News Archive

  SnowMelt is pleased to annouce that work on the outdoor scale-up test has begun! We laid down our wire grid and put down a coat of sealant last Sunday, and we put down a second coat today. Unfortunately, our initial plans for laying down the wire grid did not work as planned. We ran into difficulties with wires hanging several centimeters above the pavement, and our first coat of sealant was unable to cover them. Today, we solved our problem by using masonry nails and metal washers to hold the wires down to the pavement.

We also encountered problems with our first coat of sealant. In our haste to take advantage of the warm weather, we overlooked the need to test our new additive to make the sealant thicker. We had problems with the sealant cracking in some places, and in general it was not thick enough. However, today we went back to using sand to thicken our sealant, and we had much better results.

For pictures of our work, head over to the new and improved Team SnowMelt photo gallery!

  Team SnowMelt is pleased to announce a major website update. Make sure you check out the Research page for the proof of concept test video, showing the prototype SnowMelt system head to head with a control asphalt seal coat.

Also make sure to stop by the brand new Team SnowMelt photo gallery, featuring photos from the SnowMelt labs.

  Team SnowMelt presented its progress this semester at the Junior Gemstone Team Colloquia. We were able to showcase our successful laboratory trials to the incoming Gemstone freshman class.

  The laboratory group has been busy at work testing and comparing various types of metal wire for ideal properties needed for the SnowMelt system. Currently the lab group has decided on Nickel-chromium wire for use in prototype and eventual field testing. The lab group has also successfully designed and tested a prototype system using the Nickel-chromium wire.