REVERTING COLORED CONCRETE AND RINSE WATER TO GRAY

• US 20130139730A1
• Filed: 02/04/2013
• Published: 06/06/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Terrance P. Fenelon
• Original Assignee: Terrance P. Fenelon
• Inventors: FENELON, TERRANCE P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,882,908 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 106/712
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 14/28 of calcium
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 14/305 Titanium oxide, e.g. titanates
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 14/308 Iron oxide
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2103/54 Pigments; Dyes
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2111/0075 for road construction
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 2111/80 Optical properties, e.g. transparency or reflexibility
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 22/00 Use of inorganic materials as active ingredients for mortars, concrete or artificial stone, e.g. accelerators , shrinkage compensating agents
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 28/04 Portland cements
• CPC Class Codes: C04B 40/0039 Premixtures of ingredients

Abstract

A simple and easily useable system for reverting an uncured colored concrete material back to a gray color, by merely determining the original pigment and loading initially used to color the concrete material. The system utilizes a collection of pigment mixtures that can be selected and combined as needed to revert virtually any colored concrete back to a gray color, thus eliminating or reducing the expulsion of non-gray or colored concrete and/or dirty rinse water. Additionally, the volume of rinse water needed to clean out gray concrete is significantly less than that needed to clean out colored concrete.

Claims

1. A method for reverting uncured colored concrete in a vessel to gray, the colored concrete comprising gray concrete and pigment, the method comprising:

determining a pigment formulation and loading that corresponds to the pigment, the pigment formulation having an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment; and

adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete in the vessel, the reversion pigment mixture selected based on at least one of;

(1) a red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,

(2) a black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment,

(3) a yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and

(4) a green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises accessing a database.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises visually evaluating the colored concrete and estimating the pigment formulation and loading.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the reversion pigment mixture is selected based on at least two of:

(1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,

(2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment,

(3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and

(4) the green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the reversion pigment mixture is selected based on:

(1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,

(2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, and

(3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein:

(1) the red pigment threshold is 15-25 wt-% of the pigment;

(2) the black pigment threshold is 15-30 wt-% of the pigment;

(3) the yellow pigment threshold is 20-50 wt-% of the pigment; and

(4) the green pigment threshold is 10-20 wt-% of the pigment.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein:

(1) the red pigment threshold is 17-20 wt-% of the pigment;

(2) the black pigment threshold is 17-20 wt-% of the pigment;

(3) the yellow pigment threshold is 30-40 wt-% of the pigment; and

(4) the green pigment threshold is 12-18 wt-% of the pigment.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the reversion pigment mixture comprises synthetic iron oxide pigment and/or organic pigment, titanium dioxide, and calcium carbonate and/or white Portland cement.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising, after adding a reversion pigment mixture the colored concrete, rinsing the vessel.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising, after rinsing the vessel, adding a new concrete batch to the vessel.

11. The method of claim 1 further comprising, after adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete, adding a new concrete batch to the vessel.

12. A method for reverting uncured colored concrete in a vessel to gray, the method comprising:

determining a pigment formulation and loading of an uncured colored concrete in a vessel, the pigment formulation having an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment;

adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete in the vessel, the reversion pigment mixture selected based on at least one of the amount of red pigment, the amount of black pigment, the amount of yellow pigment, and the amount of green pigment; and

after adding the reversion pigment mixture in the vessel, dumping gray rinse water from the vessel.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein adding a reversion pigment mixture comprises selecting a reversion pigment mixture based on at least one of:

(1) a red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,

(2) a black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment,

(3) a yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and

(4) a green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment.

14. The method of claim 12 wherein selecting the reversion pigment mixture is based on at least two of:

(1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,

(2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment,

(3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment, and

(4) the green pigment threshold and the amount of green pigment.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein selecting the reversion pigment mixture is based on:

(1) the red pigment threshold and the amount of red pigment,

(2) the black pigment threshold and the amount of black pigment, and

(3) the yellow pigment threshold and the amount of yellow pigment.

16. The method of claim 12 wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises accessing a database.

17. The method of claim 12 wherein determining a pigment formulation and loading comprises visually evaluating the colored concrete and estimating the pigment formulation and loading.

18. A method for reducing concrete rinse water, the method comprising:

determining a pigment formulation and loading in an uncured colored concrete in a vessel, the pigment formulation having an amount of red pigment, an amount of black pigment, an amount of yellow pigment, and an amount of green pigment;

adding no more than about 100 gallons of rinse water in the vessel;

after adding the rinse water in the vessel, adding a reversion pigment mixture to the colored concrete in the vessel; and

after adding the reversion pigment mixture in the vessel, dumping gray rinse water from the vessel.

19. The method of claim 18 comprising adding no more than about 50 gallons of rinse water in the vessel.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising, after adding the reversion pigment, mixing the uncured colored concrete, the rinse water and the reversion pigment mixture for about 5 minutes.