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Solar Roadways

Planned and Potential Capabilities

Hardness

Glass is 4.5 - 6.5 on the Mohs Hardness Scale, Asphalt is 1 - 2. Diamond is a 10. This hardness, by comparison, is like comparing Aluminum, which is used in the manufacture of airframes, to Talc, which is weak enough that you could crush some with your fingernail. Tempered Glass is not harder than standard glass, but is 4-5 times stronger, being used as bullet and blast-resistant glass.

Higher Traction

Solar Roadway panels are able to be completely customized to the required application. Currently there are two texture designs, a semi-smooth surface designed for walking and transportation methods that utilize small wheels, as well as a rougher surface designed specifically for highway use. The former design can stop a car traveling 40 mph within the required distance, and the highway design can stop a car going 80 mph within the required distance. One texture design that was tested, proved to have too much traction and tore the boot from a university civil engineering lab's British Pendulum Skid Resistance Tester. With their new "SR3" panels, customized decals may be added to the center of each panel, which may slightly affect the overall traction of the panel.

High Load Capacity

Initially, the panels were going to be designed to support 80,000 lbs (40 tons), but they were told by a logging truck driver, that his truck had once topped out at 124,000 lbs (62 tons) so they shot toward 150,000 lbs (75 tons). Finally, they found that sometimes oil companies get authorization to move up to 230,000 lbs (115 tons) of equipment so they increased their target to 250,000 lbs (125 tons). This is enough to support up to two A1M1 Abrams Tanks. Both the 3D Finite Element Method and a Civil Engineering Lab determined that the panels can withstand this and more.

Snow and Water Management

The panels contain low power heating elements which keep the temperature above 32° F (0° C), very similar to how an immersion heater would keep an animal's watering trough thawed. In turn, this prevents snow and ice buildup, which removes the requirement of using plows, chemicals, or sand to provide traction, thus decreasing city expenditure on the annual snow budget. Because they generate electricity to, at least partially when cloudy, heat themselves, what money would have gone into heating the roads is also reduced significantly. Additionally, there is a "Cable Corridor" running along the road which has a drain-water management system which can deposit snowmelt or stormwater below the frost line, bring it to a treatment facility, or deposit the liquid into existing drainage systems.

Electrical Generation

Scott and Julie made extremely conservative calculations, that if the US road system was covered with their SR2 panels, they could produce at least 14,085 Billion Kilowatt-hours in one year (based upon their latitude). Their SR2 Panel was able to generate approximately 302.506MWh per year per lane mile, enough to remove 86 homes from the grid on a 2 lane road. Their SR3 Panels are able to generate roughly 1/3 more energy than the SR2 Panels. The United States used 3,937.003 Billion Kilowatt-hours in 2014.

Pressure Sensitivity

Each panel contains several load sensors, which can detect if a vehicle is stalled out or parked, if boulders have fallen onto the road, or if an animal or pedestrian is crossing the road, utilizing the LEDs to alert drivers to potential hazards. They also have the potential to weigh every truck in a weigh station's queue simultaneously.

Illuminated Roadway

Each panel has a series of LEDs that can display lane markings, warnings of wildlife, fallen rock, and accidents. As long as the vehicle is correctly equipped, Solar Roadway panels could also display driving directions in front of the vehicle, redirecting the driver around traffic. The lane markings can even be programmed to "move" along your vehicle at the speed limit so you know if you are traveling too fast or slow. Additionally, parking lots, lanes, parade "barriers", and sports courts can be programmed in specific ways at specific times, or, in a parking lot's case, change automatically if all available handicap spots are taken.

Highly Visible in Daylight

LEDs are used in many applications, such as Digital Billboards, Emergency Vehicle Lighting, Aviation Lighting and Instruments, and even many automotive brake-lights, signal-lights, and headlights. Because of this, the lanes, warnings, and signage are likely to be highly visible during daylight.

Variable Auto-Brightness

The panels have built in Photoresistors, which determine exterior brightness and can adjust the panel brightness according to needs, much like auto-brightness on a cellphone would increase brightness as ambient light increases, and decrease brightness as ambient light decreases.

Decreased Maintenance Cost and Time

The panels are designed to be hotswapped if a unit is damaged. This means that a serviceman can load a panel into his truck, travel to the repair site, remove the damaged unit, and replace it with the functional panel. The damaged unit can then be brought to a repair depot to be remanufactured. Asphalt, however, gets worn down and swept away by traffic, preventing reuse of any original materials.

Lifespan

The panels are being designed to last a minimum of 20 years. Solar Cells can last up to 30 years before efficiency suffers.

