SPbGASU scientists are conducting experimental studies of their innovative development, which will allow to clean the streets in a gentle way in winter. We are talking about a device for the treatment of roads and sidewalks from snow and ice formations, for which patent No. 213742 has been received. The introduction of the innovative device will have a double effect: economic, as it will reduce the amount of necessary repair of the roadway, and social, as it will decrease the level of accidents and injuries significantly.

In winter and off-season, with temperature fluctuations, precipitation on roads, sidewalks, and vertical markings, snow and ice deposits are formed that freeze to the surface. Snow and ice deposits on vertical markings seriously reduce the volume of drivers' awareness of the traffic situation. All this complicates the movement of vehicles and pedestrians, leads to accidents, injuries to people.

Aleksandr Pushkarev

– Modern methods of dealing with such deposits are mainly based on mechanical processing, when they are destroyed with the help of dumps, brushes, and various mobile devices and then taken out. Or they are removed by a chemical method, in which liquid or solid reagents are applied to the surface, having a melting temperature and shifting the dangerous snow-ice barrier, simplifying its cleaning. Such chemical procedures must be carried out in compliance with all environmental standards, otherwise serious harm will be done to the environment, - explained the co-author of the invention Aleksandr Pushkarev, DSc in Engineering, Professor at the Department of Land Transport and Technological Machines of the SPbGASU Faculty of Automobile and Road Building.

According to him, we see the consequences of mechanical treatment in the spring, when the quality of roads deteriorates, since such cleaning is not focused on preserving the surface. The main goal here is to remove ice deposits. Considering that the surface of the roadway is not perfectly flat, during the movement, mechanical elements interact with both the ice deposit and the road surface, thus destroying it. Then the situation is aggravated by the temperature difference: water enters the formed cracks and pits, freezes, expanding them. That is why every spring road repairs begin, which entail financial costs, inconvenience and traffic jams. Despite the fact that scientists from many countries are in search of a solution to the problem, world experience in such developments is very limited.

– Our idea is to introduce an action into the procedure for removing snow and ice deposits that would effectively destroy deposits and either immediately remove them or prepare them for subsequent cleaning, while being gentle on the road surface. One of these options is the use of the energy of liquid jets in pure form and filled with abrasive, when the destructive ability is enhanced by the energy of dispersed abrasive particles. These jets are selected according to their parameters and destroy only deposits, taking into account the strength and thickness of the ice. We conduct research on snow and ice deposits in St Petersburg and the Leningrad Region, during which we examine characteristic sections of roads, collect samples of deposits, study their structure and properties, establish patterns of strength properties of these deposits on the chemical composition, which may contain chemical compounds that affect for acidity, mechanical inclusions. Deposits are found layered or randomly formed. We need to experimentally find out at what temperatures the treatment should be carried out and get an appropriate recommendation,” said Aleksandr Pushkarev.

The scheme for implementing the development by the authors of the invention is well thought out: a standard watering machine is used. It is equipped with a pressurized water supply system, water tanks. It remains to equip them with an abrasive storage system - sand or crumbs and a system for supplying this abrasive to a jet-forming device, through which water and abrasive particles will be filled. The use of abrasive particles will depend on the properties of the deposits and in the processing of only those areas wh ere it is necessary. The idea of forming a machine kit is already emerging, in which, together with a watering machine, a retrofitted water jet removal system will be involved. That is, one machine destroys deposits, the other then collects destroyed fragments with brushes. The size of the damage will depend on the characteristics of the jets and the pattern of their supply to the surface. Now, in the process of ongoing experimental work, this point is being clarified.

But now comes the question: deposits are removed with water, and if it is not removed, it will freeze and the effectiveness of the method will drop to zero! The fact is that the water will also contain the necessary reagents that are safe for the road surface, which will keep it in a liquid state at an acceptable temperature. After treatment, the coating will be only slightly damp.

This work is primarily aimed at solving social problems. The machine performs a road maintenance service. On the roadway, this is done by motor vehicles, on the sidewalks - by compact self-propelled manual vehicles. Neither one nor the other produce a product that could be sold and the economic efficiency can be estimated by the volume of production. To substantiate this work, we provided photographs and videos that clearly demonstrate how the new pavement is cleared of ice with crowbars and icebreakers and what it turns into after such cleaning: crumbled material that needs to be replaced. Change paving slabs every spring? Aleksandr Pushkarev is convinced that the invention will eliminate this problem. In addition, watering machines will not be idle for the entire winter season, which will increase their efficiency.

The authors of the patent already have a partner who is interested in the project. Now they are jointly making a production stand, wh ere they will work out the modes of cutting ice, surface treatment.

– But public utilitiy services who clean yards are more interested in creating a small car, which so far seems to be a more difficult technical task. This will be the next step in our development. We hope that by the next winter season we will have samples that will clean the surface already on the site,” Aleksandr Pushkarev concluded.