Highly mobile and efficient concrete-mixing plants have many advantages for contractors involved in key highways and other infrastructure projects, as Guy Woodford reports.
One day, the M11 will be a high-speed Russian motorway. Today, the contractor building the road is relying on a mobile
“We acquired the CBT 60 SL Elba because it has several advantages, including its ability to be quickly assembled,” said Dmitry Popov, technical department chief of TSM Company, a leading transportation construction firm with headquarters in Moscow. “Transport is simple, and assembly times are short. The plant’s electric and pneumatic components are completely pre-installed. Also, no foundations are needed. Soil compacted to 250 kN/m2 is sufficient.”
Also known as the Moscow-Saint Petersburg motorway, the M11 is a significant undertaking. It runs parallel to the existing M10, but will be a high-speed tollway with an average travel speed of 150km/h. When completed in 2018 it will be 650 km long, with the number of lanes ranging from four to 10. It includes 32 interchanges, 167 overpasses and 85 bridges.
TSM, founded in 2005, is working on the phase of the roadway that stretches from kilometres 58 to 149. Providing ready-mixed concrete for that length of road will require plant relocation. The plant will be deployed to other projects after the motorway is completed.
“We call this plant ‘super mobile,’ ” said Popov. “CBT 60 SL Elba is extremely fast in set-up times due to its folding mechanisms and compact plant design. It needs just two open-top containers for relocation. It also has favourable transport dimensions and consistently complies with requirements.”
The plant’s primary role on the M11 is producing ready-mixed concrete and hard mixes for exits from bridges and overpasses.
Besides mobility, the plant also provides the productivity needed to meet deadlines, with a potential output capacity of 58m³/hour.
“The cycle time is short because of direct weighing of inert material on the belt conveyor and direct feeding into the skip,” Popov said. Mixing quality is also good, ensuring homogenous material production.
More work awaits the CBT 60 SL Elba after the M11. “Our company is engaged in complex construction, reconstruction and repair of highways, airfields and industrial and hydrotechnic facilities,” Popov said. “The plant will be relocated frequently. It will mainly work on the construction of bridges, flyovers and roads.”
TSM has a long history of landing high-profile projects, including work on the M4, M9 (Baltic Highway) and A-149 Adler to Krasnaya Polyana Highway. Work on a variety of airfields has been completed as well.
The shrewd contractor believes that advanced technology and innovation enable it to respond quickly to the needs of its customers – and gain competitive advantages. It offers comprehensive infrastructure construction through its more than 2,200 units of equipment. TSM produces its own mixes and minerals and operates a modern maintenance and repair facility and certified laboratory.
“We rely on technology to help us deliver quality results to our customers,” Popov said. “The CBT 60 SL Elba plant fits well with our commitment to keeping projects on track through technology and productivity.”
Based in County Armagh, Northern Irish company
Established in 1958, privately owned Hoddam Contracting is the largest concrete block manufacturer in South West Scotland. The company operates two sand and gravel quarries in Southern Scotland and a third site at Ecclefechan, comprising its concrete production and head office facilities. Hoddam Contracting produces a wide range of aggregate and concrete products, including, washed sand and gravels, sub bases, ready-mixed concrete, concrete blocks, concrete paving and kerbs. The firm began manufacturing concrete blocks in the 1960s and now supplies throughout Scotland and the North of England. It initially began manufacturing blocks using a mobile plant but has since progressed to the use of a modern static plant.
As a prior customer, Hoddam Contracting is said to have been confident in its decision to select Rapid to update its previous static plant. The company’s existing plant had reached the stage where it was requiring regular maintenance, so the decision was made to upgrade to a more modern, cost-effective solution. Enter Rapid, who three years prior had supplied Hoddam Contracting with two new cement silos. Pleased with Rapid’s workmanship, Hoddam Contracting selected Rapid for the static plant update.
Rapid updated every aspect of the plant, with the exception of the recently supplied silos as previously mentioned. The extensive upgrade work comprised an almost entirely new plant replacement, including bins, weigh belts, mixer platform, an R3000 Rapid pan mixer, CWH water weigher and PIL control system. Rapid worked closely with Hoddam Contracting at each stage of the process, troubleshooting any issues, to ensure that the plant was installed and running to its absolute satisfaction.
Rapid’s static batch plant range is specifically designed for ready-mixed concrete and precast producers. Each plant is supplied pre-wired and in modular sections, minimising site installation. Erection and commissioning of the plant can occur in as little as three days. Fitted with a Rapid R3000 pan mixer, giving an output of 3m³ per batch, the Rapidmix 90B offers the potential for readymix, block or precast production from a single plant. The Rapid 90B is capable of achieving outputs of up to 70m3 per hour in continuous production.
