Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to apparatuses, systems, and methods for clearing a surface. In particular, embodiments may include a system which is configured to clear water, oil, debris, or other objects from a surface such as a road surface as the system advances over the road surface.
Racetracks, highways, runways, roads, parking lots, and other like surfaces, generally referred to herein collectively and individually as road surfaces, are generally engaged by tires of vehicles which may be made of rubber, synthetic rubber, or similar compounds. Tires generally grip a road surface better when the road surface and tire are dry and the road surface is free of debris. The introduction of contaminants to a road surface, such as water, oil, gravel, tire particles, etc. may reduce the grip between a tire and the road surface. As such, clearing the road surface of debris and drying the road surface may improve the grip of a tire on the road surface.
While cars and aircraft may traverse wet road surfaces, stopping distances and handling may be reduced. In some applications, such as some forms of automobile racing where speeds and turning forces may be significantly higher than standard driving traffic, racing on a wet track may be hazardous enough that races may be suspended until the track is dry or clear of other debris. In such applications, actively drying the track may allow automobile racing, time trials, practices, qualifying, and the like to start or resume faster than allowing the track to passively dry naturally. Actively drying the racetrack quickly may also reduce fan disappointment and operating expenses resulting from a race that is prolonged or canceled due to track conditions, such as a wet track. Wet road surfaces can also cause issues when temperatures drop below freezing and the wet road surfaces become icy.
Embodiments of the present invention may provide for a system for clearing a road surface of contaminants, such as water, debris, or other contaminants. In one embodiment, a system for clearing a road surface is provided including an air knife with an elongate orifice extending along a line, a frame configured to support the air knife in a position substantially parallel to a plane defined by the road surface, and a tow bar coupled to the frame, where the tow bar is pivotable relative to the frame along an axis orthogonal to the plane defined by the road surface. The tow bar may include a mounting plate, where the mounting plate is pivotably mounted to the frame. The mounting plate may be pivotable in a first pivot direction about the axis orthogonal to the plane defined by the road surface and pivotable in a second pivot direction, opposite the first pivot direction, about the axis orthogonal to the plane defined by the road surface.
A road surface clearing system according to some example embodiments may include a biasing member configured to bias the mounting plate in at least the first pivot direction. The degree of pivot between the mounting plate and the frame may be limited by a pivot stop. The degree of pivot may be between about zero degrees relative to a direction of travel of the system and forty-five degrees relative to the direction of travel of the system. The elongate orifice may be disposed at an angle relative to the direction of travel of the system, such as between zero and ninety degrees, between about forty and seventy degrees, or about sixty degrees. The angle of incidence of air exiting the elongate orifice relative to the plane defined by the road surface may be between about thirty and sixty degrees. The angle of incidence of the air exiting the elongate orifice relative to the plane defined by the surface may be about forty-five degrees.
A road surface clearing system according to some example embodiments may include a guide wheel attached to the frame with an axis of rotation orthogonal to the plane defined by the road surface. The system may define a direction of travel in which the system is advanced by a tow vehicle, and the guide wheel may be adapted to engage a wall extending parallel to the direction of travel. The biasing member may be configured to bias the guide wheel into engagement with the wall.
Some embodiments may further include a manifold attached to the frame, a first hose extending from the manifold to a first end of the air knife, and a second hose extending from the manifold to a second end of the air knife.
Some embodiments of the road surface clearing system may include a second air knife including an elongate orifice extending along a line, and a second frame configured to support the air knife in a position substantially parallel to the plane defined by the road surface, where the second frame is attached to the first frame. The second frame may be pivotable relative to the first frame about a first axis and about a second axis, where the first axis and the second axis are perpendicular to one another, and the first axis and the second axis are each parallel to the plane defined by the road surface. A direction of travel of the first frame and a direction of travel of the second frame may be held fixed parallel to one another, and may be parallel to a direction of travel in which the system is configured to be advanced by a tow vehicle.
Some embodiments may further include a manifold attached to one of the first frame or the second frame, a first hose extending from the manifold to a first end of the first air knife, a second hose extending from the manifold to a second end of the first air knife, a third hose extending from the manifold to a first end of the second air knife, and a fourth hose extending from the manifold to a second end of the second air knife.
Having thus described the invention in general terms, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings, which are not necessarily drawn to scale, and wherein:
The present invention will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments of the invention are shown. Indeed, this invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
Embodiments of the present invention may provide for a system to clear material, herein generally also referred to as contaminants, from a road surface. In some embodiments, the material to be cleared may be debris, such as gravel, rubber, trash, etc. from a racetrack surface or an airport runway. In other embodiments, the material to be cleared may be water for purposes of drying a road surface. As will be appreciated, embodiments of the present invention may be implemented for clearing a wide variety of materials from a road surface such that embodiments described herein are not intended to be limiting, but merely provide example embodiments of applications of the invention. As such, embodiments described herein are primarily described in the context of clearing water from a road surface such as a racetrack or runway to dry the surface.
