Methods & means for on-roadway recycling of pavement and recovering steels therefrom

摘要

Apparatus and methods for recycling concrete pavement in a coordinated procession include a breaker which turns the concrete into rubble first backhoe which rips up and cuts the concrete to rubble chunks, then another backhoe loads the chunks into a self-propelled crusher. If the concrete is reinforced with metallic structures, the first backhoe cuts those along with the concrete. The crusher separates the concrete from any steel and fines in the rubble. The crusher discharges the steels in collection bins mounted thereon. Various bins and ways of dumping them are disclosed. The crushed concrete is discharged to the roadway as multi-gradated aggregate. The crusher can also be made self-leveling by a slope control, slope sensors, and hydraulic cylinders arranged thereon in a closed loop feedback circuit. Based on slope control commands, the cylinders individually raise or lower the plurality of crawler tracks that support the crusher so the crusher can automatically maintain a level attitude while at rest or on-the-go. Various methods of recycling are presented based upon the inclusion and positioning of the equipment, their discharge conveyors, and the number of lanes of pavement broken up in one pass.