National Public Radio's All Tech Considered program recently released an article titled "Winter is Coming. What if Roads and Runways Could De-Ice Themselves?" featuring the research efforts in our PEGASAS Heated Pavements project. Halil Ceylan, PEGASAS Site Director for Iowa State University and lead investigator on the Heated Pavements project describes the installation and testing of two 15 by 13.5 foot slabs of conductive concrete at a hangar at the Des Moines International Airport. When applying a low volt current to the conductive concrete, the slab heats up and melts snow and ice from the surface.
The article also covers research done by investigators on this PEGASAS project from Purdue University, Oregon State University and Drexel who are soaking tiny porous rock fragments in paraffin oil and making concrete with these rock fragments. As the oil in the rock fragments freezes, the process releases some heat which will melt snow and ice from the surface.
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