Operation / working of concrete batching plant

Usually a stationary type concrete batching plant is bigger in size. Its operation is more or less similar to the mobile version. Stationary version is preferred by customers who want to product concrete at a single place and portable version is preferred by people who want to shift sites more often.

Working principle of concrete batching plant is dependent on five primary functions as below:

Aggregate feeding – Aggregates and sand have to be fed into the individual feeder bins.
Powder feeding – Powder here refers to cement, fly ash and additives. These are important components for binding of material.
Water – Water will help cement bind evenly with aggregates. Specific quantity of water is must for any ready mix.
Storage and conveyance – Storage and conveyance here refer to storage of cement, fly ash, etc. They have to hold up quantity in bulk and transfer small quantity by screw conveyor to the weighing hoppers.
Control system – Control system is very critical for any advanced machine. It makes operation fast and accurate.
Concrete batching plant process flow will start from the feeding of aggregates into individual bins. Size wise aggregates have to be fed into individual bins. These aggregates will be weighed individually as per the design set in the control panel. After weighing they will be transferred to the mixing unit. Above the mixing unit there are weigh hoppers for cement, additive and water. The job of the weigh hopper is to weigh and then transfer the contents into the mixing unit below. Cement is transferred to the weigh hopper by means of screw conveyor. Water is pumped up into the weigh hopper. After mixing for a specific time as set in the mixing unit, the mixer will discharge the contents into transit mixer or a concrete pump.

All the above processes are carried out carefully and systematically. Each process is carried out for a specific time frame. The time frame starting from the weighing of aggregates to the discharge of the ready mix material is known as a batch time.