Compositions and methods are provided for a system in which liquid carbon dioxide, or a mixture of liquid and gaseous carbon dioxide, is converted to solid carbon dioxide by exiting an orifice at a sufficient pressure drop, e.g., for delivery of carbon dioxide to a concrete mixture in a mixer.

A mixer vehicle provided with a mixer drum mounted on a vehicle, the mixer drum being adapted to load uncured concrete includes a driving device for rotating the mixer drum and a loaded state detector for detecting whether the uncured concrete is loaded on the mixer drum or not. Rotation of the mixer drum by the driving device is stopped if the vehicle is in the stop state and the loaded state detector detects that the uncured concrete is not loaded on the mixer drum.

A transit mixer vehicle includes a chassis. Various vehicle components are mounted to the chassis. A mixer system for construction material is supported by the chassis. The mixer system includes a container and an agitator capable of stirring construction material disposed within the container. The transit mixer vehicle also includes a component communications system including a Controller Area Network (CAN) bus in communication with the plurality of vehicle components. A receiver is coupled with CAN bus. The receiver is operative to wirelessly receive instructions from a remote-control unit and direct at least one of the vehicle components based upon the instructions received from the remote-control unit.

A truck mixer including a mixing device, wherein the mixing device includes a rotatable mixing drum, an electric drive which is configured for controlling a rotational speed of the mixing drum, and a brake. The brake can be adjusted between a released state, in which rotation of the mixing drum is released, and a stopping state, in which the mixing drum is locked. The truck mixer is configured to lock the mixing drum automatically with the brake in an event of a fault of the electric drive.

A concrete mixer vehicle includes a mixer drum, an additive admixture system, and a controller. The additive admixture system includes an air inlet valve, a fluid valve, an air valve, and a pump. The controller is configured to operate the additive admixture system to transition the additive admixture system between an additive addition mode, a drain mode, and a system clear mode. The controller transitions the additive admixture system into the additive addition mode and operates the pump until a desired amount of an additive is added to the mixer drum, transitions the additive admixture system into the drain mode for a predetermined amount of time in response to the desired amount of additive being added to the mixer drum, and transitions the additive admixture system into the system clear mode for a predetermined amount of time to clear stagnant fluid or built up mixture from the additive admixture system.

A drum drive system includes a controller configured to control a prime mover, a variable displacement pump, and a variable displacement motor of the vehicle to provide a target drum speed for a drum of the vehicle. To provide the target drum speed, the controller having programmed instructions to (i) initially operate the variable displacement motor at a maximum motor displacement and operate the variable displacement pump at a pump displacement that provides the target drum speed without needing to actively manipulate a prime mover speed of the prime mover, (ii) increase the pump displacement and decrease a motor displacement without needing to actively manipulate the prime mover speed while still providing the target drum speed, and (iii) increase the prime mover speed if necessary to maintain the target drum speed in response to the pump displacement reaching a maximum pump displacement and the motor displacement reaching a minimum motor displacement.

A vehicle includes a chassis including a frame rail extending longitudinally, a tractive element coupled to the chassis, an electric motor coupled to the chassis, a shaft coupling the electric motor to the tractive element such that the electric motor is configured to drive the tractive element to propel the vehicle, the shaft extending longitudinally, and a water pump configured to provide a flow of water in response to receiving mechanical energy provided by the electric motor.

A vehicle includes a chassis, a drum assembly, and a control system. The drum assembly includes a drum configured to receive drum contents including at least one of ingredients and a mixture and a drive system coupled to the drum. The drive system is configured to rotate the drum to agitate the drum contents. The control system is configured to receive delivery data for the drum contents; receive at least one initial property of the drum contents; predict a delivery property for the drum contents based on the delivery data and the at least one initial property; receive en route data including at least one of mixture data, environment data, and GPS data; and update the predicted delivery property for the drum contents based on the en route data.

The method can determine a density of concrete based on the measured buoyancy of a buoy immersed in fresh concrete contained in a ready mix drum and rotatable therein as the drum is rotated, the method can include obtaining a first measurement of a force applied to the buoy while the buoy is being moved tangentially in the fresh concrete, obtaining a second measurement of a force applied to the buoy while the buoy is being moved tangentially in the fresh concrete by rotation of the cylindrical wall, obtaining an indication of the buoyancy of the buoy in the concrete including factoring out the yield effect based on at least the first measurement and the second measurement.

The system for determining a status of a valve being mounted in a liquid supply line of a concrete mixer and being actuatable via an actuator generally has: an actuator accelerometer mounted to the actuator and being adapted to measure an actuator position associated with a position of the valve; a reference accelerometer mounted to the concrete mixer and being adapted to measure a reference position fixed relative to the concrete mixer, the actuator position and the reference position being measured while the concrete mixer is fixed relative to the ground; a computing device adapted to receive the actuator and reference positions, the computing device being adapted to determine the status of the valve based on the actuator position, the reference position and calibration position data; and to generate status of the valve indicative of the determined status of the valve.