Controllable Cutoff Bar for Uneven Concrete Distribution
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing concrete block manufacturing processes struggle to consistently achieve a uniform textured surface on blocks, particularly when the textured surface is oriented perpendicular to the direction of feedbox travel, leading to uneven concrete distribution and incomplete texture formation.
Innovation Solution
An automated concrete block machine with a controllable cutoff bar system that adjusts the distance between the cutoff bar and the mold cavity's top, allowing for varying concrete depths across the mold cavity's surface, ensuring even concrete distribution and complete texture formation by controlling the movement of the cutoff bar relative to the feedbox's direction.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If a fixed cutoff bar is used to scrape excess concrete, then the block formation process is simple and efficient, but the textured surface becomes incomplete and block height becomes uneven when the textured surface is perpendicular to feedbox travel direction
Solution Approach 1:
The cutoff bar is transformed from a fixed component to a movable one, capable of adjusting its position vertically. The drive system enables the cutoff bar to move between retracted and extended positions, allowing dynamic control of concrete depth along the textured surface to ensure complete texture formation while maintaining uniform block height.
Solution Approach 2:
The position of the cutoff bar is changed as a controllable parameter. By adjusting the cutoff bar's vertical position through the drive system, the depth of concrete remaining in the mold cavity varies in a desired fashion, directly controlling the completeness of textured surface formation and uniformity of block height.
2Manufacturing precision
If the cutoff bar is made narrower at edges to compensate for concrete settling, then edge concrete depth increases, but the solution fails when textured surfaces are perpendicular to feedbox travel direction
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of using a statically shaped cutoff bar with fixed narrow edges, the invention employs a dynamically positioned cutoff bar that can adjust its vertical location. This dynamic control system adapts to different textured surface orientations by varying the cutoff bar position during the feedbox travel, ensuring proper concrete depth distribution regardless of whether the textured surface is parallel or perpendicular to travel direction.
3Productivity
If air pockets are forced out during compression/vibration, then concrete settles along side walls forming textured surfaces, but this causes incomplete texture formation and uneven block height
Solution Approach 1:
The cutoff bar position is adjusted in advance during the feedbox travel to account for the settling that will occur during compression and vibration. By pre-establishing the correct concrete depth distribution before compaction, the system compensates for the anticipated settlement, ensuring uniform block height and complete texture formation after the compression/vibration process.
Data Source
AI summary
An automated concrete block machine including a mold cavity, a feedbox driven between retracted and extended positions and depositing concrete in the mold cavity when at the extended position, a cutoff bar, and a drive system coupled to and driving the cutoff bar in a direction of movement of the feedbox such that a distance between at least a portion of the cutoff bar and a top of the mold varies so that the cutoff bar removes varying amounts of concrete deposited in the mold cavity so that a depth of concrete remaining in at least a portion of the mold cavity varies so as to be unevenly distributed in a desired fashion in the direction of movement of the feedbox.