Improvement of Equipment for Heating Concrete Mixture

Preliminary direct electric heating of the concrete mixture (PDEHC) with a large potential for increasing the curing energy efficiency used in winter concreting, is a promising method employed in precast concrete technology. However, the features of PDEHC are presently not fully used. One of the problems limiting the application of this method, is the temperature gradient in the heated concrete mixture. The paper focuses on studying methods and means of gaining the temperature field homogeneity throughout the concrete mixture volume during its direct electric heating. The proposed method implies the replacement of plate electrodes by grouped control electrodes of a smaller size, that makes the system flexible and provides conditionally continuous adjustment of the electric and, consequently, temperature field. The paper presents stages of the problem solution, equipment, and the development of an algorithm for the PDEHC control.