EP1982813B1

EP1982813B1 - Mobile concrete mixing plant and relative method of assembly

Info

Publication number: EP1982813B1
Application number: EP07425233A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Nicola Da Riol
Original assignee: Le Officine Riunite - Udine SpA
Current assignee: Le Officine Riunite - Udine SpA
Priority date: 2007-04-20
Filing date: 2007-04-20
Publication date: 2010-10-27
Anticipated expiration: 2027-04-20
Also published as: ATE485930T1; EP1982813A1; DE602007010099D1

Abstract

Mobile concrete mixing plant (10) and relative assembly method, wherein the plant comprises a supporting frame (11) which supports at least a mixer (12), and a loading member (13) to feed the mixer (12) with the inert materials necessary for the production of concrete, and wherein the supporting frame (11) maintains, in an operating condition, the mixer (12') at a height from the ground such as to allow to discharge the concrete from above into a heavy work vehicle. The supporting frame (11) comprises a plurality of parts (20, 21, 22) articulated to each other so as to be reciprocally configured to define both the operating condition and also a transport condition, in which the plant (10) has a contained bulk such as to be transportable on the road, with a standard transport vehicle.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention concerns a concrete mixing plant, of the bridge type, comprising a mixing member for the production of concrete. In particular, the present invention concerns a mobile plant, that is, selectively transportable with a bulk suitable for road transport with standard transport trucks, and able to be installed from one building site to another.
FR-A-2607053 discloses the features of the preamble of the main claims 1 and 7. Additional prior art is to be found in EP-A-0023338 and US-A-2002141851 .

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

A mobile concrete mixing plant is generally known, usable in a building site, and provided with a relative mixer, for the production of concrete.
This type of mobile plant comprises a relative supporting frame conformed so as to support the mixer at a height from the ground such as to allow the direct unloading from above into a heavy works vehicle, such as for example a truck on which a concrete mixer is mounted, a concrete pump or other.
The supporting frame is also normally able to support a rail-type loading member which allows to feed the mixer with the inert materials necessary for making the concrete, and a group of scales for the water/cement/additives.
For these reasons, the supporting frame of the known concrete mixing plant with a mixer usually has very large sizes that can reach and exceed 10 meters in height.
One of the main disadvantages of this known type of mobile plant derives from the difficulty and long times that it entails both during the transport step and also during the assembly on site.
In fact, it is known that to transport the known plant to a building site, or from one site to another, its supporting frame and the components associated with it are divided into pre-assembled sections, each having sizes such as to allow them to be loaded onto relative standard-size trucks. Each section is then moved individually.
This division and individual transport of the sections, however, entails long times to dismantle them and position them on the transport vehicles, and also high costs for managing the transport vehicles used.
Moreover, at the end of the transport operations, a step must be provided to install the known plant, in which the various sections have to be re-assembled. This step requires long intervention times, however, which can extend as long as 15, 20 working days, when the known plant is not productive, with a consequent increase in the management costs.
These disadvantages of the state of the art ere even more evident if the mobile concrete mixing plant is provided with a particularly bulky mixer, such as for example one with a double horizontal axis with a high load capacity, that is, about 2 m³ or more, where the overall sizes of the supporting frame are also greater.
One purpose of the present invention is to achieve a mobile concrete mixing plant with a mixer that can be transported and assembled more simply, quickly and economically than in the state of the art.
Another purpose of the present invention is to perfect an assembly method for a mobile concrete mixing plant that has reduced times and costs.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is set forth and characterized in the independent claims, while the dependent claims describe other characteristics of the invention or variants to the main inventive idea.
In accordance with the above purpose, a mobile concrete mixing plant according to the present invention comprises a supporting frame able to support at least a mixer and a rail-type loading member to feed the mixer member with the inert materials necessary to produce concrete.
In particular, the supporting frame is able to maintain the mixer, in an operating condition, at a height from the ground such as to allow the unloading from above of the concrete into a heavy work vehicle, such as for example a truck provided with a concrete mixer.
According to a characteristic feature of the present invention, the supporting frame comprises a plurality of parts articulated with respect to each other, able to be reciprocally configured to define both the operating condition and also a transport condition of the plant, in which it has a contained bulk such as to be transported by road, autonomously, or loaded onto a standard-size truck.
With the present invention we have the supporting frame and the relative components of the plant which are substantially in a single block, and do not have to be dismantled into different sections so as to be transported individually, but are transported assembled in the transport condition of the plant.
With the present invention we therefore have a reduction both in costs and also in times needed to transport the plant.
The solution according to the invention also allows to accelerate and simplify the operations to assemble the plant after it has been transported.
In fact, the articulation of the parts that make up the frame allows, simply and quickly, the reciprocal positioning of the latter between the transport condition and the operating condition.
The assembly of the concrete mixing plant according to the present invention provides at least a movement step, in which each part is reciprocally moved with respect to the part with which it is articulated, until a reciprocal operating position is reached, and at least an attachment step, in which the parts involved in the movement are attached to each other, for example by pins, in the reciprocal operating position reached, so as to consolidate the configuration in the operating condition of the plant.
In an advantageous form of embodiment of the present invention, the supporting frame is divided into three parts, hinged to each other, respectively a first base part on which a first segment of the loading member is mounted, a second part hinged to the first and on which a second segment of the loading member is mounted, and a third part hinged to the second and on which the mixer is mounted.
In this embodiment, the passage between the transport condition and the operating condition occurs simply by two movement steps and two reciprocal attachment steps.
In particular, this form of embodiment provides:

