At most construction sites concrete mixers are used as a device to mix cement, sand, gravel and water to make homogeneous mixture of concrete. Revolving drum is used in typical concrete mixers to mix all the components. Portable concrete drum mixers are used to make concrete for the construction works of smaller sizes it can be made on the site so that it can be used easily before its hardening starts. General introduction of drum concrete mixers is provided in this write-up to know them more closely.
Structure of drum mixers
All the drum mixers used for making homogeneous mixture of concrete, regardless of the size of the project, have a movable drum as its container with attached blades inside it. Main purpose of these blades is to lift the materials to mix them well with the rotation of the drum. The materials are lifted and dropped back at the bottom of the drum in each rotation in a cyclical manner. The operators of these mixers can control the speed as well as angle of the drum, depending open the type of the mixer. You can get more details from this page: http://aimixgroup.com/concrete-drum-mixer/.
Types of drum mixers
Normally three types of drum mixers are used for mixing concrete:
Non-tilting drum mixers
Reversing drum mixers
Tilting drum mixers
Non-tilting drum mixers: In such mixers the drums rotate in a fixed position and the materials are added from one end and discharged from the other end.
Reversing drum mixers: These drum mixers are similar to non-tilting mixers with only difference that the materials are added and concrete is discharged from the same opening. For mixing the materials the drum rotates in one direction and for discharging the concrete it rotates in opposite direction. So, for this reason, two types of blades are attached in these drum mixers. Learn more at this website: http://aimixgroup.com/.
One set of blades drags the materials upwards to the center of the drum to mix it when the drum rotates in one direction. When the concrete is ready then the second set of blades pushes it back to the opening of the drum by rotating it in opposite direction. In order to get the desired effect in mixing and discharging the materials its blades are arranged in spiral manner. Now-a-days self loading concrete mixer machine belong to this category in which the driver controls the speed of its rotation from his cabin.
Tilting drum mixers: The inclination of tilting drum mixers can vary from model to model. This drum mixer mixes the materials in horizontal position. It provides more energy to the lift the concrete in the full diameter of the drum before dropping it out. The concrete is actually knitted and mixed while dropping it out of the drum.
So, higher energy is required to drop the concrete if it is dropped from a higher level. The blades of this drum mixer cannot lift and mix well the concrete if its axis of rotation is almost vertical. So, for this reason its axis of rotation is normally kept at 15 degree from the horizontal surface while mixing the concrete. But while discharging the concrete the drum is tilted down below its horizontal surface. Normally, for small construction works, tilting drum mixers are commonly used.