Screed types

The paving screed is the heart of every road paver. The tasks of the screed in the paving process are as follows:

  • The production of a uniformly sealed surface texture
  • The achievement of a high degree of precompaction
  • The grading of the pavement exactly to the client’s specifications

Generally speaking, there are two different screed types.

Extending screeds

Extending screeds (AB type) enable the realisation of varying paving widths between 1.1 m and 9,5 m. Their particular strength is their enormous flexibility when paving different working widths. The ability to pave precisely limited widths enables them to cater for an exceptionally broad spectrum of applications. Today, extending screeds are among the most typically used flexible screeds. They are predestined for paving jobs where versatility and adaptability are critical factors.

Fixed-width screeds

With additional bolt-on extensions, fixed-width screeds (SB-series) can be employed for paving widths from 2.5 m to 16 m. Thanks to a screed plate depth of 500 mm (330 mm in the case of extending screeds), these screed types react more slowly, which leads to a more even paving quality and higher profile precision. The continuous, mechanically-extended, construction of the screed leaves no marks whatsoever on the surface of the paved asphalt. Not even when the planing angle of the screed is changed.

Fixed-width screeds are employed predominantly on extensive construction projects with consistently broad paving widths and large radii. Hydraulic extensions make them especially versatile and suitable for a wide range of applications. With broad working widths, they deliver high profile precision and are also suitable for paving with high compaction, for example with CTB, RCC and PCC.

Screed components

The operating principle behind all paving screeds

The screed components shown here all have a direct or indirect influence on paving quality.

(1) Torque restraint system
(2) Single-tube telescoping system
(3) Hydraulic cylinder for width adjustment
(4) Hydraulic screed extension
(5) Screed plate with heating rod
(6) Screed base member
(7) Heating rod monitoring system
(8) Eccentric vibration
(9) Tamper bar with heating rod

The metering gates push the material placed in front of the screed forwards. The tamper at the front end of the screed strikes off the mix as it passes under the screed to create the necessary precompaction and essentially determines the ‘floating behaviour’ of the paving screed.

The screed plates are responsible for ensuring the evenness of the pavement surface.

The pressure bars are pressurised by pulsed-flow hydraulics, and are the final components of the VÖGELE high compaction screeds.

These components enable the screed to deliver a perfect paving result with extremely high precompaction that reduces subsequent final compaction with rollers to a minimum.

All compaction aggregates are fitted with heating rods that prevent the adhesion of asphalt and ensure the production of a faultlessly sealed surface.

Together with the guide strips and sliding blocks, the telescoping tubes and the torque restraint system guarantee the necessary rigidity of the extending screed.

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