Development of road stripe removing equipment using high-pressure water jet

Removal of road stripes is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. Currently, the work is manual and is accomplished using grinding equipment. During this process, traffic jams and accidents lead to dangerous road conditions for workers. Furthermore, the current grinding methods used cause unacceptable air pollution, as well as the risk of explosive accidents by using propane gas. In this paper, we study the development of a road stripe removing equipment that uses a high-pressure water jet system and a semi-automatic control system. The water jet system consists of an intensifier and nozzles to focus a high-pressure water injection on the stripes. The semi-automatic control system is composed of rotary actuator using a DC-geared motor controlled by a lever. In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of road stripes and investigate current removing methods in the field. Moreover, we discuss the development of automatic removing equipment, and perform a basic experiment to find out the optimal injection conditions such as the injection distance, injection angle and injection pressure. Finally, in order to examine the performance of the equipment, the whole system is evaluated, and the economic efficiency and marketability are also analyzed.