United States Department of Transportation
i
Intelligent Sidewalk De-Icing and Pre-Treatment with Connected Campus Maintenance Vehicles
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2022-06-01
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[PDF-2.42 MB]
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Edition:Final report, Jan 1 2020 - Dec 31 2021
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Abstract:Salt brine is routinely used by transportation agencies to pre-treat critical infrastructure such as bridges, ramps, and underpasses in advance of winter storms. Traditional manual techniques of the operator turning on and off the brine controls while driving at highway speeds introduces driver distraction and consistency problems. Purdue University and industry partners collaborated with agencies to develop an automated brine application system for deicing and pretreatment during winter operations. The system leverages existing precision Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) technology used for spraying chemicals in the agriculture industry to control brine application. This automated brine system enhances safety, reduces driver workload, ensures efficient application of brine, and reduces environmental impact. The team prototyped the system on an electric utility vehicle (for campus roads and urban sidewalks) and subsequently scaled deployment to two 5,500-gallon brine tankers for treating interstates and major arterials with brine. This deployment on the 5,500-gallon tanker used on I-465 in Indianapolis eliminated the need for the truck driver to turn on and off a switch 600 times during pre-treatment for a single storm. Extrapolating to an entire season, this eliminated several thousand driver distraction events and improved the consistency of brine application to bridges.
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