Patent ID: 7290307

Claim:
A pavement cleaning vehicle configured with equipment to remove grime and cleaning materials from a pavement drive surface, such as a runway or other large pavement of asphalt or concrete, comprising a pressure washer, a vacuum blower, an elongate vacuum head extending transversely behind the pavement cleaning vehicle comprising a spray chamber partitioned from a vacuum chamber by a divider extending with an air passageway therethrough, wherein said pavement cleaning vehicle comprises a motor vehicle suitable for roadway operation and for towing and a trailer towed by the motor vehicle, the vacuum head being behind and separate from and towed by the trailer, wherein the vacuum head is adjustable vertically from underlying pavement independent of the cleaning vehicle, an air-water separator on the trailer separating air from water received from the vacuum head, an array of spray nozzles in fluid communication with the pressure washer and arrayed in close proximity to said pavement within the vacuum head spray chamber in transverse alignment across a travel path of the cleaning vehicle, or a portion thereof, adapted to spray pressurized water jets at the underlying pavement effective in rinsing said grime and cleaning materials from said pavement, lifting them with the water reflected from the pavement the water, grime and cleaning materials being contained within the spray chamber until they are drawn through the air passageway into the vacuum chamber and from the vacuum chamber to the air-water separator, the vacuum chamber having reduced air pressure by action of the vacuum blower in fluid communication therewith, wherein said spray nozzles are connectable to a fresh water holding tank for supplying fresh water to the pressure washer and spray nozzles, water spray dispersed off the underlying pavement being contained within the spray chamber until it is drawn into the vacuum chamber.