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.

There is described a method for determining a volume of fresh concrete being discharged from a dmm during a discharge, the drum being rotatable and having inwardly protruding blades mounted inside the drum which, when the drum is rotated in an unloading direction, force the fresh concrete towards a discharge outlet of the drum. The method generally has discharging a volume of the fresh concrete from the drum by rotating the drum in the unloading direction for a given number of discharge rotations; obtaining discharge flow rate variation data indicative of a discharge flow rate varying as function of discharge rotations; and determining a discharged volume value indicative of the volume of fresh concrete being discharged from the drum of the mixer truck during said discharge based on the given number of discharge rotations and on the discharge flow rate variation data.

At least one embodiment relates to a concrete mixing truck includes a chassis, a front axle and a rear axle coupled to the chassis, a lift axle coupled to the chassis and including a tractive element, a lift actuator coupled to the lift axle, a mixing drum rotatably coupled to the chassis, a fill level sensor coupled to the mixing drum and configured to provide a signal indicative of a fill level of a material within the mixing drum, and a controller. The lift axle is selectively repositionable between a lowered position in which the tractive element engages a support surface and a raised position. The controller is operatively coupled to the lift actuator and the fill level sensor and configured to control the lift actuator to reposition the lift axle into the lowered position in response to the fill level exceeding a threshold fill level.

A vehicle includes an engine, a drum, a drum drive system, and a control system coupled to the engine and the drum drive system. The drum drive system includes a pump and a motor. The pump is mechanically coupled to the engine and configured to pump a fluid through a hydraulic system. The pump has a variable pump displacement. The motor is fluidly coupled to the pump by the hydraulic system and positioned to drive the drum to agitate the drum contents. The motor has a variable motor displacement. The control system is configured to receive pressure data indicative of a pressure of the fluid within the hydraulic system, reduce the variable motor displacement in response to the pressure of the fluid being less than a threshold system pressure, and reduce a speed of the engine based on the reduction of the variable motor displacement.

A concrete mixer system includes a control system configured to provide a first input to a drum drive system to rotate a drum of a concrete mixer at a target speed while the drum is empty and clean, acquire operating data regarding an operating characteristic of the drum drive system to determine a baseline operating characteristic of the drum drive system in response to the first input, provide a second input to the drum drive system to rotate the drum at the target speed following one or more uses of the concrete mixer and while the drum is empty, acquire the operating data to determine a current operating characteristic of the drum drive system in response to the second input, and provide a buildup notification indicating that there is a buildup of drum contents within the drum in response to a difference between the baseline operating characteristic and the current operating characteristic exceeding a threshold differential.

A vehicle includes a chassis, an engine, a drum assembly, and a control system. The drum assembly includes a drum configured to receive drum contents 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 operate the drive system at a drive speed; receive data comprising at least one of (i) a drum speed command from a remote monitoring system, (ii) a signal from a mixture sensor configured to acquire mixture data indicative of a current property of the drum contents, (iii) the current property of the drum contents from the remote monitoring system, and (iv) an initial property of the mixture from at least one of a batching system, the mixture sensor, and a user input device; and adjust the drive speed of the drum based on the data.

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.

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.

A drum drive system includes a controller configured to selectively control an engine, a variable displacement pump, and a variable displacement motor of a vehicle to provide a target drum speed for a drum of the vehicle. To provide the target drum speed, the controller is configured 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 an engine speed of the engine; (ii) increase the pump displacement and decrease a motor displacement without needing to actively manipulate the engine speed while still providing the target drum speed; and (iii) increase the engine speed in response to the pump displacement reaching a maximum pump displacement and the motor displacement reaching a minimum motor displacement if necessary to maintain the target drum speed.

A mixing drum drive includes first, second, and third rotational speed reduction stages, an electric motor having a length similar to its diameter, a component for fastening the electric motor, and a bearing by which a component for fastening a mixing drum is rotatable. A component with a gear of the first rotational speed reduction stage is configured to be driven by the electric motor and a further component with a gear of the first rotational speed reduction stage drives a component with a gear of the second rotational speed reduction stage. A further component with a gear of the second rotational speed reduction stage drives a component with a gear of the third rotational speed reduction stage and a further component with a gear of the third rotational speed reduction stage drives the component for fastening the mixing drum.