The truth about the roller breake

Narrow conveyor system needs a device inside the hopper to try preventing the bridging effect by constantly moving the material.This device acts as an agitator and sometimes is mistakenly called roller breaker.

The UniQa chain conveyor is immune from bridge effect hence it don’t need an agitator. The intention of the UniQa true roller breaker is to guarantee a constant and homogenous material flow to the disc.

The UniQa system avoids the flow pulsation regardless of salt quality, salt storage method or environment temperature ensuring a perfect material distribution over the entire spreading pattern. The true roller breaker it’s located transversally to the conveyor right above the disc in a closed compartment outside the hopper. It is fully hydraulic driven and, if necessary, it could absorb all the available power to break even the largest clumps. Moreover it rotates in the opposite direction of the conveyor reducing the blockage possibilities and unexpected down-time. In case a block occurs only a small compartment has to be emptied conversely to auger conveyor or dosing-gate based systems where the entire hopper should be emptied.

Regardless of salt quality, salt storage method or environment temperature the UniQa chain conveyor ensure consistency, precision and it’s immune from the bridge effect

The most spotted spreading material tends to compact in presence of high humidity and low temperature as its intrinsic physical property.In this scenario every small gap or low inclined surface it's an anchor point to create a solid bridge into the hopper and stop the salt from flowing on the conveyor. In case this "bridge effect" occurs it’s necessary to break manually all the material compacted inside the hopper with high economic costs, safety issue and the problem connected to an unexpected stop during a snowfall.

The Bucher chain conveyor is really wide, almost the double of the other systems, therefore the hopper has virtually vertical sidewalls. Moreover the chain concept let the material to lay down on the hopper bottom and not on the conveyor requiring only a minimal lightening plate. Vertical sidewalls combined with a small lightening plate in large space for the material totally avoiding the bridge formation and therefor guarantying a free flow to the disc.

This unique conveyor system has an additional benefit: the large transportation width allow the conveyor to turn slow requiring only a minimal power while ensuring high starting torque. Conversely to the auger conveyor you will never have to move manually the chain before starting the equipment, even if it’s left fully filled outside for many days.

Ready for any anti-icing or de-icing task

The design of UniQa allow to equip any kind of heavy truck thanks to a variety of solid/liquid capacity combination. 12 different hopper size and many combination of lateral and additional front tanks allow to achieve the capacity the customer require while maintaining a perfect truck axle load distribution. With the application clear in mind UniQa is engineered to fulfil any anti-icing or de-icing task, being capable of delivering from pure sand, to adjustable ratio pre-wetted salt and even pure brine by disc.

Four different spreading group, dedicated to different spreading materials, ensure a perfect spreading pattern, high protection from blocking and great reliability.

All our spreading group features the disc feeding chute in polyethylene, completely closed and with rounded shape. This combination ensure supreme material flowing thanks to the polyethylene slippery characteristic and, being closed, avoid humidity and cold air raised from the truck to negatively affect its slipperiness. Led light, road approved signalisation, fully corrosion resistant tarpaulin cover and a hot galvanized screening grid completes the most spotted configurations.

UniQa control system make the complex easy

Stick to operational procedure while driving in the worst conditions possible and also respecting the environment it’s a challenging task. EcoSat10 control system is specifically designed by Bucher with a practical and operator-oriented conception to help achieving this challenge.The easy-to-use interface includes a large 7” colour display, 3 programmable encoder and 7 smart buttons enabling a comfortable and trouble-free use.

While working EcoSat10 automatically denied the operation which cannot be done in the actual condition and, together with its functional design, allow the driver to be focus on driving and not continuously looking on the control panel screen.

The EcoSat10 smart conception combine in a single device a powerful, micro-processor based, control panel, a data transmission module and a complete satellite navigation system as an option. A multilevel password system protects the system from unexpected parameter modification and the driver identification ensure the complete control of the spreading operation even if one spreader is used on three-shift working by several operator for long snow falls.

Human machine cooperation for the best results

EcoSat10 can be customized adding features such as data logging, vehicle tracking and data transmission but also the complete automatization of the spreading operation using the IRT05 thermal sensor and Assist.The data transmission module can be integrated directly into the control panel simplifying the cabin wiring installation and reducing the space necessary for additional device. Moreover the integrated solution provide peace of mind of use and don’t need any configuration from the customer saving valuable time.

The Assist IRT05 allow the control box to acquire the road temperature. It can be used as a road contactless thermometer or to automate the dosage parameter accordingly to the real road conditions. Controlling the dosage function if required it can also be used to start/stop the spreading operation. Assist RouteReplay technology is based on geo-referenced spreading parameter which are automatically operated by the spreader along the road. 

Using the EcoSat10 precise navigation system the driver is guided along the road with, in meantime it works also to recognize the vehicle position and then the control panel operates always the correct pre-set parameter.

Built to safely perform over its entire lifespan

Having the safest driving possible on slippery surface and low visibility should be one of the main concern for a winter equipment. For this purpose the conveyor and the hopper shape combination enable the lowest hopper profile and material centre of gravity compared to any other conveyor system enhancing the stability of the vehicle.

The available automated functions even raise this safety level, in fact the driver isn’t oblige any more to look at the control panel screen when driving to know which function he has to operate thanks to Assist.

UniQa is also totally immune from bridge effect reducing the risks over traditional spreader associated to entering inside the hopper removing the compacted salt and the unexpected downtime meanwhile treating the road surface. Almost all the maintenance operation can be done on ground, moving parts are protected from covers or safety sensor which protects and secure the operator. The spreading operation is controlled by a sensor on the disc in order to inform the driver if any blocks occurs stopping the salt from being spread to the surface.

Adaptable to every kind of heavy truck

UniQa is moved from a powerful hydraulic system which can be powered from the truck hydraulics or by an on-board auxiliary engine, to fit both standard transport truck and dedicated winter maintenance truck.

The UniQa powered by the truck hydraulics conform to European standard ensuring performance and adaptability between different vehicles. Load sensing hydraulic system are becoming more and more popular for multi-purpose trucks and we are ready for it. The on-board auxiliary engine it’s design to guarantee the maximum efficiency thanks to an automatic acceleration based on energy consumption. This allow to star the engine on low RPM and then accelerate only as much as or when required, saving precious fuel over the long life of the spreader.

The demounting option includes the most classic handle telescopic supporting feet and the automatic tipper system available in two version for empty or fully charged spreader. The hopper it’s a self-supporting frame which don’t need additional sub-frames for fully charged demounting system reflecting the robust design of this machine.