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Concrete material dispensing system

  • US 9,678,496 B2
  • Filed: 02/26/2011
  • Issued: 06/13/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 05/23/2008
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A distributed system for controlling and monitoring operations of a concrete plant having a central batch panel that outputs command signals, concrete plant equipment for dispensing concrete ingredients, and sensors associated with the concrete plant equipment and transmitting operating signals representing an operating parameter or state of the associated concrete plant equipment, the distributed system comprising:

  • a plurality of field boxes including first and second field boxes located remotely of the batch panel and proximate the concrete plant equipment, each of the first and second field boxes including a digital processor, a memory, and a communications interface communicating with the batch panel, wherein the first field box receives first command signals from the batch panel and translates the first command signals to first control signals, and the second field box receives second command signals from the batch panel and translates the second command signals to second control signals, wherein;

    the first field box communicates with and controls operation of a first portion of the concrete plant equipment using the first control signals;

    the second field box communicates with and controls operation of a second portion of the concrete plant equipment using the second control signals;

    the first field box receives first operating signals from at least some of the sensors associated with the first portion of the concrete plant equipment, records in its memory first operating parameter data represented by the first operating signals, and transmits to the batch panel a first data signal representing at least some of the first operating parameter data;

    the second field box receives second operating signals from at least some of the sensors associated with the second portion of the concrete plant equipment, records in its memory second operating parameter data represented by the second operating signals, and transmits to the batch panel a second data signal representing at least some of the second operating parameter datathe digital processor of the first field box is programmed to control and halt operation of at least some of the first portion of the concrete plant equipment based on and directly responsive to receipt of the first operating signals from the first portion of the concrete plant equipment, in the absence of receipt of any signal from the batch panel responsive to the first operating signals; and

    the digital processor of the second field box is programmed to control and halt operation of at least some of the second portion of the concrete plant equipment based on and directly responsive to receipt of the second operating signals from the second portion of the concrete plant equipment, in the absence of receipt of any signal from the batch panel responsive to the second operating signals.

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