As outlined above, road surfaces with contaminants such as debris or water may reduce the grip available to vehicles traversing the road surfaces and clearing the road surface of debris and drying the road surface may dramatically improve the grip of a tire on the road surface. Example embodiments of the present invention may enable a user to clear debris from a road surface and/or to dry a surface quickly. Further, as wet road surfaces can also cause issues when temperatures drop below freezing and the wet road surfaces become icy road surfaces, embodiments may also be useful to dry the road surfaces before the water freezes to ice. In some embodiments, heat may also be used to assist in drying the road surface and/or even helping to melt and remove snow and ice from road surfaces.
The road surface along which the road surface clearing system 100 may be pulled may include contours and undulations to some extent; however, for purposes of the disclosure, the road surface, and in particular, the portion of the road surface over which the frame 110 rides, will be described as substantially planar or defining a plane of the road surface.
The tow bar 140 of the road surface clearing system 100 may be hingedly attached to the frame 110 at hinge points 145. The pivot points may allow the towed end 147 of the tow bar 140 to move vertically up and down relative to the road surface being cleared. The hinge between the tow bar 140 and the frame 110 may allow for tow vehicles with different height tow hitches or receivers, onto or into which the towed end 147 of the tow bar 140 may be mounted. Further, the hinge may accommodate undulations in the road surface between the tow vehicle and the road surface clearing system 100.
The tow vehicle used to pull (or push) a road surface clearing system 100 of example embodiments may be any suitable vehicle capable of moving the system. In some embodiments, the towed end 147 of the tow bar 140 may be indirectly coupled to a tow vehicle, such as by a boom or telescoping arm such that the surface clearing system 100 may not be located directly behind the tow vehicle as will be described further below.
Road surface clearing systems of example embodiments may function, as detailed further below, by directing pressurized air through the air knife 130 toward the surface to be cleared. The air knife may be fed pressurized air through at least one inlet, such as inlets on a first end of the air knife 132 and a second end of the air knife 134. A first hose 165 may supply the compressed air to the first end 132, and a second hose 170 may supply the compressed air to the second end 134. Each of the first hose 165 and the second hose 170 may be connected to a manifold 150 which distributes pressurized air to the hoses. The manifold may be fed by one or more compressors, through one or more hoses connected to inlet 155.
Pressurized air supplied by a compressor may include oil or oil vapor that is residue from the compressing process. As such, to prevent the road surfaces that are to be cleared from having oil deposited thereon, one or more filters may be implemented between the pressurized air source and the air knives to remove the oil from the pressurized air before being used to clear the road surface.
The air knife 130 may define an elongate orifice 220 through which the pressurized air is expelled from the air knife 130. The pressurized air is received at the air knife at both ends 132 and 134. While the illustrated example of an air knife is configured to receive pressurized air from both ends of the air knife, alternative embodiments may receive pressurized air from only one end, or from one or more orifices disposed along the length of the air knife. An advantage to receiving the pressurized air at both ends 132, 134 of the air knife is that a more consistent pressure of air exiting the elongate orifice 220 may be achieved. The elongate orifice 220 of the illustrated example is defined by a top plate 230 and a bottom plate 235 which are attached to a body 136 of the air knife 130. While the elongate orifice 220 of some embodiments may be defined by integrally formed portions of the air knife, such as in an extruded channel, the illustrated embodiment includes an adjustable width orifice 220. Fasteners 240 are disposed along the length of the top plate and may be configured to allow adjustability of the width of the elongate orifice 220. An example elongate orifice width may be about 0.005 to about 0.050 inches, or about 0.010 inches.
An adjustable width elongate orifice may be advantageous to allow more consistent flow to be achieved across the length of the orifice 220. For example, the flow rate of pressurized air may tend to be higher closer to the pressurized air entrance to the air knife body 136 (e.g., proximate the air knife ends 132, 134) such that adjusting the orifice 220 width proximate the air knife ends to be narrower, while the orifice width proximate the middle of the air knife is wider, may achieve more consistent flow across the length of the elongate orifice. Further, the adjustable width of the elongate orifice may assist in compensating for material and manufacturing variances, air knife deflection, and warping of the air knife.
As illustrated in
During operation, the road surface clearing system 100 of
Further, as pressurized air may be heated above ambient air temperature as a result of the compression, the pressurized air entering the air knife and exiting to the surface to be cleared may have an elevated temperature. This may be beneficial for drying road surfaces as the heat will encourage water vaporization. In some embodiments, heat may be introduced to the pressurized air or indirectly upon the road surface by a heater to speed the drying process when the road surface clearing system is used for drying a road surface.
