A paver includes an enclosed furnace for melting an inorganic paving material and a carriage for carrying the furnace. The furnace includes a heating chamber for receiving the paving material, a heater for heating the heating chamber to a temperature greater than 1,600° C. to melt the paving material, and an outlet for discharging melted paving material to form a paved road surface.
1. A method for paving, the method comprising:
moving a paver along a path;
while moving the paver along the path, heating an inorganic paving material to a temperature of at least approximately 1600 degrees Celsius;
applying the heated inorganic paving material over a surface along the path; and
preheating additional paving material with heat recovered from the applied inorganic paving material using a preheater, wherein the preheater comprises a heat exchanger in physical contact with the applied inorganic paving material.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heating comprises generating a plasma to heat the inorganic paving material.
3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising while moving the paver along the path, extracting the inorganic paving material from a location alongside the path.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the inorganic paving material comprises sand.
5. The method of claim 3 , further comprising transporting, via a conveyor, the extracted inorganic paving material to a furnace in the paver.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising heating the additional paving material to a temperature of at least approximately 1600 degrees Celsius after the preheating the additional paving material.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising preheating additional paving material with heat recovered from the heating the inorganic paving material.
8. The method of claim 1 , wherein heating the inorganic paving material comprises using one of a fossil fuel powered heater, a solar heater, an electric heater, and a nuclear heater.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the inorganic paving material includes at least one of silicon dioxide, iron oxides, aluminum oxide, magnesium oxide, calcium oxide, silicides thereof, and phosphates thereof.
10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising while moving the paver along the path, discharging the heated inorganic paving material back and forth along one or more directions.
11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising discharging another heated inorganic paving material over the applied inorganic paving material, wherein the applied inorganic paving material acts as a reinforcing structure for the discharged heated inorganic paving material.
12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising patterning a top surface of the applied inorganic paving material.
13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heating the inorganic paving material comprises melting the inorganic paving material.
14. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adding a foaming component to the inorganic paving material.
15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising leveling the applied inorganic paving material via a screed on the paver.
16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the paver is self-propelled.
17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the paver comprises an excavator, the method further comprising excavating the inorganic paving material via the excavator.
18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the heating an inorganic paving material is performed by a furnace comprising a feeder, and wherein the preheater is configured to heat the additional paving material on the feeder.