Maximizing Pavement Quality at the Source
Highway Highway
by Mike Anderson
Machine Control for Pavers
f you’re in the asphalt paving game, regardless of what make or model of machines you’re running with, chances are your product search has extended beyond your trusted OEM. Nailing those performance bonuses is not only about the paver, but the smart technology you increasingly need to add to the paver. If you don’t know Topcon, Trimble, Leica and MOBA already, you undoubtedly will.
Topcon’s System Five allows paving contractors to select sonic elevation control and slope control on road jobs, laser and slope for airport runways, and dual sonic trackers or laser receivers to match to existing surface during maintenance projects. Also as part of its “advanced screed control for asphalt pavers,” Topcon offers the complementary Smoothtrac sonic mat averaging system (top), a lightweight aluminum ski using Sonic Tracker II sensors.
Photos courtesy of Topcon
Each of the aforementioned offers products designed to enhance the quality of pavement being laid down by the Terex, Roadtec, Caterpillar, Vögele, Volvo, Barber-Greene or any other asphalt paver you have out working today. Last fall, Trimble introduced a 3D extension to its 2D Paving Control System, the PCS400, which had itself only debuted in the early months of 2009. By directly referencing the road design, the newer PCS900 automatic screed control system allows contractors to “accurately pave complex designs without a reference surface or stringline,” reports Trimble. This not only saves the time and effort required to set and adjust stringlines, but also eliminates the need for trucks moving on and off site to navigate around the stringlines. The operator simply loads the design data into the PCS, from which point the paver automatically holds the screed on design. A particular selling point to a fleet manager considering the 3D PCS900 is the ability to use, recycle or leverage existing components, says Trimble. As an extension to the PCS400, the PCS900 allows a contractor to switch from the 2D grade and slope mode to 3D depending on the job’s requirements. The combination of PCS systems provides the choice between
16 August 2010 Better Roads