Road snow melting system using a surface heating element

Abstract

Abstract The object of the present invention is to avoid the difficulty of recruiting snow removal personnel by automatically melting snow that has accumulated on roads in areas having cold climates, and protect human life and secure the safety of vehicles and aircraft traveling on such roads and runways. The present invention is comprised of a heating unit wherein a surface heating element, in which an electrically conductive coating is applied onto a cloth, is positioned between metal plates such as aluminum plates above and below and wrapped in a tar-based moisture-proof sheet. Said heating unit is then embedded beneath the surface of road paving. After particularly carefully steam rolling the asphalt and concrete base layer in this case so that it is free of irregularities, the upper surface of said base layer is coated with a primer. After installing and wiring the above-mentioned heating unit on top of said primer-coated base layer, an additional coating of primer is applied followed by paving with a material having a high degree of thermal conductivity, such as an asphalt layer or concrete layer containing fine granules of blast furnace slag, to function as the surface material.

Inventors

• 👤 Koji Watanabe
• 👤 Yoshinori Nagai

Bibliographic Details