Energy saving characteristics of a new type of road-heating system

In order to drive safely and smoothly in winter, there is a need to clear the snow and ice accumulated on steep slopes and at congested intersections. For this purpose a large number of road-heating systems are installed at such places. However the operating costs of electrical road-heating systems to melt snow on pavement are high compared to mechanical and chemical ways. Therefore the development of efficient electrical road-heating systems is needed. In this paper, we describe the energy saving characteristics of a new type of road-heating system electrical output of which is based on snowfall probabilities. This new type of road-heating system was tested on an actual road from December 1992 to March 1994 in winter. The energy consumption of this system was compared with those of present-day energy saving road-heating systems.