Segmented Broom Arrays for Irregular Road Sweeping
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional road sweeper vehicles, particularly those with cylindrical tube brooms, are less effective on road surfaces with irregular profiles, such as crowned roads and surfaces with depressions, as they tend to wear unevenly and fail to efficiently sweep debris from these areas.
Innovation Solution
The sweeper vehicle employs rotatable, tiltable, and retractable brooms configured in arrays, with adjustable tilt angles and suction-inlets that can be controlled manually or automatically, allowing for optimized sweeping modes for different road profiles, including crowned roads, and incorporates a particle recirculation system to enhance debris collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cylindrical tube broom is used on crowned roads and surfaces with depressions, then the broom can sweep flat surfaces effectively, but it wears unevenly and becomes less effective on irregular road profiles
Solution Approach 1:
The single cylindrical tube broom is divided into multiple segmented brooms (first and second tube brooms, plus third and fourth brooms) that can be independently positioned and angled. Each broom segment can be adjusted to contact the road surface at optimal angles for different profile conditions, allowing the system to adapt to crowned roads, depressions, and irregular surfaces while maintaining sweeping effectiveness.
Solution Approach 2:
The broom assembly incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities through pivot mounts and adjustable support arms that allow the brooms to tilt and rotate. This enables the brooms to automatically follow road surface undulations and inclinations, maintaining consistent contact and sweeping performance across varied road profiles rather than being fixed in a single position.
2Adaptability or versatility
If a fixed cylindrical tube broom is used, then the structure is simple, but it cannot follow undulations and inclinations of varied road surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The broom assembly incorporates dynamic adjustment capabilities through pivot mounts and adjustable support arms that allow the brooms to tilt and rotate. This enables the brooms to automatically follow road surface undulations and inclinations, maintaining consistent contact and sweeping performance across varied road profiles rather than being fixed in a single position.
Solution Approach 2:
The multiple brooms are configured to perform multiple functions: they can sweep different sections of the road width, handle various debris types, and adapt to different road profiles simultaneously. The system can operate in different modes (e.g., crowned road mode, depression mode, irregular surface mode) by adjusting which brooms are active and at what angles, providing universal adaptability across diverse sweeping conditions.
3Productivity
If multiple adjustable brooms and suction-inlets are used, then sweeping efficiency on varied surfaces improves, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple brooms and suction-inlets into an integrated sweeping system where the components work together synergistically. The first and second tube brooms are positioned to feed debris to corresponding suction-inlets, while third and fourth brooms handle additional sections. This merging of components into coordinated units improves sweeping efficiency by ensuring debris is immediately captured by suction after being loosened by brooms, reducing the need for separate adjustment mechanisms for each component.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable broom assembly is designed to automatically adapt to road surface conditions through its mechanical configuration, reducing the need for constant manual adjustment. The pivot mounts and support arms allow the brooms to self-position themselves to follow road undulations, and the suction-inlets are positioned to automatically capture debris as it is loosened by the brooms, creating a self-regulating sweeping system.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This configuration improves the efficiency of sweeping on varied road surfaces by allowing the brooms to follow undulations and inclinations, effectively collecting debris from both raised and depressed areas, outperforming traditional cylindrical brooms in terms of sweeping effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
Vacuum sweeper vehicles use a motor-driven fan to develop a sub-atmospheric pressure within the vehicle air flow pathway(s) so that ambient air at atmospheric pressure enters a suction-inlet or suction-inlets to create a suction effect to entrain debris into the air flow
Implementation Method 2
Regenerative air sweepers use a motor-driven fan to create a high-velocity recirculating air flow to entrain dust, particulates, and other debris from the pavement or street surface
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3~4
AI summary
A roadway or pavement sweeper with multiple sweeping modes for the removal of debris from a swept surface may, in some embodiments, include a sweeper vehicle having a pair of side-brooms independently movable between a retracted and extended position for sweeping debris into an area therebetween and at least one material-transfer broom to sweep a portion of the debris accumulated between the side-brooms as the vehicle moves in its direction of travel. A fan-driven suction-inlet may be provided at or adjacent each side of the vehicle. The at least one material-transfer broom may rotate in a first or other direction to transfer debris for entrainment into a selected suction-inlet for transfer to a debris hopper. Other embodiments are also described.