Factory visits to two pipe manufacturing plants in close proximity were organized immediately before the Precast Show in Orlando, Florida. On this occasion, the more than 200 participants were able to take a look behind the scenes.
In the course of the factory visits, the interested participants were led from Apopka, further in south-west direction, to the concrete factory of Hanson Pipe & Precast in Winter Haven. This plant is one facility of Hanson Pipe & Precast, the international building products company and one of the largest manufacturers of concrete products in North America with facilities throughout the United States and Canada, Hanson Pipe & Precast is always an interesting source for everything from storm drainage, retention structures and gravity pipe to precast bridges. The Winter Haven facility is manufacturing Elliptical RCP pipes and Round Class III RCP pipes as well as box culverts.
The Wiggert Twin Mixer MobilMat Mo3750-3750-3-PCS presents itself prominently in the center of the large building. The mixer was supplied and installed by Advanced Concrete Technologies, Greenland NH, in 2006. Inside aggregate bins with 4 compartment total aggregate storage are situated in center of building. Aggregate bins are charged automatically as needed by conveyor system, at approx. rate of 450 t/h, from aggregate scraper situated outside the building. Each scraper has maximum storage capacity of approx. 500 t and a scraping capacity of approx. 150 m3/h (196 t/h). Five 1050 BBL Cement silos are situated in center of building. Silos are fitted with continuous level indicators indicating 0-100 % level real time. Central dust collector is ground mounted for easy maintenance.
The plant is controlled by a PC based PCS Control system with integrated HydroMat automatic water correction system ensuring consistent w/C ratio batch to batch. PCS Control is delivered in factory finished out control room. Each Hawkeye machine has a remote call station integrated in operator panel for unattended control room opera- tion. Two Sand moisture probes automatically correct batch yield for aggregate moisture. The MobilMat plant also features a high pressure automatic mixer cleaning system for fast and safe mixer cleaning.
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