a first movement step in which the third part is raised so as to be rotated with respect to the second part, until a relative positioning of the mixer is reached with respect to the second part of the loading member;
a first attachment step in which the third part and the second part are reciprocally attached to each other to consolidate the positioning of the mixer with respect to the second part of the loading member;
a second movement step in which the second part is raised to be rotated with respect to the first part, until a relative positioning is reached of the second part of the loading member with the first part of the loading member; and
a second attachment step in which the second part and the first part are reciprocally attached to each other to consolidate the positioning of the second part of the loading member with the first part of the loading member.

Applicant has found that the above steps of the assembly method can be carried out using the normal operating equipment present in a building site, such as for example the cranes, taking about one working day to complete the work, instead of the 15-20 days as is necessary to assemble known concrete mixing plants.
Therefore, with the present invention, we obtain a considerable reduction in the times and costs of managing the concrete mixing plant, with an increase in the productivity thereof.
According to another form of embodiment of the present invention, the supporting frame comprises, associated with it, reciprocal attachment means, such as for example reinforcement beams, joining plates, reinforcements or other, able to determine the reciprocal attachment of the pars of the frame in the operating condition of the concrete mixing plant.
According to another form of preferential embodiment, a plurality of attachment brackets are provided, able to maintain, in the transport condition of the plant, the parts of the supporting frame reciprocally assembled in the transport condition. At least some of the attachment brackets are also able to be reciprocally assembled, in the operating condition of the plant, to define another segment, or pedestal, of the supporting frame.
This form of embodiment allows to further reduce the bulk and costs of transport.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of a preferential form of embodiment, given as a non-restrictive example with reference to the attached drawings wherein:

fig. 1 shows a concrete mixing plant according to the present invention in a transport condition;
figs. 2 to 12 show in sequence some operating assembly steps of the concrete mixing plant in fig. 1;
fig. 13 shows the concrete mixing plant in fig. 1 in an operating condition.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERENTIAL FORM OF EMBODIMENT

