Clearing snow and ice from roads and power lines becomes easier and faster thanks to smart sensors, laser guns, robots and drones.
Snow blowers clear snow in Changchun City. Photo: CFP
China has recently faced a severe winter in many regions. Heavy snowfall can paralyze transportation, disrupt daily life and pose many economic challenges. To deal with the snow and ice, China has adopted many advanced measures, transforming the snow clearing process from a labor-intensive process to a technological achievement, CGTN reported on January 4.
Automatic snow melting technology using smart sensors
No longer dependent on weather forecasts, China’s highways are now equipped with a network of smart sensors. These sensors collect real-time data on temperature, humidity, rainfall, and road conditions. The information is then transmitted to a central system that predicts snowfall and prioritizes snow removal work. The smart system significantly reduces response times and minimizes traffic disruptions by optimizing resource allocation and deployment.
In Dongyang City in East China’s Zhejiang Province, intelligent active sensors on highways and snow-melting systems were used for the first time to monitor weather conditions using specialized equipment. When ice and snow are predicted, the system sprays anti-icing chemicals in advance to protect the road surface. As a result, roads can melt snow automatically.
Special heaters are installed under the pavement and run on renewable energy sources such as solar panels. They generate heat that melts and slides the snow away. This reduces the need for manual snow removal and improves safety by preventing slippery roads.
In Changchun City in northeastern China’s Jilin Province, two lanes of the same road look completely different after a snowfall. While one lane is covered in snow, the other remains pristine. Automatic snow-melting technology on the road surface allows the snow to quickly disappear without affecting the quality of the asphalt.
High tech laser gun
China is testing a powerful laser gun that can break snow into fine particles. The high-tech device emits a concentrated beam of light that vaporizes snow on contact. Although still in its early stages of development, the laser gun has the potential to clear snow quickly and efficiently, especially in remote mountainous areas. Jiang Qingliang, a professor at Chongqing University, said the challenge of removing ice from power lines is complex. Currently, de-icing with direct current is a common method for dealing with large-scale grid freezes.
At a substation in Chenzhou City, Hunan Province, central China, a technician said the station operates unmanned and only requires periodic inspections. However, due to the prolonged cold weather in the area, workers had to stay at the station for several days to conduct de-icing operations using DC de-icing equipment. According to the technician, when a current of over 1,000 amps passes through the wires, the temperature skyrockets, effectively melting the ice.
"Every year before the power lines are covered in ice, we use this device in advance at substations that are prone to freezing. It can melt ice on 30-40 km of power lines within an hour," said Zhu Yuan, an official at the disaster prevention research institute at the Hunan branch of the China Power Grid Corporation.
In Jilin Province, snow clearing has become a highly mechanized operation. Thanks to de-icers, snow blowers and biological snow melters, humans play a supporting role. Tian Pengxin, director of the quality control department of Xugong Machinery Company, said that snow blowers can clear snow from roads very quickly. According to him, the electric current from the snow blower instantly blows half a meter of snow 30 meters away and turns it into small pieces of ice. Tian's company is developing a more powerful generation of snow blowers that can clear 4,000 tons of snow per hour over a distance of more than 60 meters.
Robots and drones
De-icing robots also play an important role in protecting the power grid. Using a mechanical arm, an intelligent mobile robot clears ice covering power lines under the control of an engineer in Shaoyang City, Hunan Province.
China also deploys fleets of high-speed drones equipped with thermal imaging cameras and snow-dispersing nozzles. These aerial “warriors” can quickly survey large areas, identify areas with heavy snow accumulation, and precisely target them with blasts of de-icing chemicals or hot air. Drones provide a powerful tool for managing snow and ice and responding to emergencies.
Drones also help with inspections in the rugged terrain of the Dabie Mountains. During the recent cold spell, Yuexi County in Anqing City, Anhui Province in eastern China, which is deep in the mountains, recorded heavy snowfall. The possibility of ice buildup on power lines threatens the county’s power supply. The fixed-wing drone can operate at high altitudes, at high speeds, and fly long distances, completing the inspection in less than an hour, according to Chu Zhugang, an official at the Anqing branch of the Power Grid Corporation.
An Khang (According to CGTN )
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