Descripción del proyecto
Unas cintas calefactoras ayudan a derretir la nieve en la carretera
Niebla, hielo, escarcha en la calzada, nieve arremolinada: estas son tan solo algunas de las condiciones invernales que provocan retrasos en el tráfico y accidentes. Las soluciones actuales a estos problemas consisten en limpiar la nieve y tirar sal a las calzadas, pero estas medidas presentan unos tiempos de respuesta lentos y dañan las zonas de tránsito, provocan corrosión en los vehículos y son perjudiciales para el medio ambiente. El proyecto Snowless, financiado con fondos europeos, propone una tecnología para derretir la nieve que utiliza unas cintas calefactoras de una aleación indefinida que se integran en las calzadas y una unidad de control totalmente automática con respuesta dinámica en tiempo real. Las zonas de calefacción segmentadas garantizan una respuesta al instante (quince minutos a partir de la detección automática de nieve/hielo), tienen unos costes de explotación anuales bajos y prácticamente no requieren mantenimiento. La tecnología de Snowless también es respetuosa con el medio ambiente, previene el agrietamiento del asfalto, reduce la amplitud de temperatura y promueve la autorreparación del asfalto.
Objetivo
Winter conditions on roads cause traffic delays that cost 1% of EU GDP and 1,000 causalities annually. Similarly, snow fall causes air traffic disturbance that can cost €57.3M per storm. For pedestrians it a major health issue as an increase of 25% increase in hospitalization and 33% rise in cases of hip fractures is observed during winter season. Current solutions suffer from many shortcomings. The most popular, plowing and salting, is manual, has low response times, damages traffic surfaces, vehicle corrosion and environment pollution. To answer this need we have developed SNOWLESS, a snow melting solution comprising of our proprietary amorphous alloy heating ribbons that are embedded in pavements and completely automatic control unit with real-time dynamic response. Our prioritization scheme for segmented heating zones ensures real-time response (15 minutes from automatic snow/ice detection), low annual operational costs of €1.2/m2 almost no maintenance, 30-60% reduction power consumption. Our solution is environmentally friendly, prevents asphalt cracking by reducing the temperature amplitude and promotes self-healing in the asphalt itself. Our commercialization targets Scandinavia, Central Europe and North America, a market worth €1.75B for shopping malls, roads, pedestrian walkways and airports driven by demand for sustainable snow removal alternative. SNOWLESS has already been implemented in parking lots, successfully reducing operational costs, with the installations generating €1.5M in sales over the last 3 years. We intend commercialize SNOWLESS 3 years after development, ideally by 2021 in 2 phases, with initial introduction to shopping mall parkings which have less stringent requirements and then progress to difficult applications such airports and road infrastructure. We anticipate a revenue and profit of €50M and €15M respectively coming from sales over 5 years, creating 21 employment opportunities in the process.
Ámbito científico
- engineering and technologyelectrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineeringelectronic engineeringcontrol systems
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energy
- engineering and technologymaterials engineeringcoating and films
- social scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment
- natural sciencesmathematicsapplied mathematicsmathematical model
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
IA - Innovation actionCoordinador
Haifa
Israel
Organización definida por ella misma como pequeña y mediana empresa (pyme) en el momento de la firma del acuerdo de subvención.