Ballast mats and methods of forming the same
A method and apparatus for coating transportation components such as a bridge deck with a coating. The coating includes a sealant and rubber mixed with a resin and a foaming agent. The apparatus includes a hopper for the rubber, a impingement gun for the resin and a gun assembly that combines the rubber and resin together at a combined nozzle for spraying.
1. A protective coating system for a bed of a railway structure having ballast and a railway track structure comprising:
a cure-in-place waterproof membrane configured to be disposed on the bed of the railway; and
a cure-in-place ballast protection coating configured to be disposed over the waterproof membrane,
wherein the ballast protection coating is compressible; and
wherein the thickness of the ballast protection coating is between approximately 200 mils and 300 mils.
2. The coating of claim 1 , wherein the ballast protection coating has a variable thickness.
3. The coating of claim 1 , further comprising a primer layer, wherein the primer layer is disposed on the railway bed and the waterproof membrane is disposed on the railway bed.
4. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the railway bed is chosen from the group consisting of packed earth, concrete, asphalt, and steel structure.
5. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the railway structure is a bridge structure.
6. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the ballast protection coating comprises a rubber compound that includes styrene-butadiene rubber.
7. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the ballast protection coating is greater than the thickness of the waterproof membrane.
8. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the thickness of the waterproof membrane is between approximately 60 mils and 120 mils.
9. The coating system of claim 1 , further comprising a sealing layer having a thickness of between 20 mils and 60 mils.
10. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the waterproof membrane and a bottom surface of the ballast protection coating are substantially parallel.
11. The coating system of claim 1 , further comprising a seal coating disposed over the ballast protection coating, the seal coating having a substantially uniform thickness.
12. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the ballast protection coating has dielectric properties.
13. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the ballast protection coating forms a substantially seamless coating over the railway bed.
14. The coating system of claim 1 , wherein the ballast protection coating covers substantially the entire surface of the railway bed bridge structure.
15. A method of coating a railway bed with the protective coating system of claim 1 , the method comprising:
applying the cure-in-place waterproof membrane on the railway bed; and
applying the cure-in-place ballast protection coating on the waterproof membrane.
16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising applying a primer layer to the railway bed prior to applying the waterproof membrane.
17. The method of claim 15 , wherein the ballast protection coating substantially covers the waterproof membrane.
18. The method of claim 15 , wherein applying the cure-in-place waterproof membrane includes spraying the waterproof membrane on the railway bed.
19. The method of claim 15 , wherein applying the cure-in-place ballast protection coating includes spraying the ballast protection coating on the waterproof membrane.
20. The method of claim 15 , wherein applying the cure-in-place ballast protection coating includes adhering the ballast protection coating to the waterproof membrane.
21. The method of claim 15 , further comprising applying a seal coating over the ballast protection coating.