By Charles Carter, 27/10/22
US company Arctic has developed a snowplough that is divided into moving sections, to avoid hidden obstacles reducing the risk of damage and injury.
The innovative design, launched in 2006, also contours the shape of the road, ensuring a cleaner scrape compared with rigid ploughs, reducing the need for repeated runs over the same area.
Why would there be hidden obstacles on the road surface though?
Well, many parking lots especially in the US have small ‘floating’ wheelstop kerbs in each space and speed bumps are common on local roads across the globe.
How does it work?
Each section of the plough is triple-spring loaded allowing it to move up and down over obstacles of up to 10cm or hug a changing road profile.
The side panels are able to glide over bigger obstacles up to 22cm, which allows it to mount pavement or sidewalk kerbs at the edge of the road.
Polyurethane blocks sits behind each section, absorbing impacts and protecting the frame.
AR 400 hardened high-carbon steel is used for the scraping edges for durability and the plough can be attached to a range of vehicles through a universal hitch.
The company produces a range of different model sizes as well as straight, angled and dynamic edge versions.
What are the potential benefits?
Using their innovation helps to cut ploughing time to less than half and the efficient scrape reduces salt usage by 50 percent, according to Arctic.
This reduces fuel and labour costs, on top of the safety benefits and mitigating equipment/property damage.
Should a central section be hit by an obstacle over 10cm and is damaged, only that section needs to be replaced, reducing repair costs compared with rigid ploughs.
Questions for you. Comment below
- First thought that comes into your head?
- Pros and cons according to you?
- Other applications of this approach?
- What could this be combined.with?
Links
https://www.arcticsnowandiceproducts.com/
