Method and apparatus for electrically heating a screed assembly in a paving machine

An electrically heated screed assembly for use with a paving machine, comprising:

• a screed plate;
• a thermally conductive plate disposed above and in direct contact with the screed plate;
• and
• an electrical heating element disposed above and in direct contact with said thermally conductive plate, wherein heating the heating element heats the thermally conductive plate, thus uniformly heating the screed plate.

An electrically heated screed assembly for use with a paving machine comprising:

• a frame;
• a screed plate mounted on the frame;
• an electrical heating element disposed above the screed plate;
• and
• a clamping mechanism including a beam that is movably and selectively and adjustably mounted on the frame so as to be selectively:
• (1) lowered towards the screed plate so as to compress the electrical heating element against an underlying support and to prevent removal of the heating element from the screed assembly;
• and
• (2) raised away from the heating element to permit removal of the heating element from the screed assembly.

A paving machine comprising:

• a chassis having a front end portion and a rear end portion;
• a distributing auger mounted on the rear end portion of the chassis and extending transversely across the chassis;
• a hopper mounted on the front end portion of the chassis and having a discharge opening;
• a conveyor which transports the paving materials to the auger from the discharge opening;
• and
• an electrically heated screed assembly including:
• a screed plate mounted on a subframe of the paving machine;
• a conductive plate disposed above and in thermal communication with the screed plate;
• an electrical heating element disposed above and in thermal communication with the conductive plate;
• and
• a clamp that is loosenable to permit removal of the heating element from the screed assembly and tightenable to clamp the heating element to the conductive plate and to prevent removal of the heating element from the screed assembly.

A method comprising the steps of:

• (A) providing a paving machine having an electrically heated screed assembly including a screed plate;
• (B) clamping an electrical heating element above the screed plate using a clamping mechanism;
• (C) placing a thermally conductive plate between the screed plate and the electrical heating element prior to the clamping step;
• and
• (D) loosening the clamping mechanism to release the heating element from the screed assembly.

A method of replacing a heating element in a heated screed assembly including a subframe, the method comprising the steps of:

• providing a screed plate connected to the subframe;
• providing a conductive plate positioned above the screed plate;
• providing an electrical heating element disposed above the thermally conductive plate;
• providing an insulating element positioned above the heating element;
• loosening a clamping mechanism to remove compression from the heating element;
• and
• removing the heating element from the screed assembly without removing the screed plate from the frame.