Get Quality at the Plant

FFor this issue that focuses on quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA), the product gallery this month dives into the plant components that help producers focus on quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA). To kick off the department, the team from MINDS Inc., headquartered in Kelowna, British Columbia, provided the following article regarding its plant software suite.

After years of effort, MINDS Inc., is seeing its innovative suite of software solutions enjoy growing success in the U.S. market. At the very beginning, we decided that our plant control systems needed to be perfect servants to plant operators, faithful and competent helpers that would take care of control tasks without overreaching, imposing on workflows or restricting what operators could do.

In other words, the system had to mold around the operator rather than asking the operator to mold himself around the system.

Assisting the operator, and making his life easier, could have cut him off from “feeling” the plant, and this led to the second key decision that guides the product-development ethos for our plant control systems: helping the operator stay connected to the physical plant.

Making asphalt is a physical and chemical process, and production control software shouldn’t take away from that. The electronic and computer interfaces between the operator and the process are just that: interfaces.

We believe that they should be minimized to make the underlying physical process stand out clearly. For example, when displaying a flow rate for a weighed conveyor belt, we display feet per minute for the speed and pounds per foot for the weight. If someone wants to check, it’s easy to zoom in on that belt, take a measurement of the speed with a tachometer, stop the belt, take a one-foot sample, and weigh it. That makes it easy to see that the product of poundsper-foot x foot-per-minute = pounds-perminute, which is flow rate.

lbs./ft. x ft./min = lbs./min (flow rate)

Obviously, stopping a conveyor belt to weigh a section of it is no longer a standard practice, but our approach illustrates the idea of sticking as closely as possible to the physical reality of the process and avoiding the use of opaque units, such as “points” or “pulses.” Another area that significantly helps the operator to stay connected to the physical plant is our choice of graphic representation. A MINDS system graphical signature offers a depiction of each plant’s actual look and configuration layout, which our team customizes for each client, to help plant operators more easily visualize their operation. This “more real than life” look is not just done for aesthetic purposes: it helps make the interface disappear.

Another aspect into which we put a lot of effort is to qualify the accuracy of the production process in real time using all redundant data as an early indication of drifts or upcoming problems. For example, we check that the ratio of the set-point voltage of the speed drives to the flow or speed of the controlled element remains within acceptable proportions that are established during the plant calibration. This is the prelude to the use of artificial intelligence, whereby the correlation of indirect indicators to the main sensors will be established during a learning phase and then systematically verified during production. All these techniques allow us to detect drifts symptomatic of potentially serious problems. The idea is that if the production process is accurate and working properly and the raw materials entering the process are as specified, then the output product is likely to be of good quality as well.

For more information, visit www. mindsusa.com.

The MINDS system offers a close-to-real graphic representation of the plant.

BROCK

BROCK, a supplier of equipment, parts and on-site construction services for hot-mix asphalt plants, announced the relocation of all operations to a 108,000-square-foot facility on 23 acres in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The new company address is 2011 West Polymer Drive, Chattanooga, TN 37421.

The BROCK team also announces the addition of Greg Jones to the company. Jones fills the newly created position of manager— heat and storage systems. In his role he will oversee the BROCK heat and storage systems group. Jones comes to BROCK from Heatec Inc., where he spent the last 30 years working in both the engineering and sales of thermal hot oil heaters, liquid asphalt storage tanks, emulsion plants and other related equipment.

Commenting on the announcement Ben Brock, president and CEO, said, “We are thankful and excited to have Greg Jones join our team. Greg is an industry expert with

Greg Jones joins the BROCK team as manager of heat and storage systems.

three decades of successful experience in thermal hot oil heaters and liquid asphalt storage tanks along with other heat and storage products. We are fortunate to have him leading the day-to-day operations of our heat and storage group. Today, our team as a whole has over 650 years of successful hot-mix asphalt equipment industry experience. We once again want to thank our customers for their support. Without them our growth is not possible. Stay tuned for more announcements as we move ahead.”

For more information, contact Travis Sneed at (423) 476-9900.

EVOQUIP

EvoQuip®, a Terex brand, has launched the FalconTM range of finishing screens to its product portfolio. The Falcon range consists of the Falcon 1220 and Falcon 1230, providing a solution for scalping, screening and stockpiling in self-contained units.

