Automated feed system for pipe making machine

摘要

An automated feeder for concrete pipe making machines used to produce concrete pipes that have round as well as box-shaped, elliptical and other non-round shapes. The feeder has a concrete storage hopper mounted over a fixed pivot, and the hopper charges the concrete onto a belt-type conveyor the input end of which turns on the same pivot as the hopper for movement along a radial track. The discharge end of the feeder conveyor discharges the concrete into a rotatable chute that distributes the concrete into the cavity of the pipe mold. Encoders are combined with the motors driving the chute and the radial movement of the feeder conveyor so as to monitor the position and speed of the radial movement of the conveyor and position and speed of rotation of the chute. Information from the encoders is inputted into a computer which is programmed to control the speed and position of these components of the feeder depending upon the selected size and shape of the concrete form to be filled.