Road structure – process – or apparatus – Apparatus – Automatic control
Reexamination Certificate
1999-03-18
2001-06-12
Will, Thomas B. (Department: 3671)
Road structure, process, or apparatus
Apparatus
Automatic control
C404S084050, C404S101000, C404S108000, C198S841000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06244782
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present patent regards a finishing machine supplied with a weighing device for the asphalt distributed by it.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART
As it is known, finishing machines or vibratory finishing machines are machines that lay a layer of new asphalt surface after the carriageway has been prepared and after the old asphalt has been removed by scarifier machines.
Finishing or vibratory finishing machines as known in the art generally have a hopper for the storage and the distribution of the asphalt conglomerate. Such machines also have one or two conveyers, which from the bottom of the hopper, transport the asphalt on the back of the machine. The finishing machine also has one or two augers that distribute the asphalt that is received from the conveyer. A shearing and compacting device with vibratory elements for the compressing of the laid asphalt surface is also part of the finishing machine.
The thickness of the asphalt replaced on the carriageway, and therefore the amount of the asphalt itself, is a function of the speed of the machine and of the capacity of the conveyors to distribute the asphalt to the augers. Since the excellence of the asphalting depends, besides on the quality of the conglomerate which is used, also on the thickness of the laid asphalt, it is very important to know the thickness which is actually deposited by the finishing machine.
The present methods currently known in the art, determine only the thickness of the asphalt by the coring, which is made by sampling of some points at random. With this system, it is possible to obtain only partial information with regard to the executed work. The measure of the thickness of the asphalt is a measure of the destructive kind which means that the coring causes some holes in the road surface. After the coring, the holes should be covered again. Besides the need of giving or receiving a certification of the asphalting work which as been executed, the cost of the asphalting works is also a consideration.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The purpose of the present invention is that of overcoming the limits before mentioned.
One of the purposes of the finishing machine of the invention is for arranging a weighing device in order to determine the weight of the material distributed by the machine during the work.
Another purpose is for determining the weight of the material distributed in a certain area and/or along a certain stretch of road.
Another purpose is for certifying the amount of asphalt distributed from the machine itself along a certain route.
Yet another purpose is fort he machine to give accurate and reliable information, and that such information is independent from the working conditions of the machine itself.
All the stated purposes and other ones as identified later, are achieved by a finishing machine for the laying of asphalt surfaces having: a hopper for the storage and the distribution of the material; at least a conveyer of the material of the hopper; at least one auger for the distribution of the material; and at least a shearing device for the compressing of the asphalt.
The conveyer has a couple of chains moved by pulleys and connected with one another by transversal splines suitable for the transport of the material taken from the bottom of the hopper. The material is leaned on a plurality of fixed plates anchored to the frame of the machine. The couple of chains run on the plates of the machine. The last plate, which supports the passing materials before the transfer on to the distribution auger, is made to swing in comparison with the fixed plate which precedes it, and the last plate leans on a weighing device. The device is connected with a control power unit which detects the reading of the weight, at time intervals which are a function of the angular speed of the pulley of the conveyer.
The control power unit allows two following weighings to take place after all the weighed material has been unloaded from the weighing plate.
Advantageously, according to the invention, the last one of the plates, which supports the passing material from the hopper to the distribution augers, is made to swing by a hinge. The hinge is arranged on an edge of the plate and it is supported by a weighing device, such as the loading cells.
The weighing is executed at time intervals which are a function of the speed of the pulley and of the angle which it runs. Each weighing can take place every time that the pulley has carried away a length of a chain similar to the length of the weighing plate. Accordingly, the certainty of weighing a new material is achieved.
The control power unit records the weight as a function of the speed of the conveyer of the material. The control power unit also receives information relevant to the advancing speed of the machine. As such, it is possible to elaborate the information relevant to the laying of the asphalt according to a certain route of the machine. Also, the machine is supplied with sensors which give the information of the width of the front of laying of the asphalt. It is clear that the information relevant to the weight of the asphalt in following areas and therefore the information relevant to the thickness of laid asphalt can be obtained.
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Bitelli SPA
Dykema Gossett PLLC
Markovich Kristine
Will Thomas B.
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