TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method for supplying a liquid on a carriageable surface to be treated.

Here and hereinafter, the term "carriageable surface" means any road surface, such as a road, a highway, an airport runway or similar or a parking facility.

In particular, the present invention relates to a method for supplying, in a uniform way, a de-icing liquid.

BACKGROUND ART

For the distribution of said de-icing liquid it is known to use vehicles provided with a storage tank of the de-icing liquid and a plurality of nozzles maintained, in use, in fixed positions for directing respective flows of liquid towards the carriageable surface to be treated in respective predefined and unvarying directions.

The relative position of the nozzles and the distance from the surface to be treated are defined in the designing step to strike completely and therefore treat a predefined area having a predetermined transversal dimension, i.e. measured orthogonally to an advancing direction of the vehicle.

Although used, known vehicles of the type defined above appear to not be completely satisfactory since they do not allow to maintain the intended area to be treated unvaried in different functional conditions of the vehicle or in the presence of external actions, such as wind thrust. Experimentally it is, in fact, found that, for example, with increasing advancement speed of the vehicle, the aforementioned transversal dimension of the area struck by the liquid is reduced with the consequence that two corridors or lateral bands or a plurality of corridors or intermediate bands of the same area are not wetted by the delivered liquid and, therefore, not protected from the formation of ice.

Such a problem has a strong impact on the safety on the treated road surface and today is. sometimes resolved by way of additional applications, involving, however, extremely longer distances and operating times, high consumption of de-icing liquid and therefore higher final costs.

DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for supplying a liquid on a carriageable surface to be treated, which allows to solve the problems outlined above in a simple and economic way.

According to the present invention, the method for supplying a liquid on a carriageable surface to be treated is provided, as claimed in claim 1.

The present invention also relates to an assembly for supplying a liquid on a carriageable surface to be treated.

According to the present invention, an assembly for supplying a liquid on a carriageable surface to be treated is provided, as claimed in claim 4.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate a non-limiting embodiment, wherein:

Figures 1 and 2 illustrate, schematically and in plan view and, respectively, in side elevation, a distribution assembly of a liquid according to the teachings of the present invention and associated with a vehicle advancing upon a road surface;

Figures 3 and 4 show, in greatly enlarged scale, a detail of Figure 1 in two different functional positions;

Figure 5 illustrates, in greatly enlarged scale and in front view, a further detail of Figures 1 and 2 ;

Figure 6 partially shows a variant of a detail of Figure 5 ; and

Figure 7 illustrates a variant of the detail of Figures 3 and 4.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION

In Figures 1 and 2, with 1 is indicated, as a whole, a motorized wheeled vehicle mobile upon a carriageable surface 2 in a longitudinal direction 3 and provided with a first accumulation tank la of a liquid, preferably, but not exclusively, al de-icing liquid, to be supplied on the carriageable surface 2.

The vehicle 1 carries coupled in the rear, in a fixed or releasable way, the frame 4 of an assembly 5 for supplying the liquid on a predetermined or predefined area, according to project, of the carriageable surface 2, indicated by A in Figure 1 and having a predefined width L.

With reference to Figure 1 and 2, the assembly 5 comprises two lateral assemblies 8 of dispensing nozzles 9, and a rear assembly 10 of dispensing nozzles 11 mutually adjacent and aligned to form a row 12 of nozzles extending orthogonally to the direction 3 and parallel to the carriageable surface 2.

With reference to Figures 3 and 4, the lateral assemblies 8 comprise respective support structures 13 of the respective dispensing nozzles 9, which are each suitable to send, a respective flow of liquid in a lateral direction 9a transversal to the direction 3. Each structure 13 is hinged to the frame 4 by way of a respective hinge 14 having an hinge axis 14a orthogonal to the direction 3 and to the carriageable surface 2. Each structure 13 is movable in opposite directions about the respective axis 14a under the thrust of its own actuator 15, in this specific case, a linear actuator, between a alongside position, illustrated in Figure 4, wherein the relative nozzles 9 send respective flows in a direction 9a substantially orthogonal to the direction 3, and an extracted or rotated position, illustrated in Figure 3, wherein the nozzles 9 are rotated counterclockwise in the same Figure 3 towards a cab lb of the vehicle 1 to send respective flows in directions 9a rotated by a variable angle K (Figure 3) .

