SANY Produces China's First Modularized Batching Plant

In a first floor workshop in the Pinzhi Building in SANY's Changsha industrial park, the second HZS120V8 modularized batching plant is being assembled. The equipment is the latest R&D result of the Whole Body Center of the Concrete Batching Equipment R&D Institute of SANY's Concrete Machinery Business Unit. The first prototype was made on April 8. The equipment was made in a non-conventional way, and can save up to 100,000 yuan per set in cost.

Mr. Jiaping Zhang, Assistant to the Whole Body Center of the Concrete Batching Equipment R&D Institute of SANY's Concrete Machinery Business Unit, said that the new generation batching plant featured multiple breakthroughs in its design, which includes cutting back on materials cost, manufacturing cost, and installation cost. The overall modularized design makes it easier to transport and install. The revolutionizing coating technology extends the coating life to more than 20 years. In addition, the design has ushered in the technology of automated congregate washing. "Traditionally, batching plants are welded using section bars. The new generation batching plant adopts on a massive scale such methods as bending, punching, and zinc immersion, which reduces the technology required of workers."

Glamorous as it is, the new batching plant's development has come a long way.

"It only took three months from the time when the project was officially established to the time when the first prototype was made." Mr. Jiaping Zhang said, research started in January this year and at the beginning we were "wading across the river by feeling the stones" at best.

Project Manager Jiaqiao Zhang said he felt enormous pressure as well. "The time was tight and we were required to present the drawings in one month." He said that nobody had ever done anything like that before but in order for the matter to proceed, an overall plan has to be produced. During that month, nobody in the project group ever took a single day off. Jinming Cao, Head of the Research Institute, gave up his weekends altogether. He discussed the structural design and theories with the group members at lunch time. "Cao gave us a lot of inspirations, saving us a lot of twists and turns," said Jiaqiao Zhang. It was in these discussions that the group thought of applying zinc immersion on the batching plant's design. In the end, the project group turned out an overall plan three days ahead of time.

After the plan was given unanimous approval by a panel of experts, it was distributed to engineers in different departments. "At the beginning we were uncertain. But we streamlined the design through further calculation." Mr. Jianfen Liu, a mechanic engineer for the belt conveyor, said, the mission has to be accomplished once it has been commissioned. He felt that the most difficult part was the "all-screw" design. "Previously we were allowed to weld. Now everything has to be pinned together using screws, with the overall structure entirely different. The number of parts must be kept minimal and installation must be simple." He put up six to seven plans with each more innovative than the previous one.

"This project kept us extremely busy and it was only normal to get off work at midnight." Even now Mr. Jianfen Liu cannot relax. He is working on the improvement of the second prototype.