Construction Equipment

In the case of huge construction projects;

Proper use of the appropriate equipment contributes to economy, quality, safety,
speed and timely completion of a project.
Equipment are use for highway projects, irrigation, buildings, power projects etc.

15-30% of total project cost has been accounted towards equipment and machinery.

Bull Dozers

The heavy blade attached to the tractor pushes the material from one place to another.
The tractor can be of the crawler or the wheeled type.
Classification of bull dozer

1. Position of blades

a) Bull dozers in which the blade perpendicular to the direction of movement

b) Angle dozers in which the blade is set at an angle with the direction of movement.

2. Based on mountings

a) Wheel mounted
b) Crawler mounted

3. Based on the control

a) Cable controlled
b) Hydraulically controlled

Bull dozers are mainly used for the following operations

1. For spreading the earth fill

2. For opening up pilot roads through mountainous and rocky terrains.
3. Clearing construction sites.
4. Maintaining haul roads
5. Clearing land from the trees and stumps
6. back-filling trenches at construction sites by dragging the earth from one place to
another

Tractors

Multi-purpose machines used mainly for pulling and pushing the other equipment.
Tractors may be classified as
 a) Crawler type tractor- Used to move bull dozers, scrapers. The crawler has a chain by
which these tractors can be very effective even in the case of loose or muddy soils.
The speed of this type dose not exceed 12 kmph normally.
b) Wheel type tractor- The engine is mounted on four wheels. The main advantage is
higher speed, sometimes exceeding 50 kmph it is used for long-distance hauling and
good roads.

Comparison between crawler and wheeled tractors

Crawler type Wheeled type

1. Slow speed 1. Greater speed

2. More compact and powerful and can handle heavier 2. Con handle only lighter jobs
jobs

3. costly 3. cheaper

4. Cost of operation and maintenance is high 4. Operational and maintenance cost is less

5. Stick control for steering 5. Wheel steering control

6. Moves on rough roads only 6. Moves on rough as well as good roads

7. Used for short distances 7.Used for longer distances

8. Requires skillful operation, maintenance and repairs 8. Lesser skills required for operations, maintenance and
repairs

Belt conveyor

Used when large quantities of materials have to be conveyed over long distances at
fast speed.
It consists of a belt running over a pair of end drums or pulleys and supported at
regular intervals by a series of rollers called idlers.
These idlers are supported on a conveyor frame.
The middle sag provided in the belt prevent the spilling of material.
 Generally, rubber is most commonly used as conveyor belt.

The advantages of using belt conveyor are as follows:-

1. It can handle light as well as heavy materials, dry or wet, fine or coarse etc.
2. It can and for distances to convey several thousand tons of material per hour and for
distances of distances of several kilometers.
3. It can carry material horizontally or inclined.
4. It is lighter in weight then other conveyors.
5. It gives controlled discharge of material and discharge can be controlled by the speed
of the belt.

Power shovel

To excavate the earth and to load the trucks

capable of excavating all types of earth except hard rock
size varies from 0.375m3 to 5m3 .
Basics parts of power shovel including the track system, cabin, cables, rack, stick,
boom foot-pin, saddle block, boom, boom point sheaves and bucket.

Applications

Suitable for close range of work

Capable of digging very hard materials,
can remove big sized boulders.
It is used in various types of jobs such as digging in gravel banks, clay pits, digging
cuts in road works, road-side berms, etc.

Factors affecting output of power shovel

Class of material
Depth of cutting
Angle of swing
Job condition
Management condition
Size of hauling units
Skill of the operator
Physical condition of the shovel

Batching Plant

A concrete plant, also known as a batch plant or batching plant, is a device that combines
various ingredients to form concrete. Some of these inputs
include sand, water, aggregate (rocks, gravel, etc.), fly ash, potash, and cement. There are
two types of concrete plants: ready mix plants and central mix plants. A concrete plant can
have a variety of parts and accessories, including but not limited to: mixers (eithertilt-
up or horizontal or in some cases both), cement batchers, aggregate batchers, conveyors,
radial stackers, aggregate bins, cement bins, heaters, chillers, cement silos, batch plant
controls, and dust collectors (to minimize environmental pollution).

