Estimate the one-pass coverage of a mechanical broom street sweeper. Enter effective sweep width, working speed, productive-time fraction and shift length to compare hourly area, shift area and distance along the swept band.
Street Cleaning Machine Interactive Calculator
Estimate one-pass route productivity for a mechanical broom street sweeper. Enter effective cleaned width after broom overlap, travel speed, aggregate productive-time fraction and shift length.
Equation Used
- Effective width W is the achieved one-pass cleaned band after overlap, not nominal vehicle width or an automatic manufacturer rating.
- The aggregate productive-time fraction accounts for turns, hopper dumps, refills, obstacles and similar route losses.
- The cab, hopper, transverse main broom, conveyor cue and two side brooms are schematic. Brush bristle tips touch the displayed effective-width boundaries to explain the entered band.
- No pickup efficiency, debris mass, hopper capacity, dust emissions, water use, fuel use or product performance is predicted.
The blue boundaries mark the assumed cleaned band. The time bar divides the shift into productive sweeping and time used for turns, dumps, refills and other interruptions.
How the Mechanical Broom Arrangement Works
The illustrated side brooms gather material toward a transverse main broom, while a conveyor carries it to a hopper. The Elgin Broom Badger brochure documents this combination of main broom, side brooms, squeegee elevator and hopper.
The drawing explains those components and the swept band. It is not a dimensioned product model, and changing the width slider does not change a manufacturer's machine specification.
Planning a Route
Use the calculation to compare coverage assumptions for a shift. Enter an effective cleaned width after overlap, the speed used during sweeping, and the fraction of shift time actually spent sweeping at that speed.
Estimate the productive fraction from route records when available. Time spent travelling between work areas, turning, unloading or refilling reduces productive time. If repeated passes are needed, account for them in the planned width or route workload rather than treating repeated coverage as new cleaned area.
The result is a planning estimate. It does not choose a suitable working speed or predict pickup quality, debris mass, dust emissions or compliance.
Coverage and Time Equations
Ashift = Aht
d = Ashift/(1000W) = vηt
Lost-time percentage = 100(1−η)
W is effective width in metres, v is working speed in km/h, η is the productive-time fraction, and t is shift hours. Hourly area is in m²/h, shift area in m² and distance d in kilometres of one swept band.
The displayed lane-kilometres refer to the entered sweep width, which may differ from a road traffic-lane width. Width cancels from the distance equation: increasing width increases area covered, but does not increase the distance driven at the same speed and productive time.
Worked Planning Scenario
Assume a 2.4 m effective band, 11 km/h sweeping speed, 0.65 productive fraction and an 8-hour shift:
- Hourly area: 2.4 × 11 × 1000 × 0.65 = 17,160 m²/h.
- Shift area: 17,160 × 8 = 137,280 m².
- Distance along the swept band: 11 × 0.65 × 8 = 57.2 km.
- Lost-time share: 35%, equivalent to 2.8 hours of the assumed shift.
These are entered planning assumptions, not an Elgin product rating or a measured municipal route. At the same width, speed and shift length, reducing the productive fraction to 0.50 lowers the distance to 44 km and area to 105,600 m².
What the Inputs Mean
| Input | Use in this calculation | Does not establish |
|---|---|---|
| Effective width | Cleaned band achieved in one pass | Nominal vehicle width or a rated sweep path |
| Speed | Travel speed during productive sweeping | Pickup quality or an appropriate operating speed |
| Efficiency | Productive-time fraction | Dust or debris capture efficiency |
| Shift length | Total time to which the fraction applies | Hopper capacity, fuel use or staffing constraints |
A route estimate and machine performance are different questions. Use the actual machine documentation and route conditions for operating limits and required cleaning performance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does efficiency mean the percentage of dirt removed?
No. Here it means the fraction of shift time spent sweeping at the entered working speed. It is not pickup or dust-capture efficiency.
Why does a wider sweep path not increase route kilometres?
At fixed speed and productive time, distance is unchanged. A wider band increases the area covered along that distance.
Should I enter transport speed or sweeping speed?
Enter the speed during productive sweeping. Account for travel between work areas through the productive-time fraction.
Does the estimate include repeated passes?
It assumes one effective pass. Repeated passes consume time without adding the same amount of new area, so account for them in the route workload or achieved coverage assumptions.
Is the example a manufacturer performance rating?
No. Its width, speed and time fraction are illustrative inputs. The cited manufacturer brochure is used to explain the mechanical arrangement.
Can this estimate dust emissions or hopper fill time?
No. There is no debris loading, mass, hopper-capacity or emissions calculation.
What does Lost Time show?
It shows 100 × (1−η), the percentage of shift time outside productive sweeping. Multiply that fraction by shift hours to obtain the corresponding time.
References
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