Automatic pouring of truck-mounted concrete boom pump

Abstract

Automatic concrete pouring is essential to lessen the operator's labour intensity and increase productivity. The concept of automatic pouring and semi-automatic pouring are introduced to the boom control system. The concrete pouring process and the kinematics of the boom sections were analysed, including the inverse kinematics problem. An interpolation method was applied to obtain the boom's pose according to the position of the end hose. Four linear displacement sensors were used to measure angular displacements, which simplified the configuration of the control system. When doing automatic pouring, the control system can automatically pour a long narrow field while the semi-automatic pouring system can keep the end hose moving horizontally on a large platform. A 3D simulation was programmed to simulate the process of automatic pouring and verify the control algorithm. The simulation result shows that the system can pour concrete on a long narrow field automatically and the boom?s movement is smooth.