Flying buckets streamline process
How technology is improving quality and reducing accidents
Not every contractor needs to be intimately familiar with the inner workings of a concrete batch plant, but it’s interesting to note the processes at work there are evolving to improve concrete quality while increasing efficiency and reducing hazards in the plant.
Marcantonini Concrete Technology (MCT) designs ready-mix and pre-cast batch plant systems with an eye toward innovation based on customer feedback. One of its newest advancements include the Aerovan Mono and Bi rail flying buckets which help to automate and streamline the pre-cast batching process for maximum functionality, efficiency and reliability of concrete transport.
Aerovan carries wet, semi-wet, semi-dry and dry concrete quickly and accurately, maintaining all features of the batch, according to MCT. It’s possible to achieve a maximum speed up to 240m per minute applied to straight, curved and inclined tracks.
Ino Alegre, who represents MCT, explained the flying buckets are controlled by a computer that coordinates the delivery of concrete according to where and when in the plant it’s needed. What’s unique about MCT’s system is the use of bigger wheels and their placement above the track beam that the buckets travel along.
“A bigger wheel means faster travel times and tighter turns, not to mention less wear on the beam,” he explained.
The programmable flying buckets increase overall efficiency in pre-cast batching.
“There used to be four or five people involved in the process,” Alegre said. “But now, there’s the batch man, who calls up the recipe, and another person at the destination where the concrete is dumped.
It significantly streamlines the process. This can be dangerous work as well, and this automated process seriously reduces the potential for job site injuries.”
MCT’s flying buckets swiftly deliver concrete wherever it’s needed within pre-cast batch plants
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