Since 2006, the VÖGELE mobile power feeders, are in use in various national highway projects in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat. 

India has the second-largest road network in the world, spanning a total of 6.39 million km as per Economic Survey 2021. This road network transports 64.5 per cent of all goods in the country and 90 per cent of India’s total passenger traffic uses the road network to commute. 

The National Infrastructure Pipeline of which Bharatmala Pariyojna is a part has also accelerated the construction of several Greenfield projects including the expressways and mega highways. With such humongous ongoing and targeted construction of road infrastructure in the country, it becomes more pertinent for the use of state of the art -innovative technologies for cost optimisation and quality results. 

VÖGELE mobile power feeder offers cutting-edge technology that sets standards in modern road construction both in terms of quality and economic efficiency. This mobile feeder not only continues to gain popularity for use in large highway projects but has also exponentially contributed to delivering excellent paving results.

Since 2006, the VÖGELE mobile power feeders, are in use in various national highway projects in Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and Gujarat. 

The 1350-km Delhi-Mumbai Expressway (DME) project (NH-148N / NE-4) is an under-construction eight-lane access-controlled road with a route connecting DND in Delhi with JNPT in Mumbai. It has been designed with a speed limit of 120 km/hour and provision to expand to 12 lanes in the future.

This new greenfield expressway was approved for construction under the Bharatmala Pariyojana programme in 2017. This being a mega greenfield project is one of the ideal project sites for use of mobile feeder although the following prerequisite was checked/ensured before the machine was physically moved to the job site.

1. Total quantity of asphalt to be paved

2. Current paving methodology for eight-lane carriageways of 18.75 m width

3. Batch (hot mix) plant capacity

4. Availability of the paving front or length

5. Per day paving target (quantity and length)

6. Average lead of the paving site from plant location

7. Availability and type of trucks used in asphalt mix transport

It was more interesting to have this job site because the opportunity was to use a mobile feeder on one unit of Vogele asphalt paver S1800-3, which is working in echelon form with another paver and also to use feeder on both the machine.

The paving process was carried out with AB 600-3 TV screeds paving 18.75 m width of SMA in a single pass. MT 3000-2 power feeder was used for continuous and jerk-free feeding. 

Post completion of approximately 9.14 km of paving length and 10,000 tonnes of material paved construction company site team from the quality check and mechanical reported the following:

The outcome was excellent ride quality, surface finish, and less manpower requirement during paving, thereby reducing the chances of error due to human intervention in the paving process.  

There is no direct contact between tippers/lorries and the pavers, which eliminates the jerk transfer from tippers to the pavers diminishes the chances of bump formation on the mat. Non-contact and continuous paving make the pavement completely undulation free. Homogeneous material being supplied by the conical augers ensures uniform temperature mix being supplied to the paver which eliminates chances of thermal segregation throughout the mat. Two infrared heaters present on the conveyor ensure no materials stick to the conveyor belt which improves the life of the conveyor.

Power feeders are perfectly suited for hot-to-hot paving in which two pavers work side by side paving large width in a single pass with the elimination of longitudinal joint. Paving multiple lanes side-by-side (with adjacent pavers slightly offset) can remove the longitudinal joint between pavers because both mats are hot when initially compacted. Rollers behind the echelon pavers can pass directly over the longitudinal joint while both sides are hot, which results in better compaction.

As per user feedback, “undulation in the paved layer by power feeder has been reduced significantly. Surface quality improvement is the utmost advantage of power feeder.”

Unique features of VÖGELE MT 3000-2 offset power feeder are:

They guarantee constant, smooth transfer of material and now offer paving teams numerous practical new features: the MT 3000-3 Standard and MT 3000-3 Offset PowerFeeders from world market leader VÖGELE integrate the latest Dash-3 machine concept and an optimised conveying and maintenance system.

ErgoPlus 3, Autosetplus, and PaveDock Assistant are some of the key features which enhance the ergonomics and ease of operation of the Vogele power feeder.