Rapid’s mixing technology expertise spans almost 50 years. The firm manufactures a comprehensive range of pan, planetary and twin shaft concrete mixers, mobile continuous mixing plant and mobile and static batching plant. Each Rapid machine is produced in its 4,645m² purpose built factory. Rapid incorporates lean manufacturing, and possesses the latest, most technologically advanced equipment. Quality and longevity are said to be at the very heart of Rapid’s machinery.
Commenting on Hoddam Contracting’s purchase, Peter Murray, the company’s operations manager, said: “Having previously dealt with Rapid on a couple of smaller projects and been very happy with the service and quality they delivered, it was difficult to go past them when we were considering the new plant. The guys are very efficient and easy to deal with and our new plant is far quicker and more advanced than what we had previously.”
Jarlath Gilmore, Rapid’s sales and marketing director, said: “We are delighted to work again with Hoddam and appreciate that based on previous experience they have chosen Rapid for the new project. Rapid focuses on manufacturing plant that will deliver performance in-line with customers’ requests and are proud of the customer support we provide to back this up, making our customers come back again and again.”
At
The new Carmix 3500 TC is said to be a key development in making Carmix a real mobile concrete mixer name. The new machine is instantly recognisable thanks to its innovative design with rounded lines, although its technological core is what the company claims makes all the difference.
A new electronic dosing system for ingredients is standard supplied for this model: the Concrete Mate allows easy and intuitive creation and management of up to 20 mix-designs with 99 different components, taking into account the moisture content of the materials involved. Furthermore, on this model Carmix has introduced Promix: a genuine laboratory, which, by means of a stainless steel probe in the concrete mixer, allows the operator to instantly control key elements in the production process, including slump, temperature and volume. It can be considered a real mobile concrete mixer, since it can be fitted with an automatic dosing system for additives for preparing any type of concrete required.
In 2017, in addition to traditionally focusing its attention on the Latin America market, Carmix intends to develop its growing interest in the North American market. Due to their geographical size, Canada and especially the USA are seen by the company as offering excellent potential for its products.
Optimised processes and latest technologies are both said to be key to
For the TOWERMIX 3000 + 1500 ST D10 875 V mixing plant to achieve optimum concrete qualities, two counter current planetary mixers installed in the centre of the plant, are said to be able to produce 3000 l and 1500 l hardened concrete/batch. The plant comprises ten chambers capable of housing up to 875m³ of aggregates and a store for seven different kinds of cement situated on a job site. Weighing is carried out by a weighing machine and a state-of-the-art microprocessor control ensures precise controlling of all processes of the mixing plant.
For environmental protection, the TOWERMIX 3000 + 1500 ST D10 875 V plant is provided with innovative recycling equipment for residual concrete. Derived from the mixer trucks and the prefab element production, this residual concrete can be reused in the mixing process.
The different aggregates are delivered by lorries and unloaded into the concrete mixer truck hopper. The tower is filled by a discharge conveyor belt and a bucket elevator especially designed by SBM. Filling the cement store is said to be very easy due to a central blowing station at the silo building. Two extra-wide lanes ensure quick loading of the mixer trucks to cart off the produced concrete.
As with all other plants, SBM says it has made sure that TOWERMIX is easily accessible. The operators can reach the mixing area directly from the control room and all other service levels can be quickly accessed by the comfortable stair tower. Spare or wear parts can be replaced easily and simply due to an integrated crane. It is very simple to install technical upgrades of the plant such as fibre dosing. Full production even at low temperatures is said by SBM to be no issue for TOWERMIX. A heating system installed in the plant consisting of a warm-air heating system for the ten different aggregates as well as a water heating system for both mixers ensures the required concrete temperatures to facilitate smooth year-round operation of the plant.
Due to optimum logistics and capacity planning, the design of the components, and the joint planning of the three-storey company building, a TOWERMIX 3000 + 1500 ST D10 875 V turnkey and ready-for-operation plant solution is said to be performing well for Traub, a producer of prefab and pre-stressed concrete parts based in Aalen, Southern Germany.
The company’s managing director and owner, Franz Traub, said: “Our old plant had to be replaced. It has been especially important to us that the new investment fulfils all state-of-the-art requirements of modern concrete technology and that it can be perfectly integrated into our works. We have been convinced by the complete performance of our partner SBM, and we are very satisfied with the production result.”
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