As apparent to one of skill in the art, directing the water and/or debris to one side of the air knife 130 may allow, as necessary, a second or additional successive passes of the road surface clearing system to move the water or debris further in the direction of arrow 250. Optionally, a series of road surface clearing systems may be used to clear a swath wider than a single system illustrated in
While embodiments of the present invention may be scaled according to their intended use, limits may exist on the scalability with regard to how long an air knife can be to adequately deliver consistent air flow along the length of the elongate orifice. Further, limitations on the volume and pressure of the air fed into the manifold may limit the length of an air knife that can be effectively used. In an example embodiment, pressurized air may be supplied to the air knife of
Applicant has found a method and system according to embodiments of the present invention to create a road surface clearing method and system that are capable of clearing a wider swath than the single system illustrated in
The illustrated embodiment depicts a manifold 350 arranged to distribute pressurized air received at the manifold 350 to each of three air knives 330. While the embodiment of
According to the embodiment of
As shown in
Referring back to
The ability of adjacent frames 310A, 310B to pivot relative to one another about axes 470 and 480, while retaining relative alignment of the air knives 330 allows the frames to traverse uneven road surfaces while keeping the air knives in close proximity to the surfaces they are to clear. An example embodiment of such a road surface may include a racetrack with banking, such as a racetrack with banked turns in which the banking increases as the distance from the apex of the turn increases, or banking on the ends or along the front or back stretches. In such an embodiment, a first frame (e.g., frame 310B) may be advancing along a banking of about fifteen degrees while the adjacent frame (e.g., frame 310A) may be advancing along a banking of about thirteen degrees. Absent the articulated connection between the two frames, the sides of the frames proximate to one another (i.e., proximate axis 480) would be suspended from the racetrack in the above described embodiment. The articulation between the frames allows each of the frames to maintain contact at all corners with the road surface and keeps the air knives in close proximity to the road surface to be cleared. This articulation of the frames may also be important for bringing the road surface clearing system onto or off of the racetrack, including crossing over the apron onto the track and from the track to a pit lane.
The degree to which the frames may pivot relative to one another along axes 480 and 470 may be dictated by the degree of rotation allowed at the ball joint rod end fasteners. In an example embodiment, the degree of pivot between the frames about axis 470 may be between about five and ten degrees, while the degree of pivot between the frames about axis 480 may be between about five and twenty degrees. In some example embodiments, the degree of pivot between the frames about axis 480 may be up to about 110 degrees to allow a road surface clearing system with three frames to fold the outermost frames up, leaving a footprint not substantially greater than a single frame for convenient storage and/or transport. In such an embodiment fasteners in addition to or other than ball joint rod ends may be used.
Referring back to
As it may be important to clear debris and/or water from a road surface proximate a wall, such as at a safety retaining wall of a racetrack, it may be desirable for a road surface clearing system 100 to be held close to the wall as the system 100 is advanced. Due to banking, undulations, and driver error, it may be difficult to maintain the road surface clearing system 100 held proximate to the wall, even including a guide wheel 180.
To assist in maintaining guide wheel 180 of the road surface clearing system 100 in contact with a wall, a biasing force may be introduced to drive the road surface clearing system 100 against the wall.
Referring back to
The mounting plate 190 may further be configured to be locked in place relative to the frame 110, such as to allow the tow bar 140 to be disposed at a fixed angle relative to the frame 110 or in line with the tow vehicle 600. Such a lock may be beneficial for transport of the road surface clearing system, in such case the tow bar would likely be secured to be in a straight line parallel to a direction of travel of the frame 110 as illustrated in
The pneumatic cylinder 500 of
While the illustrated embodiment depicts a biasing element configured to bias a mounting plate (and tow bar) counter-clockwise relative to the frame, embodiments may include biasing elements that permit biasing of the mounting plate and tow bar in the clockwise direction relative to the frame. Optionally, embodiments may be configured to bias the mounting plate and tow bar in both the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, which may be achieved with multiple, independently controllable biasing elements (e.g., two pneumatic pistons) or a biasing element capable of applying a bias force in two directions. Such an embodiment may be beneficial for urging a road surface clearing system against opposite walls in dependence of the type of surface being cleared, or the direction of travel of the tow vehicle along the surface.
Further example embodiments may include a positioning element in place of, or in addition to the biasing element. For example, in an embodiment in which it is desirable to have a surface clearing system offset from the tow vehicle, a positioning element, such as an electric actuator or hydraulic cylinder may be configured to pivot a mounting plate about the pivot point to position the mounting plate in a substantially fixed location, thereby canting the road surface clearing system from the tow vehicle. Such an electric actuator or hydraulic cylinder may further be configured to be controlled remotely, such as by an operator of the tow vehicle. In such an embodiment, the alignment of the road surface clearing system behind the tow vehicle may be adjusted while the system is being advanced along a road surface.
Various other features for, modifications to and other embodiments of the inventions set forth herein will come to mind to one skilled in the art to which these inventions pertain having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoing descriptions and the associated drawings. For example, while examples discussed herein are often related to mobile printers, one skilled in the art would appreciate that other types of printers, such as desktop or less mobile printers, as well as other types of devices may benefit from embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is to be understood that the inventions are not to be limited to the specific embodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments are intended to be included herein. Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/757,114, filed on Feb. 1, 2013, the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 13757114 | Feb 2013 | US |
Child | 15149460 | US |