Carousel plant

Pallet circulation system or carousel plant is a highly automated system allowing for the mass production of reinforced concrete precast elements having a straight surface and a high level finishing, as sandwich walls, solid walls, double-walls and slabs.

The process is organized in areas or steps of work. This enables the skilled workers to get specialized in each step of the work, thereby optimizing production in terms of:

  • optimization of material flow
  • mechanization and automation of the different work processes;
  • planning and controlling production;
  • maximization of the product quality.

By binding the different work phases and determining the work areas, materials and equipment are made available only in specific places, thus reducing the work flow.

Details:

  • daily production output: from 150 to 2.200 sq. mt.
  • production width: from 1.800 to 4.500 mm.
  • element max. length 15.000 mm.
  • element max. weight: 22 Ton.

Components

The process is organized in areas or steps of work

01.

Pallet

Pallet for manufacturing concrete flat elements.

Production pallets (trays) of steel material, from steel plate of 10 mm. thickness, with plain surface, resistant to vibrations. The steel can be smoothed and polished to get the best quality on the concrete element surface.
Supporting structure manufactured from transverse and lengthwise beams of huge thickness.
The pallets are moved from one station to the next by driving and idle wheels.

02.

Pallet cleaning and oiling system

Set of equipment to perfectly clean the pallets and spray the demoulding agent. .

The pallet’s surface is roughly cleaned through scraping screed, then in depth through rotating roll brushes. Adjustable and swivelling nozzles spray oil on the steel plate and side elements.
Such operations are pivotal to ensure a top quality finishing of the concrete panel surface.

03.

Robot

The robot places the magnetic casting separators onto the pallet, take them to the warehouse; it automatically marks the position of the inserts.

The robot picks up from the warehouse and lays the magnetic shutters onto the pallets, while accurately activating the magnets as well. It consists of a self-propelling cart with mechanical head and pneumatic pincers with orthogonal movements X-Y-W-Z. All movements are managed by high-performance engines, Bruschless type, with fast gear-motors with rectified profile, with spiral Gleason couple.

04.

Plotter

The plotter reads CAD data and marks every contour on the pallet surface using water-soluble paint. This incredibly increases the level of automation.

The plotter reads CAD data and marks the element contours on top of the pallet surface using a water-soluble paint. This incredibly increases the level of automation.

05.

Warehouse for the magnetic casting separators

Stacking area for the magnetic side-elements and casting-separators, designed for their automatic pick-up by the robot device.

Flexibility in warehouse organization permits further completion or change when arranging the warehouse.

06.

Components to provide pallet circulation

Wheeled support for lengthwise and transverse pallet movement within the limits of the circulation line. Automation by means of a specific software.

The whole installation is controlled by special software and hardware, specifically developed for this application.

07.

Vibrating-compacting system

Vibrating station for compacting the concrete elements.

Compaction of concrete with horizontal shaking system, using low frequency or high frequency vibration with inverter control system suitable to any type of product.

08.

Concrete distributor

Concrete distributor for casting concrete onto the pallets, which have been previously made ready with all the necessary reinforcement hardware.

The dosing device is usually fed by a flying wagon (concrete shuttle) or a concrete bucket. The machine is equipped with outfalls controlled singularly or in pairs.
The device ensures speed and precision of unloading with any type of concrete.
We can provide for a machine with any unloading system, either cochlea’s type or with helical mixer.
The machine can be activated automatically or manually.

09.

Leveling system by leveling bar

Vibrating-leveling bar leaning onto the formwork shutters, to level the fresh concrete.

Leveling of the fresh concrete is carried out by an oscillating-levelling bar spreading and smoothing the concrete, which can be applied onto the concrete distributor or can be installed separately at some independent position.

10.

Double wall turning device 0°/180°

Double-wall turning device 0° -180° necessary to turn upside-down the cured element and lay it onto the fresh one just cast.

Used to tilt the steel pallet carrying the upper wall panel and to place the same onto the underlying pallet carrying the lower wall panel made of fresh concrete, in order to manufacture multi-layered wall panels and also to make them steady at vibration stage.

11.

Elevator for curing chambers

Pallet elevator to lift the trays up to the inserting/extraction slot height.

The elevator lifts the pallets onto the required rack and automatically moves them inside and outside the chambers.

12.

Curing chambers

Heated warehouses allowing for accelerated curing of the fresh concrete elements.

The curing chambers make it possible to optimize the available space, as the pallets are stacked on top of each other inside a heater indoor environment for the purpose of accelerating the concrete curing process.

13.

Magnetic casting separators cleaning and oiling system

Equipment for cleaning and spraying the demoulding agent, especially designed for the casting separators and / or the magnetic shutters.

The magnetic casting separators are moved on the conveyor, cleaned and oiled, ready for next use.

14.

Smoothing system

Surface polishing system by bladed-trowel device.

Smoothing the semi-dry concrete allows to polish the panel upper side, thereby obtaining perfectly smooth concrete surfaces.

15.

Demoulding area for the magnetic casting separators

Casting separators are removed from the pallet using demoulding crane equipped with pincers to speed up the demoulding process.

The automatic lifting pincers, necessary for demoulding the manufactured items from the trays, can be managed automatically using specific software.

16.

Pallet tilting device 0°/ 80°

Tilting platform to turn the cured concrete element into vertical position.

The turning device consists of a tipping frame to turn the cured manufactured items into a vertical position, so that they are demoulded from pallets.
The demoulded items are then carried outside and stacked in a vertical position.

17.

Magnetic systems

Various series of shutters and casting separators with integrated magnets.

These magnetic systems do include base shutters and extensions / upswings to be screwed onto the base shutters, to manufacture wall panels of different heights. This ensures the best versatility and flexibility in using them, moreover it makes them compatible with robot operation.

Precast elements

By these precasting technological solutions you can manufacture precast elements such as the following:

Solid wall panels

Double-wall panels

Sandwich / multi-layer panels

Slabs