The first of the Falcons has landed in the United States with EvoQuip distributor Midwest Crushing and Screening, which has been serving the Illinois and Wisconsin areas since 2008. Tim Scannell, president, said, “We are excited to be the first distributor in the U.S. to get the Falcon 1220. We have over 20 crushers, screeners, and conveyors from EvoQuip operating across Illinois and Wisconsin and are delighted that the Falcon is now also part of our fleet.”

The EvoQuip Falcon 1220 is a compact machine designed to offer operators rapid set-up and tear-down times. The Falcon 1220 features a 12-foot by 5-foot, double-deck, incline screen with remote tipping reject grid, hydraulic screen tensioning of bottom deck and three on-board hydraulic folding conveyors as standard, with the added option of a hydraulic shredder. The Falcons come with T-Link telemetry system fitted as standard, providing the customer with real-time information on the performance of their machine.

For more information, call 866.52.CRUSH or visit www.terex.com/evoquip/en/ .

RELIABLE

Vulcan burners are total air burners with a single motor and a coaxial blower, which provides a near-linear fan curve. They can be run on multiple fuels, simultaneously if required. There are optional blower mount configurations, and they can be converted from long to short nose.

Vulcan Burners are designed to be low maintenance—the direct driven fan has no belts or pulleys. When maintenance is needed, the Vulcan Burner opens completely to allow for easy access.

Vulcan burners come equipped with two safety switches in case of overheating or separation while in operation. The 75-horsepower motor is designed to move the same amount of air as other burners with larger motors, which offers energy efficiency and cost savings. The fan intake is sound-insulated for quieter operation. The flame shaper can be adjusted while the burner is in operation.

For more information, contact Reliable at (866) 647-1782.

The Falcon 1220 from EvoQuip is now available in the United States and has an optional hydraulic shredder. Reliable Asphalt Products offers the Vulcan total air burner.

STANSTEEL

The Accu-TrackTM Advantage control system from Stansteel, Lexington, Kentucky, is the evolution of over 45 continuous years of upgrading combinations of logic, software and hardware to equip an asphalt plant to control machinery and systems. The result is production of better hot-mix asphalt (HMA) in a dependable, repeatable way, minimizing errors, and having a series of interlocks and safety devices to assure quality results, according to the manufacturer.

The Accu-TrackTM Advantage offers total plant control with autopilot integration (AI) from Stansteel.

The system sends electronic signals and program instructions to a piece of equipment and performs separate and independent verification that a device is operating as instructed.

The Accu-Track Advantage has the ability to interface with web-based devices including smart phones, tablets or desk-top computers so users can view pertinent plant data in real-time.

The controls use a Linux based operating system, which allows for the use of automatic and manual operations to ensure your plant is always running and making quality mix.

For more information, visit https:// stansteel.foleon.com/accu-track/brochure/ home/

World of Asphalt

Mark your calendar for opening day. Registration opening day, that is.

The World of Asphalt Show & Conference and AGG1 Aggregates Academy & Expo are gearing up for their return to the first in-person edition of the combined show since 2019 when opening day ribbon is cut this coming March 29 at the Nashville Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee. The show will run March 29-31, 2022, with registration opening Thursday, Oct. 14, 2021.

Show Manager Brittany Weltcheff said the management team looks forward to presenting better education sessions than ever, and more time on the show floor for attendees, making this a can’t-miss event for asphalt and paving businesses.

World of Asphalt, recently named a Trade Show Executive “Fastest 50” growing show, will be held in Nashville for the 2022 and 2024 show years. Located just blocks away from the historic Cumberland River, the Nashville Music City Center is in the heart of Nashville, walking distance from landmarks like the Country Music Hall of Fame, Bridgestone Arena (home of the NHL’s Nashville Predators), and with 17 different hotel accommodations less than a four-block walk away, World of Asphalt’s Nashville edition promises to be educational, entertaining and convenient.

In addition to the shows, the People, Plants and Paving Conference, as well as AGG1 Academy, returns to World of Asphalt after their virtual outings in 2021. Watch for the October AsphaltPro Annual Training Directory for a larger discussion of the educational offerings.

For more information, visit WorldOfAsphalt.com and AGG1.com.

– BY ASPHALTPRO STAFF

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