The angular position of the structures 13 and, therefore, the sending angle of respective flows is controlled by a control and checking assembly 18 which acts on the actuators 15. Conveniently, the assembly 18 is adapted to receive a signal from the instrument panel of the vehicle 1, for example from the tachograph of the same vehicle 1 or manually by an operator, indicative of the advancement speed of the vehicle 1 in the direction 3, and to vary, in response to the signals received, one or both angles K taking, therefore, into account the action of the air impacting on the flows of liquid during the advancement of the vehicle 1.

According to a different embodiment, the assembly 18 is adapted to directly detect the advancement speed of the vehicle 2. Alternatively, the assembly 18 is adapted to receive a further signal proportional to an additional thrust exerted by the air and different from that consequent to the simple advancement of the vehicle 1 in the direction 3.

In this way, the varied advancement angle or direction of the flows, with respect to that of the project or that referred to, compensates the deviating action exerted by the air and, consequently, the formation of channels or side corridors, indicated by A ¹ in Figure 1, is avoided and the uniform spraying of the entire area A and the constancy of the extension and, in particular, the width L of the same area A in any operating condition are ensured.

Again with reference to Figure 2 and to Figure 5, the row 12 of nozzles 11 of the rear assembly 10 is coupled to the frame 4 by way of a motorized guide and slide assembly 20 to translate relative to the frame 4, to and from the carriageable surface 2 in a direction 21 orthogonal to the carriageable surface 2 itself.

The guide and slide assembly 20 is controlled and actuated by the control assembly 18, which, like assemblies 8, according to the action of the air impacting on flows delivered by the nozzles 11 varies the height H from the carriageable surface 2 in such a way that an intersection or an interference I is always present between two adjacent flows 11, as shown in Figure 5. In this way, the formation of intermediate channels or corridors not directly affected by the flows of liquid is avoided and is ensured, therefore, the uniform spraying of the area A and the constancy of size L even in the presence of air thrusts tending to modify the original or expected flows traj ectory.

In the variant shown in Figure 6, the row 12 of nozzles 11 is mounted in a vertically fixed position on the frame 4 and is coupled to the frame 4 itself in a rotating manner about a hinge axis 22 parallel to the carriageable surface 2 and orthogonal to the direction 3, and is actuated by a angular actuator 23, which is also controlled by the control assembly 18. As the speed of the vehicle increases and as the action exerted by the air on the flows increases too, the control assembly 18 rotates clockwise the nozzles 11 in Figure 6, i.e. in the advancement direction of the vehicle 1 by an angle B variable as a function of the action exerted by the air and in a manner such that it is always present an intersection or an interference between two adjacent flows. In this way the formation of channels or intermediates corridors not directly affected by the flows of liquid is avoided and is ensured the uniform spraying of the entire area A even in the presence of external actions which tend to alter the flows trajectory. In the variant shown in Figure 7 the side assemblies 8 are replaced, each, with a respective assembly 25 substantially equal to the rear assembly 10, i.e. provided with a row 26 of adjacent nozzles 27. The nozzles 27 of each row 26 are oriented to direct a respective flow to the carriageable surface 2 and are carried by a respective arm 28, one end of which is hinged to the vehicle 1 to rotate about a fixed vertical hinge axis 29 between an opening position, wherein the respective arm 28 extends laterally cantilevered from the vehicle 1, and a closed position, the same arm 28 is aligned with a longitudinal side of the vehicle 1 itself.

Each row 26 of nozzles 27 is coupled to the respective arm 28 by way of a guide and slide assembly similar to the device 20 to translate from and towards the carriageable surface 2 or in rotary manner about a horizontal axis of the hinge as in the variant of figure 6.

According to a further variant, each row 26 of nozzles 27 is coupled to the relative arm 28 both in translating manner to and from the carriageable surface 2 , and in rotary manner about an horizontal axis. Independently of the way of the rows 26 of nozzles 27 are connected to the arms 28, the relative position of the nozzles 27 and therefore of the respective flows with respect to the advancement direction 3 or the carriageable surface 2 is always controlled by the control assembly 18 in the manner described above to avoid, also in said embodiment solution, the formation of intermediate areas of the area A not interested by the flow of fluid.

From the foregoing it is clear that the assembly 5 described can be subject to modifications and variations without thereby departing from the protective scope defined by the independent claims. In particular, different from those described by way of example may be both lateral assemblies 8 and rear assembly 10 as well as the connection mode of the same assemblies 8 and 10 to the frame 4 with the perspective to allow adjustment of the relative nozzles about axes or in different directions from those indicated once again by way of example .