With reference to the attached drawings, a concrete mixing plant 10 according to the present invention comprises a supporting frame 11 on which are substantially mounted a mixer 12 for the production of concrete and a loading member 13 (figs. 12 and 13), to feed the inert materials to the mixer 12.
The mixer 12 in this case is of the type with a double horizontal axis, it has a load capacity of 2 m³, and is mounted on the supporting frame 11 so that in an operating condition of the frame 11, shown in fig. 12, the mixer 12 is at a height from the ground such as to allow the unloading from above of the concrete produced, into a common heavy work vehicle, such as a trailer truck with relative concrete mixer.
The loading member 13, on the contrary, is mainly mounted on one side of the supporting frame 11 and comprises a rail 15, a lifting trolley 16 and a loading hopper 17.
The loading hopper 17 is mounted on the supporting frame 11 in such a manner that, always in the operating condition, it is disposed so as to guide the feed of the inert materials inside the mixer 12.
The rail 15 extends along one side of the supporting frame 11 to connect the ground to the loading hopper 17.
The lifting trolley 16 is mounted sliding on the rail 15 to transport the inert materials from the ground to the positioning height of the loading hopper 17, and to tip them into it. In particular, the lifting trolley 16 is selectively movable along the rail 15 in a motorized manner, in this case, by means of a motor member 19, driven electrically, mounted at the end of the rail 15.
The supporting frame 11 comprises, according to a characteristic feature of the present invention, three different parts, respectively a first 20, a second 21 and a third 22, which are reciprocally connected in an articulated manner, so as to define, apart from the operating condition (fig. 12), also a transport condition (fig. 1) of the concrete mixing plant 10, in which the latter is entirely transported by means of a standard-size truck 18.
In this case, the first part 20 constitutes the supporting base of the concrete mixing plant 10 and, in the operating condition, is anchored to the ground. On the first part 20 an initial segment of the rail 15 and the lifting trolley 16 are mounted. Moreover, the first part 20 comprises a housing structure 23 for a possible electric command panel, not shown here.
The second part 21 is hinged to the first part 20 and on it a terminal segment of the rail 15 is mounted, with the motor member 19 that moves the lifting trolley 16, the loading hopper 17, and a feed unit 25 able to feed into the mixer 12 other components which, mixed with the inert materials fed by the loading member 13, allow to produce the concrete.
The third part 22 is hinged to the second part 21 and the mixer 12 is mounted on it.
With reference to figs. 1 and 13, and the sequence of figs. from 2 to 12, we shall now describe the method for assembling the concrete mixing plant 10 according to the present invention, from the transport condition to the operating condition.
As shown in fig. 1, the concrete mixing plant 10 according to the invention is in its transport condition and is mounted on a body of a truck 18 which transports it to a building site, or from one site to another.
In this condition, the three parts 20, 21 and 22 of the supporting frame 11 are folded so as to define a contained bulk, such as to be transportable on the road.
In particular, the first part 20 rests on the body of the truck 18, substantially in the same position in which it will be anchored to the ground in the operating condition.
The second part 21 is rotated with respect to the first part 20 around a first pivoting axis P1, so as to be substantially horizontal. In this condition, the motor member 19 is at least partly dismantled in order to contain the lateral bulk.
The third part 22 is rotated with respect to the second part 21 around a second pivoting axis P2, so as to be substantially adjacent to and co-planar with the first part 20. In particular, the third part 22 is pivoted also to relative supporting brackets 27 resting on the body of the truck 18 and attached, in the transport condition, with one end to the first part 20.
In this condition, a plurality of attachment brackets 26 are also provided, which allow to keep the three parts 20, 21 and 22 reciprocally connected securely in the transport condition. As will be explained in detail hereafter, the attachment brackets 26 are progressively dismantled from the three parts 20, 21 and 22, to allow the reciprocal rotation of the latter with respect to the relative pivoting axes P1 and P2.
As shown in fig. 2, the concrete mixing plant 10 is lifted from the body of the truck 18 by means of a crane, of which only the supporting cables are shown here, of the type commonly present in building sites, and positioned on the ground, to which it is then anchored, by means of suitable stakes, of a known type and not shown here. The motor member 19 is also installed in this preliminary step.
A first movement step of the method according to the invention is then started, in which after the third part 22 has been released from the crane and the relative attachment brackets 26 have been removed (figs. 3 and 4), the third part 22 is again attached by the crane and lifted upwards (fig. 5). The lateral bulk sizes of the plant 10 in the transport condition, made necessary by transport on the road, are such as to allow to use a standardized lifting cross beam, for example with an interaxis of about 2700 mm, which is normally provided with cranes commonly used.
The point of attachment of the lifting cross beam to the third part 22 is such as to cause the rotation of the latter both with respect to the relative supporting bracket 27, and also with respect to the second pivoting axis P2.
This movement also entails a slight rotation of the second part 21 with respect to the first part 20, around the relative pivoting axis P1.
The traction upwards of the cross beam is maintained until the rotation of the third part 22 with respect to the second part 21 takes the mixer 12 into contact with the loading hopper 17.
At the end of the first movement step a first attachment step is started (fig. 6), in which, maintaining the position reached by the third part 22 with respect to the second part 21, two join plates 29 are rotated, hinged to the second part 21, so as to stably connect the latter with the third part 22. Advantageously, the attachment brackets 26 which were previously removed are used, to promote the lifting and facilitate the movement of the join plates 29.
In this first attachment step the supporting brackets 27 are also removed (fig. 7), a discharge hopper 30 is attached below the mixer 12 (fig. 8), and the third part 22 is attached to the second part 21, by rotating and screwing relative reinforcement beams 28.
Subsequently, a pedestal 31 is made (fig. 9) by assembling the attachment brackets 26 and the supporting brackets 27 used to keep the three parts 20, 21 and 22 solidly together, in the transport condition.
The pedestal 31 is attached to the third part 22 (fig. 10) of the supporting frame 11.
Then a second movement step is started, in which the second part 21 is attached with the cross beam of the crane, and traction exerted upwards so as to determine the rotation of the second part 21 with respect to the first part 20, around the first pivoting axis P1.
The traction exerted with the crane is maintained until reciprocal alignment is reached between the first segment and the second segment of the rail 15 (fig. 11).
This traction also allows the correct positioning of the pedestal 31 so as to support on one side the third part 22 and define, with the second part 21 and the first part 20, a bridge-like structure under which a vehicle with a concrete mixer can be positioned.
A second attachment step is then started, in which relative reinforcements 32 are rotated, pivoted to the first part 20, so as to shore up the third part 22, in correspondence with the join plates 29 (fig. 12).
In this case, a set-up step is also provided (fig. 13), in which around or on the supporting frame 11 galleries, handrails, steps and protections are mounted, generally denoted by the reference number 33, which allow access to and inspection of the operating components of the concrete mixing plant 10.
It is clear, however, that modifications and/or additions of parts or steps may be made to the concrete mixing plant 10 as described heretofore and to the relative assembly method, without departing from the field and scope of the present invention.
For example, it comes within the field of the present invention to provide that the plant 10 comprises at least a pair of wheels rotatably associated with the supporting brackets 27, in the transport condition, so that the concrete mixing plant 10 does not have to be positioned on the body of the truck 18 to be transported, but can function autonomously as a trailer to the tractor of the truck 18. In this alternative embodiment, a drawbar is associated with the concrete mixing plant 10 in the transport condition, which allows the articulated attachment to the tractor of the truck 18.
It is also clear that, although the present invention has been described with reference to specific examples, a person of skill in the art shall certainly be able to achieve many other equivalent forms of concrete mixing plant, and relative assembly method, having the characteristics as set forth in the claims and hence all coming within the field of protection defined thereby.

