Lena Metall has developed a bed completely made from aluminium for military personnel in the field. The bed combines great demands for strength and lightness with demands for safety and protection against shrapnel, animals and insects.
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| A SafeBed equipped with mosquito net, desktop and storage shelf. The roof has space for sand-filled PVC sacks that act as protection against shrapnel. Compact transport and storage has resulted in the SafeBed being transported in flat-packed kits – stackable and designed to create the minimum volume |
Following an enquiry by the Norwegian army, Lena Metall together with Hydro Aluminium Profiler has developed a bed for the use of military personnel on active service. The result is SafeBed, completely made of aluminium extrusions that not only has applications within the military but can also be used on all types of active service and for temporary quarters such as field hospitals and refugee and disaster camps. SafeBed is part of Lena Metall’s SafeCamp product range that is going to include a series of products designed for personal protection under active service conditions.
Strictly optimised
Consequently SafeBed has been developed against a background of a list of demands with well defined requirements for functions and features. Being lightweight is obvious for something that is made to be transported, moved and assembled. Even so, equivalent products available on the market today are conventional, heavy and cumbersome steel constructions. The demand for low weight was a challenge during design work and the resulting shape of the components is extrusions with strictly optimised features in terms of strength, thickness and tolerances. Compact transport and storage have resulted in the SafeBed being transported in flat-packed kits – stackable and designed to create the minimum volume. Great demands that it should be easy and quick to assemble and dismantle were a guideline during design work and have resulted in a bed with smart connections for quick installation.
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| The side of the bed with bent ‘seamless’ extrusions facilitates sealed and safe installation of mosquito nets. |
Repels ‘uninvited guests’
Personal protection means both an integrated system for quick, sealed and safe attachment of mosquito nets and extrusions and connections without cavities that can accommodate ‘uninvited guests’. The system with sealed and smooth aluminium extrusions also facilitates cleaning and disinfection, and eliminates the risk for corrosion. If required the bed can also be equipped with a system for shrapnel protection which involves filling PVC bags with sand or gravel taken from the surroundings and then placing them on the bed’s roof. This extra load makes great demands on the strength and stability of the extrusions. SafeBed can also be equipped with a number of accessories such as desktops, storage shelves and so on. Everything is based on integrated extrusion functions for quick and safe fastening and connection.
Global requirement
“We have already delivered a large number of beds to the Norwegian army,” says Lena Metall’s managing director Edvard Dysthe. “We also expect that the forces in the other Scandinavian and NATO countries will be interested as well as seeing great potential in the requirements of the UN during its military and rescue operations worldwide. There is a major global demand for the development of flexible, mobile and lightweight products in this field.” “An ongoing project involving the armed forces of Norway and Sweden is investigating measures for personal protection in several areas,” Edvard Dysthe continues.
With SafeBed, this need has been met and crossed off the list!
