Simex ART (Asphalt Repair Technology) is an attachment for compact track and skid-steer loaders that restores deteriorated road surfaces. Its patented cold bitumen regeneration technology reuses 100% of the material onsite without removing the milled material or adding other aggregates. Simex ART can be used in functional road surface maintenance at 30-100mm depths. The solution combines asphalt milling with particle size reduction and the mixing of rejuvenators.
Simex ART 1000 won the SaMoTer Innovation Award 2023 in the attachment category for its “revolutionary process for the road recycling sector, with low running costs and high operating safety.”
The novel solution is said by San Giovanni in Persiceto, Bologna-based Simex, to restore distressed road surfaces quickly and with long-lasting results, allowing for adequate road maintenance planning.
Simex ART also contributes to a dynamic and smaller construction site where no large machines are required, significantly reducing traffic disruption. The product also reduces the number of required jobsite workers, and a single vehicle (truck) transports all the equipment onsite.
Using Simex ART means zero costs for procuring and transporting new mixes and virgin aggregates and not having to remove and dispose of the RAP (reclaimed asphalt pavement). The machine is also suited to deployment on surfaces of limited size.
Among Simex ART’s many environmental advantages are its reuse of existing materials via its recycling and rehabilitating of aged bitumen, its use of eco-friendly materials, and its removal of the need to handle or manage special materials or waste. Furthermore, Simex ART’s onsite recycling saves energy compared to the traditional laying of hot mixes.
Another big Simex innovation, the CBA asphalt granulator bucket, is designed to reduce asphalt slabs to certifiable grain size thanks to the configurable rear grid. The CBA bucket is ideal for recovering milled asphalt material, classified in national regulations as bituminous conglomerate granulate (or RAP). Simex says it has the dual advantage of combining reduced construction site costs (less supply of new raw materials) while offering the possibility of reintroducing the milled material into the production cycle of new asphalt.
Simex’s R&D department has combined the concept of milling drums with rotor crusher bucket technology, creating the three-model CBA asphalt granulator bucket range: CBA 20, CBA 30 and CBA 40 for 12-40tonne excavators. The equipment features a cylindrical drum of asymmetric teeth driven by large displacement radial piston hydraulic motors in direct drive. The rear grid determines the grain size of the material output. It is available in several configurations to meet the different characteristics required for the milled material by the regulations in force in various countries.
Simex says the CBA asphalt granulator buckets aim to ensure broad autonomy for operators engaged daily in road maintenance works, crushing aggregates and filling excavations for laying underground utilities. Cutting down the time and costs related to transport and minimising the purchase of new raw materials means optimising your site's logistical and economic dynamics while reducing environmental impact by recovering materials considered a reusable resource rather than waste.
