초록 ▼

Asphalt roads or the like are repaved by heating and decomposing existing pavement with microwave energy and then remixing and recompacting the constituents of the pavement, the operations being performed at the original location of the old pavement and in some cases without removing the pavement co

Asphalt roads or the like are repaved by heating and decomposing existing pavement with microwave energy and then remixing and recompacting the constituents of the pavement, the operations being performed at the original location of the old pavement and in some cases without removing the pavement constituents from the roadbed itself. A microwave energy applicator may be traveled along the pavement in front of remixing, grading and compacting equipment or some or all of the equipment may be integrated into a self-propelled vehicle. The vehicle may carry a microwave applicator followed by remixing means such as rotary tillers or the like and grading and compaction devices, and may travel continuously down a road which is reconditioned as the vehicle progresses. Motor generator sets on the vehicle power the microwave sources and the hot exhaust from the motors may be directed to the pavement to supplement the microwave heating and to maintain high temperatures during the additional operations. Apparatus is provided for efficiently coupling microwave energy into underlying pavement and for inhibiting the escape of microwave energy from the heating region, the apparatus being useful for heat treating concrete or the like as well as asphaltic pavement.

대표청구항 ▼

A method for recycling existing asphalt pavement comprising the steps of: establishing a microwave energy containment region above said pavement including positioning microwave energy emitting waveguide means in spaced apart relationship from said pavement to provide a gap enabling traveling of said

A method for recycling existing asphalt pavement comprising the steps of: establishing a microwave energy containment region above said pavement including positioning microwave energy emitting waveguide means in spaced apart relationship from said pavement to provide a gap enabling traveling of said waveguide means without direct contact with said pavement, traveling said containment region along said existing asphalt pavement while concurrently generating heat within the interior of said pavement, to soften the asphalt content thereof, by directing microwave energy into said pavement from said containment region while traveling therealong, including distributing said microwave energy substantially uniformly across the width of a strip of said pavement over which said containment region is traveled, suppressing outward propagation of microwave energy from said containment region through said gap while traveling along said pavement, subsequently remixing the constituents of said pavement while said pavement is in the softened state, and recompacting the remixed pavement constituents substantially at the original location thereof to provide renewed pavement thereat.