Regulatory strategy for balancing deicing efficiency and energy-saving effects of induction heating asphalt pavements

Abstract

Improving the ice melting rates (IMR) during the induction heating deicing process will increase energy consumption (EC) while increasing the energy-saving effects will decrease the IMR. As a result, it is challenging to reach a balance between deicing efficiency and energy-saving effects. To address these issues, the IMR was used to characterize deicing efficiency; the EC and energy conversion improvement rates (ECIR) were used to describe energy-saving effects, which were used to develop the regulatory strategy of induction heating asphalt pavements (IHAP). First, the IMR, EC, and ECIR were measured under different heating power (P), frequency (f), conductive material contents (S), and magnetic concentrating layer thickness (d). Second, the effects of the above parameters on the IMR, EC, and ECIR were investigated. The regulatory strategy for balancing deicing efficiency and energy-saving effects was then established. Finally, a comprehensive analysis of the above regulatory strategy was conducted. The results showed that, compared with the traditional deicing method of the IHAP without the magnetic concentrating layer (MCL), this strategy could increase IMR by 111.19% and reduce EC by 47.27%. Compared with the traditional deicing method of the IHAP containing the MCL, this strategy could still increase IMR by 16.16% and reduce EC by 4.33%. In addition, this strategy could also effectively reduce the operating costs and the pollutant gas emissions of the induction heating deicing process.