Three Basic Types of Power/Street Sweeping Equipment
Street Cleaning Trucks
Street cleaning trucks are not created equal. Some types of trucks are better suited for residential streets while others are better suited for commercial, highway or warehouse sweeping.
It’s important that your power sweeping vendor has the right equipment to meet the requirements of your job. Below you will find descriptions of the different types of street cleaning trucks, how they work, and examples of the jobs each one is best suited for.
Mechanical Sweeper Truck
The oldest type of sweeping equipment, also know as a broom sweeper, these power sweeper trucks collect dirt and debris via a rotating cylinder shaped broom which moves particles onto a conveyor mechanism and into a hopper Mechanical power sweepers efficient in sweeping heavier materials, including gravel and coarse sand, which makes them optimal for construction sites and pavement milling applications or parking lot areas with heavy debris present. The abrasive action of a mechanical broom sweeper truck is less effective on uneven or damaged surfaces, such as washboarded or rutted pavement and/or those areas with potholes or cracks.
The next generation of sweeper trucks introduced suction power, created by a large fan or impeller. This sweeping method draws dirt and debris into a vacuum nozzle where it is then sucked into the hopper and then exhausting the air into the environment, similar to a household vacuum sweeper. Vacuum sweepers are more efficient at cleaning up finer particulate versus mechanical power sweepers, and are more effective on uneven surfaces and more versatile, such as in a parking lot application, when they have a sucker tube for manually cleaning areas that are not accessible or within the turning radius of the machine.
The third generation of sweeper trucks use a blower wheel, powered by an engine or hydraulics to create a blast of air onto the pavement surface. The regenerative air sweeping system pushes a curtain of air across the entire sweeper pick-up head, suspending surface debris with a blast of air which circulates through the head depositing the material into the hopper with the air then continuing through a dust separator and back to the head, without exhausting air into the environment. This technology of sweeping can dislodge debris in cracks and crevices common on paved surfaces.
Similar to a vacuum street sweeper truck in that air is the vehicle for removal, but without the exhaust, as the dust separator cleans the air which is then returned to the pick-up head via a closed loop cycle. The regenerative air power sweeping system is best at cleaning up finer debris particles on good quality paved surfaces compared to either mechanical or vacuum sweepers. This would make them the best choice for routine residential, business, commercial or industrial street sweeping with good pavement quality and where fugitive dust must be minimized and/or where mandated environmental regulations must be complied with.