Method and System for Calculating and Reporting Slump in Delivery Vehicles

• US 20100312406A1
• Filed: 08/17/2010
• Published: 12/09/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verifi, LLC (Compagnie De Saint-Gobain S.A.)
• Original Assignee: RS Solutions LLC (Standard Industries Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Compton, John I., Cooley, Roy, Topputo, Michael
• Granted Patent: US 8,727,604 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/285
• CPC Class Codes: B28C 5/422 Controlling or measuring devices B28C5/4227 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: B28C 7/022 by measuring the consistency or composition of the mixture, e.g. with supply of a missing component
• CPC Class Codes: B28C 7/026 by measuring data of the driving system, e.g. rotational speed, torque, consumed power
• CPC Class Codes: B28C 7/12 Supplying or proportioning liquid ingredients

Abstract

A system for calculating and reporting slump in a delivery vehicle having a mixing drum 14 and hydraulic drive 16 for rotating the mixing drum, including a rotational sensor 20 configured to sense a rotational speed of the mixing drum, a hydraulic sensor 22 coupled to the hydraulic drive and configured to sense a hydraulic pressure required to turn the mixing drum, and a communications port 26 configured to communicate a slump calculation to a status system 28 commonly used in the concrete industry, wherein the sensing of the rotational speed of the mixing drum is used to qualify a calculation of current slump based on the hydraulic pressure required to turn the mixing drum.

Claims

1. A system for calculating and reporting slump in a delivery vehicle having a mixing drum, comprising:

liquid component source including at least a chemical additive supply and a water supply;

a flow valve coupled to the liquid component source and configured to control the amount of a liquid component added to the mixing drum; and

a flow meter coupled to the flow valve and configured to sense the amount of liquid component added to the mixing drum;

a processor electrically coupled to the flow valve and the flow meter, wherein the processor controls an amount of chemical additive and water added to the mixing drum to reach a desired slump.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the chemical additive is a superplasticizer (SP).

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the flow valve and the flow meter are mounted in a manifold supplied by said chemical additive and water supply.

4. The system of claim 1 further comprising a processor coupled to one or more sensors detecting rotation of said mixing drum and computing a slump measurement of concrete within said mixing drum.

5. The system of claim 4 wherein said processor controls the addition of liquid component based upon said slump measurement.

6. The system of claim 4, further comprising a display coupled to the processor and configured to display slump values.