORPTION SYSTEMS.

At its Coventry plant the British company Oleo International manufactures high-technology shock absorbers whose performance is unique for this type of equipment. They manufacture a wide range of models with a 10 to 3.000 centimetre stroke. These elements basically consist of two chambers: a nitrogen gas chamber and an oil chamber, which act by means of a sophisticated mechanism, forming an oil-pneumatic buffer with the following characteristics;

1.- They are 99% efficient, i.e. 99% of the energy produced by the impact is absorbed by the Oleo capsule. This has been confirmed in tests conducted by European railway companies.

2.- As regards deceleration, we should explain that it is not sufficient just to stop the train after an impact; the best way is to do so by means of a predetermined and constant deceleration from the beginning of the impact until the train has come to a complete standstill, without producing recoils that would have fatal effects for passengers and cause material damage. Oleo achieves this by enabling a deceleration that is comfortable for passengers and safe for the integrity of the train, using a system that retracts the buffer at a constant, previously calculated speed.

3.- Maintenance. Oleo-pneumatic buffers do not require any regular maintenance, since only one part of the mechanism moves when they act. As a result of this, their performance remains exactly as calculated for more than fifteen years, after which time the gaskets can simply be changed and the unit will continue to be operational.

4.- Price. Our shock absorbers are completely cost-effective, as they drastically reduce the cost of maintaining and repairing the rolling stock, as our clients can confirm (below you will find a reference to the Spanish organisations that have put their trust in this system), since impacts against the buffer stop or between carriages are absorbed, within the speed range for which they were designed, with the same smoothness and efficiency, thus avoiding potential damage and/or discrepancies due to costly repairs.

5.- Reliability. Our equipment is approved and/or standardised by the railway companies of every country (see the non-exhaustive list in the general catalogue), showing through their confidence that Oleo is cost-effective for them.

ORGANISATIONS IN SPAIN THAT USE THE OLEO SYSTEM:

ADIF
RENFE
MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS
TALGO
MADRID, BARCELONA, BILBAO, VALENCIA and SEVILLE Metro networks
MALLORCA, GENERALITAT CATALANA, GENERALITAT DE VALENCIA, FEVE and EUSKOTREN railway networks, among others.

STANDARD USE OF OLEO BUFFERS BY RENFE'S DIRECTORATE OF INFRASTRUCTURE MAINTENANCE

RENFE has chosen OLEO buffer stops for its infrastructures, as they meet the conditions required of a high-performance buffer stop that is valid for any type of passenger train platform:

• They are reliable for a range of masses from 125 to 1000 tonnes (Long-distance, Regional and Local).
• Impact speeds of up to 10 km/h.
• Maximum decelerations for the passenger in the region of 2.5 m/s²

These buffer stops are our STANDARD solution for general traffic and relatively high speeds of impact. They are therefore being fitted for local, long-distance and high-speed trains, such as the AVE.

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