Design and Performance of an asphalt pavement snow melting system

摘要

Asphalt pavement can be used in solar energy harnessing, by means of solar collector developed in heating and cooling the adjacent buildings, as well as keeping the pavement ice-free directly. In the light of the actual situation of preparation and formation of a larger asphalt concrete slab, an experimental method and evaluation system for asphalt pavement snow melting was designed and constructed. The feasibility of snow melting using asphalt solar collector was verified, and the effect of the heat exchanger on the temperature distribution was quantitatively tested The results indicated that although the entire snowmelt time is longer than expected, it is acceptable for us to use asphalt solar collector for snow melting, especially, low temperature water about 25 °C is used for snow melting. Besides, the melting process of ice and snow generally includes three phases: the starting period, the linear period and the accelerated period. The snow melting system is controlled to maintain the asphalt pavement surface temperature of 3 to 5°C which is sufficient to prevent freezing of the road.