Innovative protective layer demonstrably reduces cleaning costs and increases road safety
Hülzweiler/Austria. The old tube of the Tauern Tunnel has reopened after refurbishment!
For faster and more effective cleaning and for protection against environmental influences, several thousand square metres of the tunnel wall in the south tube were coated with NP® Liquid Glass Technology. Work on the north tube, carried out by the Nanopool company from Salzburg, is also scheduled for completion by the end of October.
ASFINAG GmbH has been successfully using Nanopool®‘s “liquid glass” to reduce costs on tunnel walls since 2007. NP® Liquid Glass has already been applied in the Bruck an der Mur area at the Tanzenberg Tunnel and the Massenberg Tunnel, and at the tunnels in Kirchdorf, both on the epoxy coating and on the inner concrete shell.
Applying the NP® Liquid Glass system to the tunnel walls in the Tauern Tunnel
The technology is applied to the tunnel walls using pressure vessels. This creates an ultra-thin film of liquid glass that settles into even the smallest crevices, thereby preventing the penetration of dirt and water. Dirt adhesion is drastically reduced, which in turn cuts down on time-consuming cleaning phases.
The operator saves considerable costs, and in addition this NP® Liquid Glass Technology makes a lasting contribution to road safety and the environment. Cleaning no longer requires chemical cleaning agents but only water, and the water pressure could also be reduced from 130 to 30 bar.
The cleaning interval was reduced from twice a year to a single cleaning. As a result, all traffic only needs to be diverted once a year for cleaning operations, which is also associated with considerable indirect costs.