Apparatus for gas entrainment via nano-bubbles into concrete upstream from a product mold
AssigneeColumbia Machine, Inc.
InventorsRichard T. Goode, Jason Clark, Stacy Gildersleeve
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for delivering a wet concrete mix to a product mold, where the apparatus comprises a hopper configured to retain a fresh concrete mix, a source of treated water having a concentration of nanobubbles of a gas at least double a natural concentration of nanobubbles of the gas within a natural state of the water, a water transport coupling the source of treated water with the hopper, a valve interposed within the water transport for selectively releasing the treated water into the hopper, and a mixer in communication with the hopper for mixing the treated water with the fresh concrete mix to yield an infused wet concrete.
Claims16
An apparatus for delivering a wet concrete mix to a product mold, the apparatus comprising:
- a mixing chamber;
- a hopper configured to retain a fresh concrete mix and deliver the fresh concrete mix to the mixing chamber;
- a source of treated water, the treated water having a concentration of nanobubbles of a gas at least 25% more than a natural concentration of nanobubbles of the gas within a natural state of the water;
- a nanobubble generator operatively coupled to the source of treated water to actively create the concentration of nanobubbles of the gas within the source, the nanobubble generator including a nanobubble generator pump, a source of gas, a storage tank, a detector within the storage tank, and a nanobubble generator loop comprised of the pump and tank through which the treated water is flowed to add an additional concentration of nanobubbles of the gas to the treated water;
- a water transport coupling the source of treated water with the mixing chamber;
- a valve interposed within the water transport for selectively releasing the treated water into the mixing chamber;
- and
- a mixer in communication with the mixing chamber for mixing the treated water with the fresh concrete mix to yield an infused wet concrete.
An apparatus for producing a wet concrete mix, the apparatus comprising:
- a mixing chamber into which a fresh concrete mix and treated water is mixed together to form an infused wet concrete;
- a source of treated water having a concentration of nanobubbles of a CO2 gas at least 25% more than a natural concentration of nanobubbles of the gas within a natural state of the water;
- a nanobubble generator operatively coupled to the source of treated water to actively create the concentration of nanobubbles of the CO2 gas within the source, wherein the monitoring computer is further configured to operate the nanobubble generator, wherein the nanobubble generator includes a nanobubble generator pump, a source of gas, a storage tank, a detector within the storage tank, and a nanobubble generator loop comprised of the pump and tank through which the treated water is flowed to add an additional concentration of nanobubbles of the gas to the treated water, the monitoring computer configured to operate the nanobubble generator responsive to an output from the detector;
- a water transport coupling the source of treated water with the mixing chamber;
- and
- a monitoring computer configured to operate the water transport to deliver a desired amount of the treated water to the mixing chamber.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.