The Indian government’s plans to increase road construction from its current level of about 23 km a day to an eventual 50 km a day have made road pavers, particularly sensor pavers, increasingly important for projects around the country.

While rural roads use mechanical pavers, highway constructions are mainly using sensor pavers which give better quality in road construction. Mechanical pavers are the most economical and efficient solution while sensor pavers are advanced pavers with intelligent monitoring systems. Mechanical pavers, though economical, cannot provide a smooth finish to the surface. In turn, this affects the traffic flow of the highway and increases maintenance requirements on the finished road. Sensor pavers have intelligent operating technology that helps control the machine in terms of mat thickness as well as the level of the mat and the grade required in the finished road.

Dimitrov Krishnan, Vice President and Head, Volvo CE India, elaborates on the advantage of sensor pavers over mechanical pavers, “The paving quality of any road is defined by the ability of the paver to satisfy three requirements in line with the highway design: mat thickness, level of the mat, and the grade required. Regular pavers without sensors simply follow the undulations of the road base and are therefore unable to give a smooth finish to a paved surface. But sensor pavers have intelligent operating technology that helps the machine deliver on these three requirements.”

Ramesh Palagiri, Managing Director & CEO, Wirtgen India, echoes the same as he says, “In highway segment, use of sensors pavers plays a very important role in getting the right levels and grades when building the roads. The final finish of the road depends, to a great extent, on the accuracy delivered by these pavers, in addition to the mix quality and temperature at which it is laid and also compaction.”

The Indian market has the presence of technologically advanced pavers with the presence of many national and international manufacturers. Volvo CE, a global player in pavers that has a manufacturing facility in India, offers tracked pavers (P6820C ABG and P5320B ABG) and wheeled pavers (P4370B ABG). Krishnan comments, “Volvo CE is widely regarded as one of the leading innovators in the field of construction equipment and we are proud to be driving advances in the technology of existing road construction machines, like pavers with sensors – P4370B ABG and P5320ABG.”

Both the P4370B ABG and P5320ABG sensor paver models are made at Volvo’s Bangalore plant.

They deliver maximum paving widths of 7 m, a paving output of 600 tonne per hour and are powered by an 88 kW engine, which delivers high power with minimal noise and low fuel consumption. The P4370B ABG is a wheeled sensor paver that delivers a basic paving width of 2.5 m, while the P5320B ABG is a tracked sensor paver that delivers a basic paving width of 4.5 m.

The P5320B ABG also boasts innovations such as load-sensing hydraulics, so that hydraulic output is perfectly matched to all components. An automatic hydraulic track tensioner delivers smoother operation while simultaneously reducing wear and downtime. The Volvo Omni V screed provides variable width on the go. The electronically-ignited gas heating system, designed with flame failure protection, quickly and efficiently heats the screed plate, while the LPG blower burner system provides uniform heat for a smooth mat finish, with quality pre-compaction.

Volvo’s range of sensor pavers available in India also includes units built at the company’s German factory. The most popular is the P6820C ABG, which offers paving widths of 2.5 m to 9 m. Volvo Variomatic screeds provide customers with hydraulically-extending widths. The machine can also be configured with manual screeds. The P6820C is powered by a 142 kW engine and has a paving output of 700 tons per hour. Volvo expects healthy and consistent demand for the P4370B ABG, the P5320B ABG, the P6820C ABG, and its range of other sensor pavers for the foreseeable future.

Anand Sundaresan Managing Director, Ammann India, said, “Ammann offers Apollo AP600 paver powered with CEV IV emission standards. This paver is a reliable and durable AP 600 wheeled hydrostatic sensor paver that comes with a variety of features that enable quality, productivity and easy operation. Among them: are hydrostatic drive, fingertip controls, a swinging console, a hydraulically extendible screed with vibration and tamping, and best-in-class sensors. The double-axle design provides greater stability on difficult terrains, with zero flexing – even at the widest paving width.”

The AP 600 is offered with the TV 4900 and TV4500 screed, featuring a basic width of 2.5 m that is hydraulically extendible to 4.9 m. Bolt-on mechanical extensions of 850 mm or 1050 mm on either side of the screed offer a paving width of 6.5 to 7 m. The paver’s tamping and vibration arrangement is in line with the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways and accepted international specifications. Ammann offers either an LPG burner or a diesel burner for screed heating.

The pavers come equipped with sensors. The result of all these features, an impressive paving performance along with excellent compaction values.

Wirtgen India is offering the Vogele range of sensor pavers in India. “Vogele has been the industry pioneer as well as the market leader for asphalt pavers. The Vogele range of sensor pavers can pave from 1.5 m paving width to a maximum of 16 m - the widest range,” claims Palagiri.

He further elaborates on the features, “Vogele has introduced several innovations like the pressure bars and electric heating of the screed, Niveltronic plus operating concept and Ergo plus operator features. With our Dash -3 pavers, we also offer the Eco plus which helps in saving fuel, Auto set plus, Pave dock assistant, etc.” Vogele also offers several other technologies like the Spray Jet paver which does the tack coat and paving with the same paver, Mobile Power feeders which are now being used for the building of airport runways and expressways, and the Inline paving technology.

According to Palagiri, the most recent innovation from Vogele is the Road scan that helps the operator of the paver to know the exact temperature of the mix, as it is being paved, and also later through the recorded data.

Simplifying transfer of mix

Continuous transfer of mix on the B271: in the vicinity of a motorway exit on the B271 federal highway, a SUPER 1800-3i with PaveDock Assistant ensured uninterrupted paving.

Even in conventional paving, there are some challenges to overcome. Working without interruptions, for instance, and avoiding the jolts caused by the feed lorries as they dock. Both of these criteria can now be met perfectly thanks to a current Vögele innovation: PaveDock Assistant. This is Vögele's name for one of the options offered for their Dash 3 paver generation - operating on the principle of a signal light, it improves communication on the job site and actively supports the lorry driver when docking. The system excelled in every respect when paving the surface course for the modification of an exit on the B271 federal highway.

Milestone for greater process reliability during transfer of the mix

In practice, the procedure on the Bad Dnrkheim job site was as follows: the SUPER 1800-3i used two signal lights to indicate clearly whether the feed lorry was to reverse, stop, dump mix or drive off again. The signal lights are positioned high up on the hardtop of the machine, where they are easily visible to the lorry driver at all times. One of the key advantages is that the PaveDock Assistant eliminates the need to use horns in job site traffic. This wide-spread practice is not only unreliable - particularly when paving with multiple pavers û but also annoys local residents and confuses vehicle drivers.

Easy handling from the paver operator's ErgoPlus 3 console
For the paver operator, changing signals to pass on instructions to the lorry driver is a simple and intuitive process from his ErgoPlus 3 console. All functions of the SUPER pavers are integrated into the innovative, easy-to-learn operating concept from V÷gele. Thanks to the PaveDock Assistant, docking feed lorries did not cause a single jolt on the B271 job site. Jolts are dreaded, because they affect the screed and can leave imprints on the freshly paved asphalt course.