For Eiffage Route, Eiffage Énergie Systèmes is developing the ICCAR solution using conductive paint.

For Eiffage Route, Eiffage Énergie Systèmes is developing the ICCAR solution using conductive paint.

Energy Systems Division

- 17 September 2024 - 12:39

Every winter, snowfall and icy conditions cause a spate of traffic jams and too many accidents. To counter the socio-economic impact, particularly for motorway operators, Eiffage Énergie Systèmes has developed a Conductive Interfaces for Heating and Powering Roads (ICCAR) solution, in partnership with the teams at Eiffage Route's Research and Training Centre (CERF) in Corbas (69). Together, they have built an operational demonstrator, with our experts carrying out the electrical work.

ICCAR is an alternative solution to de-icing salts and snow ploughs, designed for engineering structures and certain strategic areas such as slopes, motorway entrances and exits, and car parks. The concept behind the solution developed by our experts involves applying conductive paint (connected to electrodes) between the surface and base layers of the road. The heat generated in this way prevents the appearance of black ice and automates ‘winter maintenance’, in other words, the transformation of snow or ice into water.

“Once we had validated the concept - heating uniformity, asphalt insulation, paint dosage and resistance - we had to choose the paint technology, develop the deployment method (application, number of coats), back-calculate paint conductivity and assess the system's kinetics”, explained project manager Dominique Leblanc.

At the end of 2021, a demonstrator, whose electrical part was designed by our experts, was installed in the access ramp to the Eiffage Route CERF car park in Corbas. Heating is controlled according to weather forecasts, and our specialists have designed an IT rack housing a weather station and a PLC for monitoring purposes.

“We supplied the demonstrator's low-voltage power supply, commissioned a control cabinet and installed a weather station able to manage the system's automatic steering. From the control cabinet, we also supplied power to the electrodes connected to the conductive paint used to heat the pavement, as well as running tests. Weather, radiation and visibility sensors, and a thermal camera complete the system, which is fully connected to the electrical cabinet we designed,” he continued.

This innovation was patented by Eiffage Route in 2019 and resulted from close collaboration with Eiffage Énergie Systèmes. It has received 150,000 euros in financial support from the Eiffage Group via the Seed'Innov 2021 seed fund. The next step is the industrialization phase, which aims to optimize investment costs, currently estimated at 500 euros/m2.