Patent Application
20070221749
Not applicable.
1. Field of Invention
This application is entitled to the benefit of Provisional patent application Ser. No. 11/435,641 filed May 17, 2006.
This invention deals specifically with improving deicing and snow removal on highways, bridges, roads and streets.
2. Prior Art
Several million tons of deep mined rock salt is used for highway deicing which requires massive amounts of diesel fuel to deliver rock salt by rail or truck and much more diesel fuel, labor, and equipment cost for loading stockpiles, reloading trucks for delivery to the end user, stock piling at the end users location, loading salt spreaders and actual deicing done by highway plowing crews.
Dry rock salt is removed from a local highway departments stockpile dumped into salt and sand spreaders by front end loaders or by gravity silos.
The salt spreader-plow truck is driven to the location where deicing is needed and deicing is done as the road is plowed when needed by spreading the rock salt on the road from the rear of the plow truck as the truck drives from point a to b. when the truck is empty or done spreading salt on its designated route the truck driver returns to the highway department for reloading for the next days plowing.
This process using deep mined rock salt wastes huge amounts of diesel fuel, labor and equipment resources due to poor use of available resources for highway deicing and additional costs from rock salt price hikes during the salt season which is from September first to May first during the calender year.
My invention will reduce the amount of salt used for deicing and snow control significantly by reducing rock salt purchases and related expenses equipment costs and repairs for ice and snow removal equipment.
Sodium chloride levels have increased significantly in some areas where ground water used for human consumption due to over use of rock salt to remove snow and ice from rural roads.
The use of a high saline saturated brine used at a warm temperature with or without molasses or magnesium chloride can be used at a lower delivery rate with the heated pure salt Solution reducing the potential damage to the local environment.
This in turn will reduce pollution of ground water and surface waters from salt used for deicing roads bridges and highways and reduce the fuel, labor and related equipment costs needed for highway deicing.
Sea water is one percent salt and seawater will not freeze. An excellent example of proof is when a highly saturated salt brine is used to make block ice out of sweet water/potable water in stainless steel molds for the standard two hundred pound block of ice. The highly saturated brine acts as a cooling medium to freeze the potable water in the block ice molds.
The use of heated water to dissolve pure evaporated salt and spraying the hot saltwater solution with or without adjuncts such as molasses which is naturally sticky to the touch, molasses salt blocks or magnesium chloride will increase common evaporated salts ice and snow melting ability due to its chemical composition and reduce the amount of sodium chloride needed for deicing roadways as the common molasses will not melt away thereby retaining the solution in place to melt the snow and ice.
Accordingly, besides the reduction in rock salt use as described in my above patent, several objects and advantages are:
The drawing in
My patent will reduce the labor needed, fuel costs, number of trucks required and rock salt used as one plow truck will be able to deice more lane miles with the heated brine solution as it is a highly saturated salt brine which will improve its melting power and will not be wasted from over spraying with the anti drift curtain installed around the spray booms.
The deicing unit will reduce saltwater pollution to a minimum as no salt will be wasted from spraying the salt water brine solution. due to the simple fact that the spray will stay on the road surface and do its work of melting the ice and snow left after plowing.
Operation
Plain water is pumped into the brine tank and salt blocks are added to the brine tank until the desired level of salinity is achieved. Additional products such as molasses and magnesium chloride and or calcium chloride may be added at the same time as well to enhance the salt brines ice and snow melting ability.
The diesel fueled electric generator is started to provide power to the low voltage pendant control in the truck cab, the hot water generator, and circulating pump to pump and thoroughly mix the deicing solution prior to use.
The brine solution is pumped through a stainless steel heat exchanger by an electric powered pump to heat the brine mixture, it is then either pumped back to the brine tank for additional mixing or to the spray booms.
The brine flow is regulated and directed by the stainless steel manually operated ball valves and stainless steel solenoid valves to the spray booms.
The solenoid valves are controlled by the pendant control in the truck cab.
Brine overflow is returned back to the brine tank by overflow return lines from both spray booms. Both overflow return lines have air gaps to prevent siphoning back into the spray booms
Utilizing off the shelf components for the deicing unit allows design simplicity and the easy repair and maintenance of the pumps and other equipment as they are readily obtainable with little or no delay and any repairs are accomplished quickly due to the inherent simplicity of the deicing units electrical system, plumbing and stainless steel construction and reduced need for parts inventory.
Accordingly the reader will see the advantages to the heated salt water deicing unit invention from the description of the its operation, reduction of rock salt used as a deicer and snow control product as pure evaporated salt is used and its simplicity of design and construction of the heated salt water deicing unit.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60785934 | Mar 2006 | US |
