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Infrared restoration: seamless, fast asphalt repair

The technology of the infrared restoration process, which fuses and compacts the “old” with the “new” asphalt, allows a road to be opened to traffic immediately after repair.

Restoration with infrared is much more thorough and efficient than conventional types of repair, which may begin breaking apart when the material loosens at the seams with water seepage. With Kasi’s chamber, damages such as potholes, bird baths, high spots, pavement seams, alligator cracking – even failed repairs can be fixed more permanently, without lining the repair with inefficient and unsightly tack. The Patriot’s new chamber heats deeply enough to handle utility trenches quickly and can literally save weeks of restoration time, not to mention the labour costs involved when using larger crews. Conventional repair methods require cleaning out all old asphalt and replacing it with all new, “virgin” asphalt. With infrared technology, the heater is applied directly to – and beyond – the repair area and the old asphalt is “returned” to its virgin state, before being incorporated back into the repair, a process which requires only a relatively thin layer of new material to bring the repair up to grade. This saves substantially on material costs, generally requiring only one to two tons of asphalt for an entire day’s work as opposed to 15 to 20 tons with conventional repairs. After the infrared heating has returned the asphalt to its virgin state, a crew member easily rakes the softened material to loosen it into a mix, adds rejuvenating oils that had been lost, adds new asphalt to the softened HMA, and then uses a vibratory roller to compact the material through pressure. The seamless patch is incomparably stronger than traditional repair, and won’t need replacement for years or until the surrounding asphalt fails.

Kasi has upgraded its Patriot heating chamber with two additional infrared heating elements, which increases infrared heat transfer uniformity and reduces exposure time while providing true seamless repair. The chamber now has eight infrared elements with more uniform and deeper heating. Now, a two-man crew with a Patriot can heat asphalt in about five minutes, and complete a seamless repair of potholes and other damage in half the usual time for infrared applications. Kasi has made similar upgrades to all of their chambers, including those used with its Minuteman, as well as the smaller, walk-behind units.

Company info

P.O. Box 895
Claremont, NH
US, 03743

Website:
kasiinfrared.com

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