A mixer drum driving apparatus includes an auxiliary fluid pressure pump that is provided independently of a fluid pressure pump and is capable of supplying a working fluid to a fluid pressure motor so as to cause a mixer drum to perform agitation rotation, a plurality of motors configured to drive the auxiliary fluid pressure pump to rotate, and a control unit that controls rotation of the mixer drum. When an engine is stopped during the agitation rotation of the mixer drum, the control unit drives the auxiliary fluid pressure pump to rotate by operating the plurality of motors selectively in accordance with a load of the mixer drum.

System and method of the invention involves use of a sensor-containing body which is mounted and/or rotatably disposed along the longitudinal rotational axis of a concrete mixer drum at the close end, the sensor-containing body being connected to a conduit for introducing water, chemical admixture, gas, and/or cleansing fluid through the closed end of the drum into the mixer drum. Numerous heretofore unrealized combinations of advantages and benefits are provided within the concrete industry by the invention.

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 drum control system includes a mixture sensor and a controller. The mixture sensor is configured to be positioned within a drum to engage with drum contents to facilitate acquiring drum contents data indicative of a property of the drum contents. The controller is configured to control a drive system to rotate the drum at a first, unmixed speed following receipt of the drum contents by the drum where the drum contents including ingredients of a concrete mixture; acquire the drum contents data from the mixture sensor and monitor the property of the drum contents as the drum rotates; and control the drive system to rotate the drum at a second, mixed speed in response to determining that the property of the drum contents indicates that the ingredients have been sufficiently mixed.

An apparatus and method for producing fluid concrete include a first mixer configured to mix at least water and cement so as to make a low fluidity concrete having consistency class ≤S2, a truck mixer that can be configured to mix the low fluidity concrete with further water so as to make a fluid concrete having consistency class ≥S2, and a water supply and at least a cement supply configured so that the apparatus or method can produce fluid concrete. The apparatus and method include a control and adjustment unit, connected to the water supply and at least to the cement supply, configured to selectively control and adjust the introduction of water and cement into the first mixer and the introduction of further water into the cement mixer.

A system includes a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium has instructions stored thereon that, upon execution by a processor of a portable user device, cause the processor to acquire data from a reader of the portable user device regarding an identifier on a machine, perform a verification process to verify that a user of the portable user device has access to the machine based on the identifier, wirelessly connect the portable user device to the machine in response to the user being verified to access the machine, display a control interface for the machine on a user interface of the portable user device, receive a user input through the control interface regarding operation of a controllable component of the machine, and provide a command to the machine based on the user input to facilitate remote operation of the controllable component of the machine.

A concrete mixer vehicle includes a mixer drum, a chute, and a controller. The mixer drum has an inner volume configured to hold a mixture for transportation and placement. The chute is configured to receive mixture exiting the mixer drum and direct the mixture. The controller is configured to receive a selected mode of operation of the mixer drum and the chute. The selected mode of operation is selected from a set of multiple modes of operation of the mixer drum and the chute. The controller is configured to adjust an operation of at least one of the mixer drum or the chute to cause at least one of the mixer drum or the chute to operate according to the selected mode of operation.

A method and system for initiating a majority percentage of chemical admixture dosage into a delivered concrete load preferably just before arrival of the concrete delivery truck at the delivery pour site, such that a maximized slump (or slump flow, or other slump characteristic) increase occurs just before discharge/pour. The invention employs a concrete slump management system having a processor that is programed to consider time of pour (discharge) and stored data that includes dosage response (change of slump characteristic) of the concrete mix due to past additions in the same type of concrete mix, and thus maximizes pre-pour increase in slump characteristic while minimizing or avoiding the risk of overshooting the slump target as well as limiting the time required for adjusting concrete to attain the target slump value at the jobsite.

A computer-implemented method and a computer-based product and monitoring system for contactless assessment of rheological properties of a fluid cement-based product, the method performing a first analysis which obtains the rotation speed of the mixing blades (31) of a truck-mounted concrete mixer drum (30) and detects the variation of the speed constituting a first parameter, performing a second analysis which obtains at least a sequence of images of the fluid product contained within the mixer drum (30), identifies particles, shapes, groups of particles, contours, and/or slope of the fluid product within the collection of sequential images, detects variations of speed and displacement direction of the particles and shapes, constituting a second parameter, performing a third analysis that detects a correlation between each first and second parameters from which the system calculates at least one parameter of rheological properties of the fluid product.

Volume of a concrete mix load in a rotatable mixer drum is determined using an in-and-out sensor probe system wherein the probe submerges into and exits from the concrete during mixer drum rotation and provides data to a processor used in the system for calculating volume of the concrete mix load based on the data. To take into consideration any concavity, convexity, and/or cascading surface flow effects that can hinder accurate determination of the concrete load volume, the processor is configured to compare original batch volume and rheology of the concrete load monitored during drum rotation. The calibration of load volume involves a comparison between real-time data and historic data stored in processor-accessible memory, and further take into account the speed and tilt of the mixer drum (such as caused by roadway conditions), the concrete mix design, and other factors.