Globally our environment comprises structures built to perform a meet different requirements including residential, commercial, retail, recreational and service infrastructure. Whilst, millions of tons of construction materials are deployed annually the quality control procedures in many instances have not changed to reflect today's demands. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide construction companies, engineering companies, infrastructure owners, regulators, etc. with means to automated testing/characterization of construction materials during at least one of its manufacture, deployment in construction and subsequent infrastructure life. It would be further beneficial for such automated methods to exploit self-contained data acquisition/logging modules allowing them to be employed with ease at the different points in the life cycle of a construction material and/or construction project.

A vehicle CO.sub.2 capture and utilization system includes a concrete mixer vehicle and a vehicle exhaust capture system. The concrete mixer vehicle comprises a vehicle exhaust and a mixer tank. The vehicle exhaust capture system is located onboard the concrete mixer vehicle. Additionally, the vehicle exhaust capture system includes one or more fluid pathways that fluidly couple the vehicle exhaust and the mixer tank.

A vehicle CO.sub.2 capture and utilization system includes a concrete mixer vehicle and a vehicle exhaust capture system. The concrete mixer vehicle comprises a vehicle exhaust and a mixer tank. The vehicle exhaust capture system is located onboard the concrete mixer vehicle. Additionally, the vehicle exhaust capture system includes one or more fluid pathways that fluidly couple the vehicle exhaust and the mixer tank.

A method performs evaluation of properties of a clay rod, with which a honeycomb structural body is produced. The method mixes raw materials to produce a clay, and extrudes the clay and compresses the extruded clay to produce a clay rod. The method performs NMR to detect at least one of a T1 relaxation time and a T2 relaxation time in each of a normal part and an abnormality part extracted from the clay rod. Each of the T1 relaxation time and the T2 relaxation time corresponds to a relaxation time of nuclear spins of water protons magnetically excited in each of the normal part and the abnormality part. The method performs the evaluation of uniformity of a mixed state and a compression state of the clay rod based on a difference in T1 relaxation time and T2 relaxation time between the normal part and the abnormality part.

A vehicle includes an engine, a drum, a drum drive system, and a control system. The drum drive system includes a pump configured to pump a fluid through a hydraulic system and a motor positioned to rotate the drum to agitate drum contents. The control system is configured to perform a calibration test to determine a baseline operating pressure of the fluid in the hydraulic system, perform a buildup detection test to determine a current operating pressure of the fluid in the hydraulic system, and determine that there is a buildup of the drum contents within the drum in response to a difference between the baseline operating pressure and the current operating pressure exceeding a threshold differential. In some embodiments, the calibration test and the buildup detection test are only performed if a temperature of the fluid exceeds a threshold temperature.

There is described a system generally having a rotatable drum rotatably for receiving fresh concrete, the drum having inwardly protruding blades mounted inside the drum which, when the drum is rotated in an unloading direction, force fresh concrete inside the drum towards a discharge outlet of the drum, at least one discharge outlet sensor disposed at the discharge outlet of the drum and being configured to sense the presence of fresh concrete at the discharge outlet as the drum rotates in the unloading direction; and a controller communicatively coupled with the at least one discharge outlet sensor, the controller being configured for performing the steps of: receiving a signal from the at least one discharge outlet sensor indicative of the presence of the discharged fresh concrete at the discharge outlet as the drum rotates in the unloading direction; and determining at least one parameter based on the received signal.

A vehicle includes a chassis, tractive elements coupled to the chassis, an electric motor coupled to the chassis and coupled to the tractive elements such that the electric motor drives the tractive elements to propel the vehicle, an accessory module coupled to the chassis and coupled to an output of the electric motor. The accessory module is configured to receive mechanical energy provided by the electric motor and provide at least one of electrical energy or fluid energy.

Disclosed is a method for determining volume of a concrete mix load in a mixer drum based on use of an in-and-out sensor probe which submerges into and exits from the concrete during drum rotation and which provides data to a processor used for calculating volume based on the data. To provide for concavity, convexity, and/or cascading surface flow effects that can hinder accurate determination of the concrete load volume, the processor may be configured to compare original batch volume and/or rheology of the concrete load monitored during drum rotation. The calibration of load volume value, highly useful for monitoring or admixture dosing purposes, can be done based on comparison of real-time data with historic data gathered over time and stored in processor-accessible memory. Further exemplary embodiments also take into account the speed and/or tilt of the drum (due to roadway conditions), concrete mix design, and other factors.

A vehicle includes a rolling chassis structure and a working component coupled to the rolling chassis structure. The rolling chassis structure includes a chassis, a non-working component, and a control interface. The non-working component is coupled to the chassis and is configured to facilitate transit operations for the rolling chassis structure. The control interface is disposed in a cab area of the chassis. The control interface is communicably coupled to the non-working component and is configured to control operation of the non-working component. The working component is configured to move relative to the chassis and is communicably coupled to the control interface. The control interface is configured to control movement of the working component.

A vehicle system includes a controller configured to acquire environment data, acquire GPS data including information regarding characteristics of a route between an initial location of a vehicle and a destination for the vehicle, receive an initial property of drum contents within a mixing drum of the vehicle, receive a target property for the drum contents, operate a drum drive system of the vehicle at a first drive speed determined based on the initial property, the target property, the environment data, and the GPS data, receive a signal from a mixture sensor indicative of a current property of the drum contents at a current location of the vehicle different than the initial location, and adjust the first drive speed of the drum drive system to a second drive speed where the second drive speed is determined based on the target property, the current property, updated environment data, and updated GPS data.