Concrete plant with complex processes

Control technology made in Austria

Fig. 1 Headquarter of
company C.Bergmann.

Fig. 2 The concrete plant.

Fig. 3 Control unit of Baumgartner.

For several years now, the Austrian company Baumgartner Automation has made use of the bauma in Munich in order to draw attention to its know-how in terms of mixer and/or gravel processing control systems. Successfully: long since the Gaspoltshofen-based company is also internationally well-known for its BCS4 system. Recently, this system has found its way into the concrete plant of C. Bergmann, Linz/Traun (Austria).

Tailor-made for the requirements of the industry

Since the end of the 70s, Baumgartner Automation has been concerned with the characteristics of the construction industry. At that time, a neighborhood building company expressed its need of a control unit for the production of concrete pipes. The Gaspoltshofen-based company is, in the meantime, even well-known beyond the Austrian borders for its solutions. No matter whether a gravel processing plant in Dubai is concerned or the control system of a mixing plant in Germany, the experience and the expertise of the specialists are well in demand. „Our specialty is to provide complete solutions – from planning to distributors through to the software and installation on site. Moreover, we are in particular familiar with the things that really matter in the construction industry. We speak the language of the customer and he just needs a few sentences to explain us how he wants the system to be,“ discloses Johann Waldenberger, Managing Director of Baumgartner Automation GmbH. His company developed from a former electrical installation works to an internationally recognized specialist in control systems.

Recently, a BCS4 control system was supplied to the concrete factory of C. Bergmann. C. Bergmann as one of the largest and long-established building materials companies in Austria is operating in the fields of building materials / structural and civil engineering, tiles, glass, concrete as well as doors, windows and floors. C. Bergmann appreciates the BCS4 system, in particular, for being compact as well as for the fact that no computer is needed for visualization: „A Windows PC operating in an industrial environment over several years is likely to cause problems, which have not to be expected with this control system. It is supposed to operate at least fifteen or twenty years.“

The implemented BCS4 system has much work to do in Linz because here it comes to control a complex process comprising, among others, the following components:

» 1 mixer Omag 1500 liters with elevator

» 1 mixer Haarup 2250 liters with elevator

» 2 moisture measurement units in the mixer

» 10 aggregate silos with 1 Kukla weighing conveyor each, 3 of the silos with moisture probes

» 4 admixture silos via 4 admixture weighing units

» 4 cement silos via 2 cement silo weighing units

» 2 silica silos via 2 silica weighing units

» various distribution conveyor belts

» 1 mixer cleaning unit

» 2 water intakes strong-fine and cold-hot via water meter

» drive of a bucket conveyor of Rekers

» 20 retrieval units

ICB manufactures the entire standard program of concrete products in the own concrete factory and realizes special concrete structures and concrete elements according to customers‘ specifications. For this purposes, concrete grades from B3 to B7 (in compliance with the Austrian standard ÖNORM B 4710-1) are used for the production. Building companies, public institutions and private clients belong to the customers of the long-established building materials company.

The new mixing plant of Baumgartner allows exact metering of the plasticizer and the air-entraining agent as well as an accurate moisture measurement of the material with the aid of additional probes in the silos. Technicians of C. Bergmann locally reconstructed the old plant and adapted it accordingly, whereas Baumgartner arranged training of the plant and they also pre-assembled the switch cabinets in their factory.

The BCS4 uses a P-NET bus system for the data exchange. This system always keeps the central office informed about what is just happening at the individual modules, because the control system from Baumgartner Automation is a decentralized system. BCS4 can freely define important things such as the metering sequence of the materials and/or the mixing process. „Our system enables the customer to select freely for each formulation which materials are to be used in which order and what should be the time lag of adding further material. And, of course, there are different operating modes – fully automatic, semi-automatic, manual, locally manual mode and direct mode – available,“ describes Johann Waldenberg. Another feature distinguishing the BCS4 from other control systems is the voltage breakdown safety device. If there might be a power outage, the process will be continued exactly at the point where it had been interrupted when the voltage returns – even if the sudden stop occurred in the middle of the metering process.

Asking C. Bergmann why they have decided on the technology of Baumgartner, then one comes to know that the good reputation of the systems played an important role: „Baumgartner has a good reputation in terms of mixing plant control systems and has gained experience in precast concrete for many years,“ says Mag. Robert Gries-hofer, Managing Director of C. Bergmann. „Moreover, we rely on the well-known stability and accuracy of the mixing plant control system of Baumgartner! In our decision-making process, we visited several factories which had accelerated the implementation remarkably. But, it was also an important aspect for the implementation that Baumgartner ensured a short reconstruction period with only minor downtime.“

However, it is also important to mention that the reason for the acquisition of a new control system was the fact that some components of the old mixing plant were no longer available. The system control of the Austrian company has, furthermore, a good price/performance ratio.