Anti-theft Mechanism

The panels communicate with one another wirelessly to report if a panel is malfunctioning or disconnected and moving when it shouldn't be. This would allow law enforcement to trace a stolen panel and, in turn, the thief.

Cable & Utility Management

The owner of a section of road (e.g. the city, a community, a company, or an individual) could lease space within the cable corridor to Cable, Internet, Phone, and power companies, moving the cables into a place where they will never be cut or damaged by digging crews, falling trees, or lightning.

Decentralized Power Grid

A Centralized Power Grid pulls power from one or more power stations outward to homes and other locations that require power. This method of power distribution allows power to be disrupted in large areas if a single power pole is damaged. A Decentralized Power Grid, such as Solar Roadways, allows power to be easily routed around a breakage, preventing power disruptions and outages. It can also be a "Smart Grid", allowing power supply and generation to be higher priority in certain locations and times, additionally permitting power to be redirected to other locations as necessary.

Infrastructure for Autonomous Vehicles

Because each unit is linked to a fixed location, and they have communication chips, they can form a highly accurate Local Positioning System which can inform the vehicle exactly where it, the lane markings, and surrounding vehicles are. This reduces the dependency of Autonomous Vehicles on satellite Global Positioning Systems.

Charging for Electric Vehicles

Having Power Cables running along the length of any road or parking surface provides a great infrastructure for Electric Vehicles. It would provide the requirements for high Amperage Charging stations, such as Tesla Superchargers to be installed at any parking stall, gas station, or rest stop. Mutual induction charging would be another potential option, allowing a vehicle that was correctly retrofitted to charge while on the road.

Highway Wi-Fi & Cell service

Internet and Cellular providers could pay to place Leaky Cables along the road in the cable corridor, boosting Cellular and Wi-Fi reception in places that would normally get little to no signal.

Increased Traffic Monitoring/Management

Solar Road Panels would be able to monitor and report traffic conditions to mapping websites (E.G. Google Maps, Mapquest, Etc.), GPS Traffic Radios, and news station's traffic teams. They can also more efficiently command stoplights to begin changing as traffic is approaching, and command them to turn green (and red for intersecting roads) along the route that emergency services would be taking.

Increased National Security

The decentralized power grid these panels would provide makes it virtually impossible for terrorists to entirely cut power to a specific location as power would be routed around the break. Hazmat Trucks and other vehicles can be tracked in the event of a hijacking, and vehicles being chased by the police can be monitored, allowing Police to plan their move. It also decreases the need for nuclear plants and other power generation facilities, reducing the dangers of plant malfunctions. In addition, Dependency on Fossil Fuels is reduced, decreasing chances of wars over Fossil Fuels.

Technology

Solar Roadway panels are available in two texture designs: a semi-smooth surface designed for light traffic, and a rougher surface for highways. Targeted load capacity is 250,000 pounds (110,000 kg).

The panels are designed to be hotswapped if a unit is damaged. The damaged unit would be remanufactured. The panels are being designed to last a minimum of 20 years. Solar Cells can last up to 30 years before efficiency suffers.

Power grid

Solar Roadways estimate they could produce at least 14,085 billion kilowatt-hours in one year. Their SR2 Panel was able to generate approximately 302.506MWh per year per lane mile, enough to remove 86 homes from the grid on a 2 lane road. Their SR3 Panels are able to generate roughly 1/3 more energy than the SR2 Panels. The United States used 3,937.003 Billion Kilowatt-hours in 2014. Solar Roadways are intended to function as a smart grid.

Weather management

The panels contain low power heating elements which keep the temperature above 32 °F (0 °C) to prevent snow and ice from accumulating. This is designed to obviate the need for snowplows. The power going to the heaters is generated by the panels themselves. A "Cable Corridor" running along the road can deposit snowmelt or stormwater below the frost line, bring it to a treatment facility, or deposit the liquid into existing drainage systems.

Traffic management circuitry

The positioning circuitry in the panels would enable a local positioning system. The panels' big-data-gathering capabilities would be harnessed to reroute traffic intelligently. Each panel has a series of LEDs to display lane markings or warnings of wildlife, fallen rock, and accidents. Cars with compatible hardware would receive driving directions from the road. The LEDs are also claimed to enable dynamic rearrangement of parking space layouts. The firm claims brightness will remain acceptable even in daylight, and will adjust automatically. Each panel contains several load sensors, whose data gathering is touted as useful in alerting drivers to hazards. They also have the potential to weigh every truck in a weigh station's queue simultaneously.

Anti-theft mechanism

The panels communicate with one another wirelessly to report malfunctions or unauthorized tampering. This would allow law enforcement to trace a stolen panel and, in turn, the thief.