Winter service vehicle
A winter service vehicle (WSV), or snow removal vehicle, is a vehicle specially designed or adapted to
The earliest winter service vehicles were snow rollers, designed to maintain a smooth, even road surface for sleds,[8] although horse-drawn snowplows and gritting vehicles are recorded in use as early as 1862.[9] The increase in motor car traffic and aviation in the early 20th century led to the development and popularisation of large motorised winter service vehicles.
History
Although snow removal dates back to at least the
However, with the increase in
The first motorised snowplows were developed in 1913, based on truck and tractor bodies. These machines allowed the mechanisation of the snow clearing process, reducing the labor required for snow removal and increasing the speed and efficiency of the process.[9] The expansion of the aviation industry also acted as a catalyst for the development of winter service vehicles during the early 20th century. Even a light dusting of snow or ice could cause an aeroplane to crash, so airports erected snow fences around airfields to prevent snowdrifts, and began to maintain fleets of vehicles to clear runways in heavy weather.[9]
With the popularisation of the
Design
Winter service vehicles are usually based on a dump truck
Other common changes include the replacement of the factory stock tires with
In most countries, winter service vehicles usually have amber light bars, which are activated to indicate that the vehicle is operating below the local
Some winter service vehicles, especially those designed for use on footpaths or pedestrian zones, are built on a far smaller chassis using small tractors or custom made vehicles. These vehicles are often multi-purpose, and can be fitted with other equipment such as brushes, lawnmowers or cranes—as these operations are generally unable to run during heavy snowfalls, there is generally little overlap between the different uses, reducing the size of the fleet required by the agency or contractor.[16]
Modern winter service vehicles will usually also have a
Military winter service vehicles are heavily armoured to allow for their use in combat zones, especially in
Operation
Winter service vehicles are operated by both government agencies and by private
Winter service vehicle drivers usually work part-time, before and during inclement weather only, with drivers working a 12- to 16-hour shift.[1][26] Main roads are typically gritted in advance, to reduce the disruption to the network.[1] Salt barns are provided at regular intervals for drivers to collect more grit, and bedding is provided at road maintenance depots for drivers to use between shifts in heavy or prolonged storms.[1]
Weather conditions typically vary greatly depending on altitude; hot countries can experience heavy snowfall in mountainous regions yet receive very little in low-lying areas, increasing the accident rate among drivers inexperienced in winter driving. In addition, road surface temperatures can fall rapidly at higher altitudes, precipitating rapid
Equipment
De-icer
De-icers spray heated
Aircraft de-icing vehicles usually consist of a large
In road snow and ice control, brine is often used as an anti-icer rather than a de-icer. A vehicle carries a tank of brine, which is sprayed on the road surface before or at the onset of the storm. This keeps snow and ice from adhering to the surface and makes mechanical removal by plows easier. Solid salt is also wetted with brine or other liquid deicer. This speeds de-icing action and helps keep it from bouncing off the pavement into the gutter or ditch.[31] Brine acts faster than solid salt and does not require compression by passing traffic to become effective. The brine is also more environmentally friendly, as less salt is required to treat the same length of road.[32]
Airport runways are also de-iced by sprayers fitted with long spraying arms. These arms are wide enough to cross the entire runway, and allow de-icing of the entire airstrip to take place in a single pass, reducing the length of time that the runway is unavailable.[33]
Front-end loader
Front-end loaders are commonly used to remove snow especially from sidewalks, parking lots, and other areas too small for using snowplows and other heavy equipment. They are sometimes used as snowplows with a snowplow attachment but commonly have a bucket or snowbasket, which can also be used to load snow into the rear compartment of a snowplow or dump truck. Front end loaders with large box-like front end attachment are used to clear snow in parking lots in malls and other institutions.
Gritter
A gritter, also known as a sander,
Salt reduces the melting point of ice by freezing-point depression, causing it to melt at lower temperatures and run off to the edge of the road, while sand increases traction by increasing friction between car tires and roadways. The amount of salt dropped varies with the condition of the road; to prevent the formation of light ice, approximately 10 g/m2 (2.0 lb/1000 sq ft; 0.018 lb/sq yd) is dropped, while thick snow can require up to 40 g/m2 (8.2 lb/1000 sq ft; 0.074 lb/sq yd) of salt, independent of the volume of sand dropped.[36] The grit is sometimes mixed with molasses to help adhesion to the road surface. However, the sweet molasses often attracts livestock, who lick the road.[37]
Gritters are among the winter service vehicles also used in airports, to keep runways free of ice. However, the salt normally used to clear roads can damage the airframe of aircraft and interferes with the sensitive navigation equipment. As a result, airport gritters spread less dangerous potassium acetate or urea onto the runways instead, as these do not corrode the aircraft or the airside equipment.[30]
Gritters can also be used in hot weather, when temperatures are high enough to melt the bitumen used in asphalt. The grit is dropped to provide a protective layer between the road surface and the tires of passing vehicles, which would otherwise damage the road surface by "plucking out" the bitumen-coated aggregate from the road surface.[38]
Snow blower
