When a tractor trailer is parked in a snowy area, it frequently accumulates a layer of snow on top. With any vehicle this snow can freeze in place. With a truck, bus, or similar large vehicle, however, there is no way for the operator to clear it off. This snow can then come off as a dangerous, windshield breaking lump at highway speeds.

I am proposing a rotating brush, similar to a car wash brush. It would be angled to push the snow to the side. Through either a mechanical or sensor controlled system, the height of the brush would adjust so the bristles fully reach the top of the truck. This could be positioned at the exit of most truck stops, with a grid deck underneath and a holding space below that. The brush pushes the snow off the top of the truck, through the grid into the holding space.

The trucks get an advantage of not carrying the weight or wind resistance of the snow until it comes off. The general public gets the advantage of safer streets. The truck stop gets the competitive advantage of providing the cleaner truck to its customers.
-- MechE, Dec 23 2008

Talk about "value-added" [+]
-- Wily Peyote, Jul 09 2009



random, halfbakery