Cimline P5 fills potholes in about two minutes

Cimline, a US specialist in road repairs, offers the P5, a special vehicle that can perform asphalt repairs quickly. Potholes and cracks can be sealed with the vehicle in about two minutes, making the road immediately drivable again. The personnel requirement is low, as the vehicle's driver also performs the repair.

You won't find artificial intelligence or sophisticated algorithms controlling a repair robot with the Cimline P5. A human is still needed here, who also drives the vehicle to the deployment site. The repair tool, attached to a movable arm at the front of the vehicle, is manually controlled by the driver via a joystick. The driver can monitor the repair head via a camera image on a screen in the driver's cab, retrieve real-time information about the material's condition, and view order data.

First, a pothole is cleaned of loose material using a high-pressure nozzle and water. This is followed by a liquid that seals the porous hole and ensures that the asphalt binder mixture, which is then filled in, adheres better. Once the hole is filled, the sticky surface is treated with a granulate so that it no longer sticks and road traffic can roll over it again as quickly as possible.

The required materials such as water, sealing liquid, asphalt, and granulate are completely carried or processed on the vehicle's loading area.

Repair in about two minutes

An average-sized pothole is said to be repaired within two minutes, Cimline promises. Large-area repairs are also possible. There is enough construction material for this. A good 9 tons of material can be carried. A heated pressure tank with a capacity of almost 1136 l ensures that the material can be processed even at low outside temperatures. This makes road repairs possible even in winter at temperatures down to -15 °C.

The system is already in use in the USA, but it also has its disadvantages. While potholes repaired with the P5 are said to last longer than those filled using conventional methods, the surface is not sufficiently smoothed, which is expected to lead to unevenness after some time.

The Cimline P5 vehicle, including the repair unit, currently costs about 150,000 US dollars.

(olb)