Snow blowers, also known as rotating snowplows or snow cutters,[39] can be used in place of snowplows on winter service vehicles. A snow blower consists of a rapidly spinning auger which cuts through the snow, forcing it out of a funnel attached to the top of the blower. Snow blowers typically clear much faster than plows, with some clearing in excess of 5,000 tonnes (4,900 long tons; 5,500 short tons) of snow per hour, and can cut through far deeper snow drifts than a snowplow can.[40] In addition, snow blowers can remove snow from the roadway completely, rather than piling it at the side of the road, making passage easier for other road users and preventing the windrow from blocking driveways.[41]
Jet-powered snow blower
Some railroads occasionally use air-blowing machines, each powered by a
Snow groomer
A snow groomer is a machine designed to smooth and compact the snow, rather than removing it altogether. Early snow groomers were used by residents of rural areas to compress the snow close to their homes,
The development of more advanced electronic systems in the 1980s allowed manufacturers to produce snow groomers which could work on and replicate a much wider range of terrains, with the most modern even able to produce
Snow melter
A snow-melting vehicle works by scooping snow into a melting pit located in a large tank at the rear of the vehicle. Around the melting pit is a thin jacket full of warm water, heated by a powerful burner. The gases from the burner are bubbled through the water, causing some of the heated water to spill over into the melting pit, melting the snow instantly. The meltwater is discharged into the storm drains.[47]
Because they have to carry the large water tank and fuel for the burner, snow melting machines tend to be much larger and heavier than most winter service vehicles, at around 18 metres (59 ft), with the largest being hauled by semi-trailer tractor units.[48] In addition, the complicated melting process means that snow melting vehicles have a much lower capacity than the equivalent plow or blower vehicle; the largest snow melter can remove 500 metric tons of snow per hour, compared to the 5,000 metric tons per hour capacity of any large snow blower.[40]
Snow melters are in some ways more environmentally friendly than gritters, as they do not spray hazardous materials, and pollutants from the road surface can be separated from the meltwater and disposed of safely. In addition, because the snow is melted on board, the costs of transporting snow from the site are eliminated.[49] On the other hand, snow melting can require large amounts of energy, which has its own costs and environmental impact.
Snowplow
Many winter service vehicles can be fitted with snowplows, to clear roads which are blocked by deep snow. In most cases, the plows are mounted on
In the event that specially designed winter service vehicles are not available for plowing, other service or
Snow sweeper
A snow sweeper uses brushes to remove thin layers of snow from the pavement surface. Snow sweepers are used after plowing to remove any remaining material missed by the larger vehicles in areas with very low snow-tolerance, such as airport runways and
Surface friction tester
The surface friction tester is a small fifth wheel attached to a hydraulic system mounted on the rear axle of the vehicle, used to measure
Materials
To improve traction and melt ice or snow, winter service vehicles spread granular or liquid ice-melting chemicals and grit, such as sand or gravel.
The most common chemical is
The U.S. state of Oregon uses magnesium chloride, a relatively cheap chemical similar in snow-melting effects to sodium chloride, but less reactive,[67] while New Zealand uses calcium magnesium acetate, which avoids the environmentally harmful chloride ion altogether.[68] Urea is sometimes used to grit suspension bridges, as it does not corrode iron or steel at all, but urea is less effective than salt and can cost up to seven times more, weight-for-weight.[69]
In some areas of the world, including
Grit is often mixed with hydrous sodium ferrocyanide as an anticaking agent which, while harmless in its natural form, can undergo photodissociation in strong sunlight to produce the extremely toxic chemical hydrogen cyanide. Although sunlight is generally not intense enough to cause this in polar and temperate regions, salt deposits must kept as far as possible from waterways to avert the possibility of cyanide-tainted runoff water entering fisheries or farms.[71]
Gritting vehicles are also dangerous to overtake; as grit is scattered across the entire roadway, loose pieces can damage the paintwork and windows of passing cars. Loose salt does not provide sufficient traction for motorcycles, which can lead to skidding, especially around corners.[72]
See also
References
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Further reading
- Gray, Donald; Male, David (1981). Handbook of Snow: Principles, Processes, Management and Use. Pergamon. ISBN 0-08-025374-1.
- Pearson, Derek (1990). "Winter Maintenance". Highway Maintenance Handbook. Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-2531-9.
- Symons, Leslie; Perry, Allen Howard (1991). Highway Meteorology. Spon Press. ISBN 0-419-15670-4.
- D'Itri, Frank M. (1992). Chemical Deicers and the Environment. CRC Press. ISBN 0-87371-705-8.
- McKelvey, Blake (7 December 1995). Snow in the Cities: A History of America's Urban Response. ISBN 1-878822-54-3.
- Sack, Ronald L.; Izumi, Masanori; Nakamura, Tsutomu (1997). Snow Engineering: Recent Advances. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 90-5410-865-7.
- Minsk, L. David (1998). Snow and Ice Control Manual for Transportation Facilities. McGraw Hill. ISBN 0-07-042809-3.
- ISBN 0-7277-2957-8.
- Bergström, Anna (28 May 2002). Winter Maintenance and Cycleways (PDF) (PhD). Royal Institute of Technology.
- Blackburn, Robert R. (2004). Snow and Ice Control: Guidelines for Materials and Methods. ISBN 0-309-08799-6.
- Conger, Steven M. (2005). Winter Highway Operations. ISBN 0-309-09747-9.
External links
- General
- Road snow removal
- Driving in adverse weather conditions—The Highway Code
- Winter Service—The Highways Agency
- Photograph: Road rolling-about 1885-under direction of James Little, overseer of highways, Calumet Township, Michigan, US-The Bentley Historical Library
- Winter driving advice
- Airport snow removal
- Winter services at Dresden Airport—Dresden Airport
- Snow clearance at Vnukovo International Airport—Vnukovo International Airport