Concrete Pump

Concrete pump is a kind of concrete conveying equipment which can continuously convey concrete to pouring construction site through horizontal or vertical pipelines.

It uses a motor or diesel engine as power used extensively in transferring liquid concrete by pumping it to the job site.

The significant use of concrete pumps help in placing concrete quickly, even in the non- accessible areas.

Types of Concrete Pump:

Boom or truck-mounted concrete pump:

This type of concrete pump is appropriate for long roads and highway projects as it’s more significant in size.

It’s often mounted on a truck or a semi-trailer and it has a remote-controlled automatic robotic arm known as boom used to place the concrete as per the requirements properly.

This concrete pump can navigate any kind of obstacle when it moves, it is also called a truck-mounted boom pump.

These pumps can be used at large construction sites or at places which have restricted space around the pouring areas.

These pumps can save substantial labour costs due to the presence of a multi-purpose robotic arm.

Trailer, line, or stationary concrete pump:

This concrete pump is smaller in size, hence it is used for smaller jobs- preparing ground slabs, sidewalks.

It is mounted on a trailer or attached to a truck but a concrete pump has a flexible rubber or steel hoses that are attached to the outlet of the machine.

These hoses can be joined to any other extension hoses to reach any place where the concrete needs to be kept but it has less mobility than a boom pump.

They pumped the concrete at a lower rate so they are best for smaller projects.

Specialized usage concrete pump:

These pumps are used for specialized places such as mines and tunnels.

These types of pumps are not used regularly because they are expensive and work on a dedicated mechanism, they are either skid-mounted or rail-mounted.

Direct-acting concrete pumps:

These pumps are direct-acting, horizontal piston pump with semi-rotary valves.

Operation of these pumps are simple, the concrete is poured into the pump by gravity and partly by suction, due to the reciprocating motion of the horizontally acting piston.

The semi-rotary valves are open and closed alternately, a suction pressure of 0.08 N / mm2 is developed in the pumping cylinder.

Concrete needs to flow freely through the full cross-section of the suction pipe and potential blockages due to large aggregates should be avoided.

The diameter of the suction pipe must be three times the maximum size of the aggregate in the concrete to be pumped and the width of the suction pipe controls the overall size.

The inlet valve stroke opens during the suction stroke and concrete is self-confessed into the pumping cylinder while the outlet valve remains closed.

During the delivery stroke, the outlet valve opens and the inlet valve closes, then concrete is pushed into the delivery pipeline.

The concrete moves in a series of impulses and the delivery pipe remain filled.

Squeeze Concrete Pump:

These pumps are small portable punching pumps.

The rotating blades feed the concrete from the collecting hopper into a flexible pipe connected to the pumping chamber under a vacuum pressure 0.08 N / mm2 approximately.

The vacuum assures that the pipeline continues to be cylindrical in shape, in addition to being squeezed by rotating rollers, which allows a continuous flow of concrete.

These two rotating rollers placed on the global drive squeeze thus pushing the concrete into the delivery pipe.

Although big corporations may invest in a brand new concrete pump, small and medium business owners generally opt for used concrete pumps.

Some of the more popular brands of concrete pumps include putzmeister, schwing, and alliance (popular in the US).

Advantages of Concrete Pump:

Following are merits of using concrete pumps in construction projects:

1. Ability to place concrete at far-off locations of a site, especially at heights.
2. Ability to change the location of pouring.
3. In specific projects, daily concrete of small quantities is required to be done at various places. e.g. Bridge projects/ dam projects.
4. Extremely low dependency on laborers.
5. Fast transportation of concrete from output point (transit mixer/ mixing m/c) to pouring point.
6. Where other concrete transporting mechanisms like crane/ trolley etc. are not feasible.
7. The pump does not depend on the availability of light, while other means of transporting concrete to placing points like crane or trolley require light for safe operation.
8. Also, prevent loss of moisture during transport.
9. The pump can be used for concreting at various sites, thus reduces the rental cost of machinery.
10. It is suitable for sites where concrete is needed to be placed across a water channel; in such situations, other settings and transporting mechanisms get too costly.
11. The placing capacity is flexible.
12. It may be designed as per the quantity of concrete needed to be poured.

Disadvantages of concrete pump:

Following are demerits of using concrete pumps in construction projects:

1. The overall price will be more expensive than other pumps.
2. The budget for the construction private house is much lower than a commercial building, hence best suited for commercial buildings.

Uses of Concrete Pumps:

• It is widely used in high-rise buildings, municipal construction, electric power, transportation, other industrial buildings which need high grade, strict quality requirements and long conveying distance in coagulation.
• Especially the construction of the narrow sites.

Also read: Reciprocating Pump, Submersible Pump & Centrifugal Pump

Conclusion:

A concrete pump is a machine used to pump liquid concrete, also known as a boom concrete pump because it uses a boom to hold the concrete correctly.