A country road running past a field is freshly asphalted across its entire width by a paver. Thanks to the LED lighting, the installation team has no difficulty working despite the bad weather.

The new Dash 5 road paver proves itself in wind and weather

Country road rehabilitation with the SUPER 1800-5i

To renew the L 106 between Wagenstadt and Bleichheim, the contractor used the versatile new-generation Vögele paver. With the SUPER 1800-5i, the paving team was able to do the work efficiently, safely and precisely despite poor weather conditions and time constraints.

Around 30 km north of Freiburg, a 1.3-km section of highway 106 was to be renovated. Between Wagenstadt and Bleichheim, the road showed considerable damage, and in this area it crosses an important migration route for amphibians. For this reason, an amphibian guidance system was to be installed first and then the roadway was to be renewed. The contract for the refurbishment was awarded to Johann Joos Tief- und Straßenbau GmbH from Hartheim am Rhein. As the section was completely closed for the work, the paving team had to complete both carriageway directions within a short period of time.

Johann Joos Tief- und Straßenbau GmbH used the new Vögele paver SUPER 1800-5i to rehabilitate a 1.3 km section of highway 106 between Wagenstadt and Bleichheim.

First job with the SUPER 1800-5i

The contractor opted for a Vögele paver from the new Dash 5 generation in order to pave the binder course and surface course in varying widths of 5.6 to 8 meters quickly and to a high standard: The SUPER 1800-5i in combination with the extending screed AB 500. The Universal Class paver is very compact for its class, versatile and, with a laydown rate of 700 t/h, very powerful. In view of the poor weather conditions, the time constraints and the high demands for evenness, numerous new Dash 5technologies and the Big MultiPlex Ski sensor system proved their worth during the construction project.

Speedy and safe in operation

Even before installation, the SUPER 1800-5i scored with a practical feature: The Dash 5 Paver Access Control (PAC) function enables operators to start up the paver from the ground. The control unit positioned on the screed allowed the team to start all the initial steps — such as switching on lights, starting the diesel engine, booting up the machine control system, putting up the hardtop and locking it in position, and lowering the screed — at the push of a button from ground level. At the end of work, the PAC brought the paver into the transport position in the same way. “This saves time, prevents errors, and makes commissioning and decommissioning even safer and more convenient,” says foreman Josef Gutmann. “In the dark hours of the morning, it was helpful that we could switch on the lighting before climbing onto the operator’s platform, for example.”

A middle-aged gentleman wearing brightly colored weatherproof clothing and a cap on his head looks into the camera with a friendly smile.

“With the Light Package Plus, we were able to get a really good view of all the relevant work areas and save on the transportation and installation of additional light sources. This significantly reduced set-up times on the construction site.”

Josef Gutmann, foreman at Johann Joos Tief- und Straßenbau GmbH

Combat poor visibility with the Light Package Plus

Overall, the weather conditions were not ideal: Apart from the darkness, rain and snow made the operation more difficult. Gutmann and his team therefore used the new Light Package Plus installed on the paver: The integrated LED lighting illuminates the operator’s platform, service points and tow point cylinders even better. Instead of light balloons, powerful LED spotlights are permanently integrated into the roof extension and illuminate the entire working area up to four meters behind the screed and up to a paving width of ten meters. “This gave us a good view of all the relevant work areas and saved us from having to transport and install additional light sources,” says Gutmann. “This significantly reduced set-up times at the construction site.”

Constant feeding without jolts increases quality

In order to achieve a high paving quality, the operating team had to ensure, among other things, smooth feeding and an even supply of material. Here too, Gutmann and his team benefited from some of the technical innovations of the Dash 5 pavers: The optimized PaveDock Assistant from Vögele facilitated communication during mix transfer. The paver driver gave the truck driver clear instructions with the signal lights to the right and left of the paver roof: Green for resetting and docking, red for stopping. The spring-mounted pressure beam PaveDock effectively absorbed the impacts of the mix truck so that they were not transferred to the paver and thus the asphalt. As the associated pressure rollers on the Dash 5 pavers are also suspended in oscillating mode, the truck was also able to dock and feed smoothly in the bends.

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Side view of a Vögele paver with Big MultiPlex Skis mounted as a leveling system.

Maximum evenness with the Big MultiPlex Ski

Gutmann's team had to ensure maximum evenness when paving on the L 106: The old pavement was badly damaged in places, which is why in some areas not only a 4 cm thick surface course but also a new binder course of varying thickness from 4 to 14 cm had to be applied. The team used two Big MultiPlex Skis to compensate for the elongated bumps. The sensor system from Vögele is designed for precisely such applications where absolute evenness in the longitudinal direction is required: The paving team attached three multi-cell sonic sensors to the variable 16.5 to 42.8 ft (5 to 13 m) long carrier beam. In this way, the Big MultiPlex Ski scanned a reference at several separate points simultaneously. The automatic leveling system Niveltronic Plus calculates an average value over the entire measuring range from the measured values and thus also compensates for elongated unevenness.

Optimum tamper stroke at the touch of a button

In addition to precise paving, the construction site in Bleichheim also required optimum pre-compaction. A correctly adjusted tamper stroke is crucial for this. “Previously, we had to adjust the tamper stroke mechanically, which would have been very time-consuming here in Bleichheim due to the changing layer thicknesses,” says Gutmann. “With the SUPER 1800-5i, we could now do this at the touch of a button.” The hydraulic tamper stroke adjustment is available in combination with the rigid screeds from Vögele and the extending screeds AB 500 and AB 600. It works quite simply: The tamper stroke can be set to either 4 and 2 mm or 4 and 8 mm via the driver or screed control console, depending on the version. “We laid the binder course with a 4 mm tamper stroke and the surface course with 2 mm. The hydraulic conversion saved us a lot of time and effort,” says Gutmann. “The new technical features of the SUPER 1800-5i are really well matched to our requirements: i.e., short set-up times, efficiency and quality during installation and, of course, operator safety.”

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“With the hydraulic tamper stroke adjustment, we were able to set the optimum tamper stroke at the touch of a button. That saved us a lot of time and effort here on the L 106.”

Josef Gutmann, foreman at Johann Joos Tief- und Straßenbau GmbH

An image of the new SUPER 1800-5(i) paver in a studio environment.
NEW

Legend at the next level

Vögele has integrated its most popular model into the Dash 5 generation: Just like all of the road pavers from the latest generation, the SUPER 1800-5(i) combines user-friendliness, automation, efficiency, and sustainability. With pave widths between 2.55 and 10 meters, high performance, and compact dimensions, the Universal Class representative is the most versatile Vögele paver.

Why has the SUPER-1800-class proven itself among road builders worldwide? And what exactly does the new generation offer?

More on the new SUPER 1800-5(i)

Press/media kit

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