Types
A ready mix plant combines all ingredients except for water at the concrete plant. This
mixture is then discharged into a ready mix truck (also known as a concrete transport truck).
Water is then added to the mix in the truck and mixed during transport to the job site.
A central mix plant combines some or all of the above ingredients (including water) at a
central location. The final product is then transported to the job site. Central mix plants differ
from ready mix plants in that they offer the end user a much more consistent product, since
all the ingredient mixing is done in a central location and is computer-assisted to ensure
uniformity of product. A temporary batch plant can be constructed on a large job site. A
concrete plant becomes central mix with the addition of a concrete mixer.
Concrete Batching Plant
To implement a concrete construction, the basic ingredient required is concrete which is
produced using a concrete plant. Therefore concrete plant is one of the basic or the most
important equipments for concrete constructions. In a concrete plant or a concrete batching
plant the ingredients like sand, gravel, water and cement are mixed up homogeneously
resulting in formation of construction material, concrete. Implementing a good concrete plant
at the construction site will greatly reduce the problems of inefficiency and wastage
happening during the concrete production at the site. Concrete can much efficiently be
produced as per customized project requirements using concrete batching plants. The
concrete batching plants come in two forms, the stationary heavy production units and the
famous mobile batching plants. The stationary plants are usually good for the projects where
there is heavy requirement of concrete but at the single place itself where as the mobile
concrete plants are widely used in projects where there is requirement to produce and
transport the concrete mix from site to site. Concrete plants can be got in various production
capacities too like there are concrete production plants which can be produce concrete at 45
cum/hr, 60 cum/hr, 90 cum/hr, 120 cum/hr speeds. Therefore one can select any form of
concrete plant depending on their production requirements.

Concrete Transit Mixers

Concrete transit mixers are popular concrete mixing and transport equipments used in
concrete constructions. These equipments are often used to transport the concrete produced
from a stationary batching plant to the construction site. Depending on customized
requirements different types of concrete mixers are used for different projects. For large scale
projects where automated work is important, self loading concrete transit mixers are
generally used where as for small-scale projects where so much automated equipments are
not necessary to use, hand fed concrete mixers serve better because they are comparatively
much cheaper than the self loading automated mixers.

Truck Mixers Definition: Concrete mixers mounted on trucks or other vehicles, used for the
complete mixing of concrete ingredients after they have been batched at the plant.

Each acceptable truck mixer shall conform to the following requirements:

Interior condition satisfactory: no appreciable accumulation of hardened concrete; blades free

of excessive wear. Blade wear shall be checked at the point of maximum drum diameter
nearest to the drum head. When the height of the blade at this point, measured from the drum
shell, is less than 90 percent of the original radial height (dimension X in sketch of
applicable blade type), the blade is considered excessively worn. The manufacturer of the
mixer will furnish original blade dimensions on request.

Charging and discharge openings and chute in good condition: free from appreciable
accumulations of cement or concrete; hopper and chute surfaces clean and smooth.

Drum or container of such size that the rating as a mixer (in volume of mixed concrete) does
not exceed 63 percent of the gross volume of the mixer, disregarding blades. (This
requirement is met by all mixers carrying a rating plate of the Truck Mixer Manufacturer
Bureau.)

Provided with a plate showing the mixer manufacturersrecommended operating speed for
mixing, which must be in the range of not less than 4 nor more than 22 rpm; demonstrated
capability to operate satisfactorily a speed within recommended range.

Equipped with a counter in working condition to indicate the number of revolutions of the
drum or blades.

On units equipped to batch mixing water, equipment to be in proper working condition: gage
glasses or water meters clean and legibly graduated; water pump or injection system in good
working order with nozzles unobstructed and without leakage into mixer; water measurement
spot-checked and found accurate within 1 percent of mixing water capacity or 1 gallon
(Note 5, page 4), whichever is greater.

Agitators

Definition: Drums or containers, mounted on trucks or other vehicles, in which central-mixed

concrete is kept sufficiently in motion during delivery to prevent segregation.
Each acceptable agitator shall conform to the following requirements:

Interior condition satisfactory: no appreciable accumulation of hardened concrete.

Charging and discharge openings and chute in good condition: free from appreciable
accumulations of cement or concrete; hopper and chute surfaces clean and smooth.

Drum or container of such size that the rating as an agitator (in volume of mixed concrete)
does not exceed 80 percent of the gross volume of the container, disregarding blades. (This
requirement is met by all units carrying a rating plate of the Truck Mixers Manufacturers
Bureau.)

Provided with a plate showing the mixer manufacturers recommended maximum agitating
speed which must not exceed 6 rpm; demonstrated capability to operate satisfactorily at the
recommended speed

Equipped with a counter in working condition to indicate the number of revolutions of the
drum or blades.

Air compressors

Air compressors are devices used to provide efficient power to construction tools and
machinery. Air compressors can be operated by internal combustion engines and their ability
to pressurize air enables power to be transmitted via pipes or hoses.

Air compressors are commonly used for transmitting power to rock drills, jackhammers, air
motors, pumps, and many more types of construction equipment. The use of compressors
enable workers to bore holes, cut materials, crush rock, pour vibrated concrete, and are
constantly used in countless other construction applications.

Cranes

A crane is a type of machine, generally equipped with a hoist rope, wire ropes or chains,
and sheaves, that can be used both to lift and lower materials and to move them horizontally.
It is mainly used for lifting heavy things and transporting them to other places. It uses one or
more simple machines to create mechanical advantage and thus move loads beyond the
normal capability of a human. Cranes are commonly employed in the transport industry for
the loading and unloading of freight, in the construction industry for the movement of
materials and in the manufacturing industry for the assembling of heavy equipment.