Concrete material dispensing system

Abstract

A control system for a concrete plant adds intelligent capabilities in the concrete plant that may enhance safety, localize control of the concrete plant, and assist with troubleshooting. The control system may also enhance accuracy for determining an amount of mixed concrete dispensed, or amounts of concrete ingredients to dispense, and may eliminate the need for equipment used to verify the amount of mixed concrete or concrete ingredients dispensed.

1 . A distributed system for controlling and monitoring operations for a concrete plant having a central batch panel that outputs command signals, concrete plant equipment including a tank, a pump, and a flow meter, the pump and the flow meter both associated with and in fluid communication with the tank for dispensing concrete ingredients from the tank, and multiple sensors associated with the concrete plant equipment and transmitting operating signals representing an operating parameter or state of the concrete plant equipment, the distributed system comprising:
 a plurality of field boxes including first and second field boxes located remotely of the batch panel and proximate the concrete plant equipment, each of the field boxes including a digital processor, a memory, and a communications interface communicating with the batch panel, wherein each of the first and second field boxes receives command signals from the batch panel and translates the command signals to control signals for controlling respective first and second portions of the concrete plant equipment;   each of the field boxes receives operating signals from at least some of the sensors associated with the concrete plant equipment, records in its memory operating parameter data represented by the operating signals, and transmits to the batch panel a second signal representing at least some of the operating parameter data;   the first field box in communication with the pump for controlling the pump when the distributed system is connected with the concrete plant equipment; and   the first field box, when connected with the flow meter and the batch panel, receives operating signals from the flow meter including a series of metering pulses transmitted by the flow meter at a first rate, and the first field box is programmed to transmit the entire series of metering pulses to the batch panel at or below a predetermined maximum rate that is different from the first rate.   
     
     
         2 . A distributed system for controlling and monitoring operations for a concrete plant according to  claim 1 , wherein the first field box is further programmed to transmit the series of metering pulses to the batch panel at or below the predetermined maximum rate regardless of the rate at which metering pulses are received from the flow meter. 
     
     
         3 . A distributed system for controlling and monitoring operations for a concrete plant according to  claim 1 , wherein the first field box is further programmed to aggregate metering pulses received from the flow meter and to transmit the entire series of metering pulses to the batch panel at a second rate that is lower than the first rate at which the series of metering pulses are received by the first field box from the flow meter. 
     
     
         4 . A distributed system for controlling and monitoring operations for a concrete plant according to  claim 1 , wherein the first field box is further programmed to shape the metering pulses received from the flow meter before transmitting the metering pulses to the batch panel. 
     
     
         5 . A concrete material dispensing system, comprising:
 a central batch panel that outputs command signals;   concrete plant equipment for dispensing concrete ingredients;   sensors associated with the concrete plant equipment and transmitting operating signals representing an operating parameter or state of the associated concrete plant equipment;   a plurality of field boxes including first and second field boxes located remotely of the batch panel and proximate the concrete plant equipment, each of the field boxes including a digital processor, a memory, and a communications interface communicating with the batch panel, and each of the field boxes is in communication with one or more of the sensors and at least two components of the concrete plant equipment, wherein each field box receives command signals from the batch panel and translates the command signals to control signals;   the first field box communicates with and controls operation of a first portion of the concrete plant equipment using the control signals;   the second field box communicates with and controls operation of a second portion of the concrete plant equipment using the control signals; and   each of the field boxes receives operating signals from at least some of the sensors associated with the concrete plant equipment, records in its memory operating parameter data represented by the operating signals, and transmits to the batch panel a second signal representing at least some of the operating parameter data.   
     
     
         6 . A concrete material dispensing system according to  claim 5 , further comprising:
 a batch computer communicating with the field boxes;   wherein the field boxes translate and transmit the operating signals to the batch computer; and   the batch computer is programmed to create operational records for the equipment based on the operating signals.   
     
     
         7 . A concrete material dispensing system according to  claim 5 , wherein:
 the concrete plant equipment includes admixture dispensing equipment;   the admixture dispensing equipment includes a tank, and a pump and a flow meter both associated with and in fluid communication with the tank; and   the first field box communicates with the pump and the flow meter to send control signals to the pump and receive operating signals from the flow meter.   
     
     
         8 . A concrete material dispensing system according to  claim 7 , wherein:
 the first field box is connected to and controls the pump; and   the first field box receives operating signals from the flow meter including a series of metering pulses transmitted by the flow meter at a first rate, and the first field box is programmed to transmit the entire series of metering pulses to the batch panel at or below a predetermined maximum rate that is different from the first rate.   
     
     
         9 . A concrete material dispensing system according to  claim 8 , wherein the first field box is further programmed to aggregate metering pulses received from the flow meter and to transmit the entire series of metering pulses to the batch panel at a second rate that is lower than the first rate at which the series of metering pulses are received by the first field box from the flow meter. 
     
     
         10 . A concrete material dispensing system according to  claim 5 , wherein the each of the field boxes is programmed to receive input indicating a technician serviced at least one of the concrete plant equipment communicating with said field box, and to record when the service was performed. 
     
     
         11 . A concrete material dispensing system according to  claim 5 , wherein each field box has an address and the second signal includes a label indicative of the address of the field box that transmitted the second signal.