What are concrete batching plants?
Concrete batching plants are equipments used to combine sand or gravel , water , air, admixtures , fly ash, and cement to finally create concrete.
What are the main types of concrete batching plants?
There are two types. These are the wet and dry batching plant. There are plants containing both a transit mix chamber and a central mix side while having a common material storage point.
How does a dry batching plant operate?
The dry mix concrete plant is designed to accurately weigh out sand, gravel, and cement in weigh batchers. These are then discharged into a chute which then directs the mix to a waiting truck. In the process of discharging to the transit mixer, water is also volumetrically metered and discharged through the same chute. The materials are then agitated / mixed in a range of 70 – 100 revolutions on the mixer truck while in transit to the construction site.
How different or similar is the quality of concrete from the dry batching plant versus wet batching plant?
The dry mix plant has generally more break strength standard deviation and there may be some variations from load to load. This is brought about by differences in the mixing times, truck blade and drum conditions, traffic conditions and many other external factors.
The wet batching plant on the other hand, all loads are mixed at same station and under similar conditions and therefore it is much easier to get consistent quality.
What is the capacity of the dry batching plant?
This typically refers to the volume of concrete that can be processed in a period of time and is expressed in cubic meters. The batching plant capacity can also be referred to as the biggest factor or the main parameter considered in determining the price of a batching plant.
What are important advantages of the dry type concrete batching plant?
Storage time; the dry batching concrete can be stored for the longest time possible as no setting will occur. The maximum time the wet concrete mixture can be kept is not more than 24 hours; hence it must be utilized soonest possible.
Due to the large volume of production, the construction performance of the dry mix plant can be much higher than that of the wet mix. Materials used for mixing such as sand can be carefully screened to achieve the required fineness while the process is still ongoing, and the correct grade is easily achieved.
What are the important performance features of the dry concrete batching plant?
- The dust during operation is much reduced and therefore environmentally safe.
- The dry mixing plant can also be used in small batch mixes, while this is not possible for the wet mix concrete batches.
What are some of the latest innovations to the dry batching concrete plants?
Modern concrete batch plants now utilize computer aided control technology that assists in fast and accurate measurement of inputs and ingredients. Concrete performance is also highly dependent on accurate water measurements. The use of moisture probe during the water addition phase has also become an important feature in this equipment.