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Automatic system for monitoring the mixing of conglomerates

  • US 9,833,928 B2
  • Filed: 11/17/2006
  • Issued: 12/05/2017
  • Est. Priority Date: 11/28/2005
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A system for monitoring a plasticity and a volume of a mixture being mixed inside a rotatory mixer, wherein the mixture regards to concrete mixes, wherein the volume regards to a cubic capacity of whole said mixture as measured in cubic units, and wherein said system comprises:

  • a sensor which is installed integrally to said mixer through a simple longitudinal cut and which is fitted with strain-gauge strips which are connected in the form of a Wheatstone bridge, so as to act as a load cell;

    said bridge is connected to an analog/digital converter by which a cyclical signal is acquired over time as digital information, hereinafter called a force signal (F), and which can be broken down into one part of the rotation during which the sensor is subject to a force and into another part of the rotation where the sensor is not subject to said force;

    one or more accelerometers operating in the three spatial dimensions or XYZ axes, by which an angular position and an angular velocity (ω

    ) of the system is identified at any instant, which includes identifying an angular position of the system at an instant in which the sensor no longer makes contact with the mixture when said mixture is in a rest condition, hereinafter called contact angle (β

    ), and an angular position of the system at an instant in which the sensor no longer makes contact with the mixture during mixing at an angular velocity (ω

    ), hereinafter called banking angle (φ

    );

    said system autonomously detects the volume of said mixture, from its correlations with the contact angle (β

    ) and a percentage of a cycle in said force signal (F) subject to said force, and the plasticity of said mixture, from its correlations with the force signal (F) and the banking angle (φ

    ), over time during an interaction of the sensor with all layers of said mixture; and

    wherein said system further comprises a short-distance wireless series communication controller by which said system transmits resulting digital information of the volume of said mixture, the plasticity of said mixture, and an unique identifier of said sensor, to other devices, enabling precise corrections in said mixture to be made until specific requirements of said plasticity and said volume are detected by said system.

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