Aquatrak is an innovative new system which monitors the addition of water during the transportation of readymix concrete from batching plant to customer.
Aquatrak is a fully automatic system requiring no driver or operator input. The system records any water added to the load after the truck has been charged at the batching plant and allows users for the first time to limit or prevent additional water from being added to the load prior to discharge. If the water limit has been reached and additional water is required, an authorised person can remotely control the water from the batching plant, head office or remote location.
Over the last decade most dry batch or wet batch ready mix suppliers have installed computerised batching plant controls which provide a high level of traceability and control to the standards prescribed by BS 8500-1. Unfortunately these high level systems are only able to provide batch records for the concrete as discharged to the truck mixer and the important water cement ratio can be significantly altered by the truck driver prior to discharge on site. It is generally left to the truck driver to ensure that any additional water requested by the customer is signed for on the docket but as with all manual processes, paperwork can be lost or not filled in correctly making the task of contesting faults or litigation troublesome. Aquatrak overcomes many of these issues by providing a complete record of the key characteristics of each load:
• The time the truck dispatched from the plant
• The ambient temperature
• The time taken to site
• Waiting time on site prior to discharge
• Water additions
• Slump indication throughout the load
• Truck mixing cycle from point of loading to point of discharge
• Total discharge time
• Waiting time after discharge complete
• Return journey time
• Wash down water added
In addition to these comprehensive load reports the system monitors the truck after discharge is complete to ensure that wash down water is recorded and the discharge of this water has taken place on return to the batching plant. This is a significant feature as wash down water which has not been discharged from the barrel can have a catastrophic effect on the water cement ratio of the following load.
Aquatrak is not limited to water monitoring and control. The system features full truck tracking allowing users to monitor the entire fleet’s progress in near real-time. Unlike standard truck tracking systems Aquatrak’s sophisticated electronics are able to colour code the trucks to alert users if a truck is adding water, discharging, waiting or if the ignition is turned off.
Aquatrak offers a wealth of features to assist concrete producers and has been designed to provide the key information required to help companies improve quality, service and traceability in these challenging times.
For a demonstration please visit Pneutrol & Traktronic on Stand F41.
