Patent Application
20090032624
NONE
This invention relates generally to material spreaders, such as for example salt, sand, or salt and sand mixtures and, more particularly, to pre-wetting systems to pre-wet the material prior to it being spread onto a surface by the spreader equipment. It should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the spreader of the present invention can also be used to spread dry material as well as wet material.
Pre-wetting is the process of for example spraying deicing salt with a solution of liquid chemical before spreading the salt on a roadway. Pre-wetting the salt helps it work more effectively as a deicing agent for two reasons: Firsts wet salt clings to the road instead of bouncing off or being swept off by traffic. The result is that less salt is spread, saving money and minimizing the threat to the environment. Second, to be effective as a deicing agent, salt requires moisture. Moisture dissolves the salt, releasing heat and thereby melting the ice and snow, as well as breaking the ice-road bond. When temperatures drop below freezing there is no moisture on the road, and salt alone is ineffective. Pre-wetting the salt ensures that there will be enough moisture to facilitate the melting process. There are several chemicals used to pre-wet salt. The most inexpensive is the use of sodium chloride and water or salt brine which is a salt and water solution. See Semisequicentennial Transportation Conference Proceedings, May 1996, Iowa State University.
Since brine is what actually melts snow and ice, solid rock salt must first create brine before it goes to work. In the absence of heat, sunlight, friction, or in low available moisture levels, solid salt is slower to go to brine and then to work. Road salt (sodium chloride) has an effective temperature range above 20-25 degrees Fahrenheit. When temperatures drop to around 10 degrees F. or below, road salt has significantly reduced melting capacity. The addition of a liquid chemical to salt enhances its ability to provide safe levels of service by increasing the speed at which salt creates brine to melt snow or ice. Greater chloride efficiency is achieved when liquid chemicals are added to salt by lowering the “effective” temperature range of the salt.
There are many methods in place to pre-wet salt. Some agencies have sprayed liquid chemicals over loads in the spreaders creating a “hot load”. This method does not uniformly coat all the salt in the spreader and often runs out the back. Some liquid chemicals can “fuse” the salt in the spreader if not emptied, thereby adding to maintenance headaches and clumps in the salt. Others apply a given amount to each loader bucket prior to loading in the spreader. This method is somewhat more effective than direct over the top applications. See Mark Cornwell, Ice Control Engineering, Syntech Products Corporation.
Another method of wetting the salt is to spray the salt with sodium chloride or salt brine as it is leaving the spreader. Nozzles are mounted adjacent the spinner and spray the salt as it is being spread onto the surface. The problem with pre-wetting in this way is over spraying of the chemical which is uneconomical and provides an uneven application of the pre-wetting solution to the salt which results in the salt bouncing off the surface and the salt not being effective to melt the snow and ice. Additionally, there is the problem of evaporation and drifting of product which are corrosive when put into the air.
In general terms, this invention provides either a wet or dry spreading system. The pre-wetting system sprays a liquid, such as for example sodium chloride, salt brine, water or any other suitable liquid onto the material within a pre-wetting channel or passage just before it is presented to the spinner. In this way, the material is pre-wetted in a controlled environment eliminating over spray and drifting into the atmosphere allowing an even distribution of liquid to the material. Because of the passage, the application of liquid can be carefully controlled.
In the disclosed embodiment, a liquid tank is either integrally joined to a hopper or attached to a hopper. The tank has a passage or channel, a tubular passage is disclosed, which extends through the lower portion of the tank. The passage is coaxially aligned with the exit of the hopper and has a discharge opening that opens onto a chute that directs the pre-wetted material to the spinner. In the disclosed embodiment, a longitudinal auger extends through the hopper and the passage to drive the material to the chute. The tank has a pump that draws liquid from the tank and pumps it to nozzles spaced along the passage. These nozzles spray the material as it is rotated and moved through the passage by the auger to present uniformly pre-wetted material to the spinner.
These and other features and advantages of this invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art from the detailed description of a preferred embodiment. The drawings that accompany the detailed description are described below.
With reference to
The wetting assembly 12 includes a tank 16 which has a fill opening closed by a cap 18. In use, material, such as salt, sand, salt and sand mixtures, etc. is added to the hopper 14 and liquid, such as for example salt brine, water, etc. is added to the tank 16. If salt brine is intended to be used the salt brine mixture is the typical mixture used in the application of salt brine as known by those of ordinary skill in the art. Formed near the base of the tank 16 is a passage 20. In the disclosed embodiment, the passage 20 is a tube 22 with a discharge opening 24 that adjoins a feed chute 62 (see
A pump 28 is mounted to the tank 16. As disclosed, the pump 28 is mounted to the top of the tank 16. It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that the pump 28 could be mounted anywhere on the spreader and wetting system 10 or the frame 40 which is shown in
The line 30 is connected to the bottom of the tank 16 as disclosed in
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
With reference to
In use, the motor 82 has a mating gear (not shown) which mates with helical bevel gear 90. Bevel gear 90 is mounted on input shaft 92 which has a worm gear 94. The worm gear 94 mates with a driver gear 96 mounted on output shaft 98. Output shaft 98 is operatively connected to the auger 86. If desired, a helical bevel geared transmission 88 can be used as the transmission 72 to drive the spinner 64.
A controller unit 100 controls the auger 86, spreader assembly 60, and the pump 28 and the feed rate of each. One feature of the controller 100 is the ability to monitor the auger feed rate and automatically adjust the amount of liquid supplied to the auger 86. The controller 100 will supply a certain amount of liquid for a given auger speed. The controller 100 will also allow manual supply of liquid to the auger 86 in the passage 20 as well. In the preferred embodiment, the controller 100 is mounted within the vehicle.
The foregoing invention has been described in accordance with the relevant legal standards, thus the description is exemplary rather than limiting in nature. Variations and modifications to the disclosed embodiment may become apparent to those skilled in the art and do come within the scope of the invention. Accordingly, the scope of legal protection afforded this invention can only be determined by studying the following claims.
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/951,286 for a MATERIAL SPREADER WITH ENCLOSED WETTING SYSTEM, filed on Jul. 23, 2007, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 60951286 | Jul 2007 | US |
