A manufacturing method of a honeycomb structure including: a dry mixing step of dry-mixing raw materials to form the honeycomb structure by a batch treatment, a wet mixing step of adding a liquid including at least one selected from the group consisting of water, a surfactant, a lubricant and a plasticizer to a dry mixture obtained in the dry mixing step, to perform wet mixing, a kneading step of kneading a wet mixture obtained in the wet mixing step, and a forming step of extruding a forming material prepared in the kneading step, wherein in the dry mixing step, a used forming material passed through the forming step is added as a part of the raw material, to perform dry mixing, and the kneading step includes a liquid re-adding step of further adding the liquid in a process of kneading the wet mixture.

A device and a process for the continuous application of a refractory slurry to a surface incorporate a batch reactor (10) for the controlled mixing of the slurry, a product vessel (60) in communication with the batch reactor (10) to contain the mixed slurry, and a variable-rate spraying applicator or nozzle in communication with the product vessel and with an air supply. A controller (100) controls input to, output from, and the operation of, the batch mixer (10), and monitors batch production. The controller (100) monitors the amount of slurry contained in the product vessel (60). If the level of slurry in the product hopper is such that the product hopper cannot accommodate an additional batch of slurry, the controller interrupts batch production and resumes production when the product hopper can accept the contents of the batch reactor (10).

Process and system for managing a mix design catalog of a concrete producer that involves collecting slump curve data obtained during in-transit monitoring of delivered concrete loads made from a plurality of various mix designs, wherein each mix design is identified by a different identification code (regardless of whether components are different), clustering slump curve data having same movement characteristics according to assigned strength value, and selecting a mix design to produce, to display, or both to produce and to display, from among the two or more slump data curves of individual mix designs within the same data curve cluster. The selection is based on same movement characteristic and assigned strength value, and at least one factor relative to cost, performance, physical aspect, quality, or other characteristic of the concrete mix or its components. Exemplary methods for generating new mix designs are also set forth.

In a manufacturing method for manufacturing a dispersion body, a plurality of types of solid particles, water, and a liquid dispersant are mixed. In the manufacturing method, at least two types of the solid particles and at least one type of the dispersant that are selected based on a material type selection method are used, and at least an optimal amount of the dispersant that is determined based on an optimal amount determination method is added and mixed. The material type selection method is based on a Hansen solubility parameter distance to water, Hansen spheres of the solid particles, and a Hansen sphere of the dispersant.

A load measurement system for a mixer comprising a mixing drum configured to contain and mix concrete, a cradle adjacent to the mixing drum and configured to receive the mixing drum, and a load measurement device adjacent to the cradle and configured to determine the changes to a material property of the cradle due to the force exerted on the cradle by the load in the mixing drum. The load measurement system determines the amount of the load of concrete in the mixing drum based on the measured change to the material property of the cradle, which may include one or more of a material deformation, displacement, stress, strain, or the vibration of the cradle.

A device and method for measuring slump of concrete in a hopper feeding a concrete pump. A slump sensor generates a signal from either an ammeter to measure current from a power source feeding an electric motor being configured to rotate an agitator shaft or a pressure gauge configured to measure hydraulic pressure in a hydraulic drive hose passing between a hydraulic pump and a hydraulic motor configured to rotate the agitator shaft. A controlling computer includes a memory in which an operating range may reside, the operating range being a range from a lower slump signal value corresponding to a lower limit of slump value to an upper slump signal value. The controlling computer generates an alert signal when the slump sensor signal falls outside of the operating range. In one embodiment, the controlling computer stops the concrete pump when the alert signal is detected.

A mixer vehicle includes a mixer drum, a first acceleration sensor, a second acceleration sensor, and a controller. The first acceleration sensor is configured to produce first acceleration signals and the second acceleration sensor is configured to measure accelerations within the mixer drum to produce second acceleration signals. The controller is configured to receive the first acceleration signals from the first acceleration sensor and second acceleration signals from the second acceleration sensor. The controller is further configured to determine a presence of material within the mixer drum based on the first acceleration signals and the second acceleration signals. The controller is further configured to determine one or more properties of the material within the mixer drum based on the first acceleration signals and the second acceleration signals.

A system for a concrete mixer having a drum receiving fresh concrete therein. The system generally has: a sensor measuring a set of measurand values indicative of a measurand associated with at least one of the fresh concrete, the drum and components of the concrete mixer; and a controller communicatively coupled to the sensor, the controller performing the steps of: accessing the set of measurand values generated by the sensor; using a trained data processing engine stored on the non-transitory memory, at least one of determining a property value indicative of a property of the fresh concrete, determining a parameter value indicative of a parameter of the drum, and determining that the set of measurand values are indicative of some operating conditions of the concrete mixer; and outputting a signal based on said determining.

A method and system for concrete monitoring calibration using truck-mounted mixer drum jump speed data selectively assimilated from previous deliveries. The method involves measuring energy at a first drum speed and a second drum speed. Slump is calculated using low speed energy/speed/slump curve data, or pre-stored equation wherein slump is derived as a function of slope of the line. The energy, speed, slump relationship in the provided concrete is compared to at least two pre-stored data curves across drum speed ranges of 15 0.5 RPM-6 RPM and 6 RPM-20 RPM, to ascertain whether the provided concrete matches any of the stored curve data; either activating the monitoring system for all drum speed ranges where a match is confirmed or allowing the monitoring system to calculate slump only at low drum speeds.

The invention relates to a method for adjusting concrete rheology requiring only that load size and target rheology value be selected initially rather than requiring inputs into and consultation of a lookup table of parameters such as water and hydration levels, mix components, temperature, humidity, aggregate components, and others. Dosage of particular rheology-modifying agent or combination of rheology-modifying agents is calculated based on a percentage of a nominal dose calculated with reference to a nominal dose response (“NDR”) curve or profile. The NDR profile is based on a correlation between a rheology value (e.g., slump, slump flow, yield stress) and the rheology-modifying agent(s) dose required to change rheology value by one unit (e.g., slump change from 2 to 3 inches) such that exemplary methods can employ corrective dosing based on the NDR and the measured deviation by the system.