Posted On: 10/29/2019 | Posted by: DY Concrete Pumps
Construction is a booming business and one whose demands are expected to increase in the coming years. According to the World Economic Forum, the population of the world’s urban areas is growing by 200,000 people a day, and all those new inhabitants need housing, medical services, schools, transportation infrastructure and more. Construction of urban infrastructure to meet the needs of a growing population will almost certainly keep construction contractors and laborers in high demand in the coming years.
In the construction business, efficiency and reliability are at a premium. But on many projects, especially large, complex projects, it’s easy to fall behind. The global consulting group McKinsey estimates that an enormous 98% of large-scale construction projects incur cost overruns or delays. And the average large-scale construction project ends up falling 20 months — almost two years — behind schedule.
For the prevention of issues like these, it’s imperative to use the best, most efficient equipment on the market. When it comes to pouring concrete, concrete pumps offer substantial advantages in efficiency and ease of use.
What is a concrete pump? A concrete pump is a tool used for transferring freshly mixed liquid concrete to the location on a construction site where it is needed. It works using a valve system and the basic principles of hydraulics.
When concrete is required, a mixing truck first mixes concrete within its rotating drum. Then the truck pours its liquid concrete into a hopper, which continues to churn the concrete so it will not solidify. From there, the concrete pump sucks the liquid concrete out of the hopper, through a valve system, and into the area where it needs to be laid down, sometimes with the use of auxiliary hoses.
A twin-cylinder hydraulic concrete pump’s internal workings typically consist of two parallel cylinders. The cylinders have drive pistons inside them that move them back and forth in opposite directions. As one cylinder moves forward, the other moves back. As one cylinder moves back, the other moves forward.
The first cylinder, also known as the material cylinder, pulls concrete out of the hopper. The second cylinder, the discharge cylinder, pushes the concrete out of the pump in the location where it is needed. The two pistons work in tandem, alternately pulling in and pushing out their volumes of liquid concrete. The hydraulic flow created by the continuous flow of concrete is what causes the two cylinders to alternate back and forth. This continuous flow is also important to keep the liquid concrete from solidifying.
Concrete pumps come in a couple of basic varieties — line pumps and boom pumps.
Line pumps pump liquid concrete in hoses at about ground level until the concrete reaches its destination. The hoses offer the flexibility to snake through alleys and around houses where the truck may not be able to park. Below are a few examples of types of line pumps:
A boom pump extends through the air to pump the concrete where it needs to go. It has a long, flexible, remote-controlled arm made up of articulated sections, and the arm extends into the air much like a crane. Boom pumps and can be used for hard-to-reach areas that a line pump cannot reach, such as the upper floors of a high-rise or apartment complex. They can also reach over houses and into yards for the construction of backyard swimming pools or garden features. When the boom is not in use, it folds up into neat segments on the back of the truck for transport.
Employees can drive this kind of pump directly to job sites, and the placing boom can put the concrete where it needs to go without requiring the use of extra hoses. These high-rise concrete boom pumps work quickly, and they can reach any area within reach of the boom. Their user-friendly features make boom pumps versatile and popular on construction sites.
The articulated sections of boom pumps come in a few different folding configurations:
At DY Concrete Pumps, we specialize in boom pumps. All our boom pumps are fully drivable truck-mounted pumps with four, five or six articulated sections for superior horizontal and vertical reach. Each of our trucks has a chassis with three, four or five axles, depending on the size and weight of the boom pump.
A few of the many models we offer include the following:
Where are concrete pumps used? Concrete pumps are suitable for use in a wide variety of construction applications.
Many of these applications call for the pouring of a flat concrete slab. But how long does it take to lay a concrete slab?
The pouring process itself happens quickly — potentially in less than an hour. Once it’s poured, though, the concrete needs to set a while. Typically, a slab can be walked on after 24 hours, but it will take longer for the concrete to become completely cured. A general rule of thumb in the construction industry is that it takes 28 days for concrete to reach its full strength, though some authorities believe the curing process is completed even sooner.
The use of concrete dates from Roman times — both the Colosseum and the Pantheon contain significant amounts of concrete — but up until the early 20th century, with the invention of the concrete pump, pouring concrete was a labor-intensive affair.
Concrete pumps have been a dramatic advantage for the construction industry. Imagine a construction worker in the early 1900s pushing a wheelbarrow full of concrete, making trip after trip after laborious, sweaty trip, until he had finally poured the modest amount of concrete necessary for the project. This method is inefficient, time-consuming and labor-intensive. The concrete pump provides a much easier and faster way of moving concrete.
Concrete pumping trucks have been particularly transformative in high-rise construction. Before the invention of the concrete pump, cranes had to lift heavy buckets of concrete into the air toward higher floors. A bucket holds only a small amount of concrete, so this process was inefficient. Modern concrete pumps can pump much faster than cranes can lift buckets, and they allow for a continuous flow of concrete. They also enable the concrete to be poured directly via a placing boom rather than being transferred sloppily in a bucket.
Concrete pumps offer many other benefits as well. Because they work continuously, they can pump substantial volumes of concrete at a time. Because the concrete is always flowing, employees are constantly busy, never standing around and waiting for concrete to arrive by other methods. A concrete pump can be set up very quickly, and it requires only a small number of employees to operate it. All these features make concrete pumps essential user-friendly, efficient and time-saving features on any construction site today.
DY Concrete Pumps has been in the business of supplying quality concrete pumps for over thirty years, and we are one of the world’s leading exporters of hydraulic-cylinder concrete pumps.
We offer a variety of models for use in a range of construction applications. Most of our concrete pump truck models feature a 360-degree continuous swing boom for pouring concrete precisely and efficiently in even the hardest-to-reach places. Our concrete boom pumps are exceptionally user-friendly, offering simple, intuitive design and easy-clean hoppers, so your team won’t have to spend hours performing maintenance, doing cleanup or figuring out how your machine works.
We are also committed to quality customer support. Our friendly and knowledgeable staff members offer technical support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Contact us today to find a sales rep in your area or learn more about our concrete pumping trucks.