Claims

Mobile concrete mixing plant comprising a supporting frame (11) able to support at least a mixer (12), and a loading member (13) to feed said mixer (12) with the inert materials necessary for the production of concrete, and wherein said supporting frame (11) is able to maintain, in an operating condition, said mixer (12) at a height from the ground such as to allow to discharge said concrete from above into a heavy work vehicle, characterized in that said supporting frame (11) comprises three parts (20, 21, 22) articulated to each other so as to be reciprocally configured to define both said operating condition and also a transport condition, in which said plant has a contained bulk such as to be transportable on the road, on a single truck wherein said three parts comprises a first base part (20) on which at least a first portion of said loading member (13) is mounted, a second part (21), hinged to said first part (20) in a first pivoting axis (P1), on which at least a second portion of said loading member (13) is mounted, and a third part (22), hinged to said second part (21) in a second pivoting axis (P2), on which at least said mixer (12) is mounted.
Plant as in claim 1, characterized in that said loading member (13) comprises a rail (15), a lifting trolley (16) mounted sliding on said rail (15) in order to transport said inert materials, and a loading hopper (17) positioned, in said operating condition, in such a manner as to guide the feed of said inert materials inside said mixer (12).
Plant as in claims 1 and 2, characterized in that on said first part (20) of said three parts both an initial segment of said rail (15) and said lifting trolley (16) are mounted, and in that on said second part (21) of said three parts a terminal segment of said rail (15), said loading hopper (17) and a feed unit (25) able to feed into said mixer (12) other components for the production of concrete are mounted.
Plant as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said supporting frame (11) comprises reciprocal attachment means (28, 29, 32) to determine the reciprocal attachment of said parts (20, 21, 22) in said operating condition.
Plant as in any claim hereinbefore, characterized in that said supporting frame (11) comprises a plurality of brackets (26, 27) to keep said parts (20, 21, 22) reciprocally constrained in said transport condition.
Plant as in claim 5, characterized in that at least some of said brackets (26, 27) are able to be reciprocally assembled in said operating condition, so as to define a pedestal (31) of said supporting frame (11).
Method for the assembly of a mobile concrete mixing plant having a supporting frame (11) to support at least a mixer (12), and a loading member (13) to feed said mixer (12) with inert materials necessary for the production of concrete, and wherein said supporting frame (11) is able to maintain, in an operating condition, said mixer (12) at a height from the ground such as to allow to discharge said concrete from above into a heavy work vehicle, characterized in that, starting from a transport condition, in which said plant (10) has a contained bulk such as to be transportable on the road, on a single truck said method comprises at least a movement step and at least an attachment step, wherein said movement step and said attachment step comprise:
- a first movement sub-step in which a third part (22) of said parts, on which said mixer (12) is mounted, is rotated around a second pivoting axis (P2) with respect to a second part (21) of said parts, on which at least a first segment of said loading member (13) is mounted, until a relative operating positioning is reached of said mixer (12) with respect to said first segment of the loading member (13);

- a first attachment sub-step in which said third part (22) and said second part (21) are reciprocally attached to each other in order to consolidate the operating positioning of said mixer (12) with respect to said first segment of the loading member (13);

- a second movement sub-step in which said second part (21) is rotated around a first pivoting axis (P1) with respect to a first part (20) of said parts, on which at least a second segment of said loading member (13) is mounted, until a relative operating positioning is reached of said first segment with respect to said second segment of the loading member (13); and

- a second attachment sub-step in which said second part (21) and said first part (20) are reciprocally attached to each other in order to consolidate the operating positioning of said first segment with respect to said second segment of the loading member (13).