When most people talk about cement trucks, they are really referring to concrete mixing trucks. This confusion is understandable. Cement is one of the primary ingredients used to make concrete. It is usually mixed with sand and aggregate to create a mixture that can be used for everything from putting in sidewalks and driveways to pouring foundations.
If you have ever seen a truck driving down the street that has a large rotating drum on the back, it was most likely a concrete mixing truck (camion mixer hormigon). Even though some people call these vehicles cement trucks, they are used for mixing and transporting concrete to job sites.
When you look at all of the things that these trucks can do, they are quite amazing. Without them, pouring concrete would be much more challenging.
To get a better understanding of how they work, you may find it helpful to take a look at the way they are designed. Typically, they have a sturdy truck frame with multiple axles that are designed to support and distribute the weight of the concrete as the truck goes down the road.
Attached to the chassis of the truck (equipos de camion mezcladora), there is a large mixing drum that is designed to rotate. Inside the drum, there is a spiral blade. Dry ingredients like cement, sand, and aggregate are added to the mixing drum along with water. When the drum rotates, all of these ingredients are mixed to create concrete.
In some cases, the trucks don’t actually mix the concrete themselves. Instead, they are loaded with wet concrete from a central mix plant.
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Regardless of whether the concrete is mixed in the drum or whether it is premixed and loaded wet, the truck is used to transport it to the construction site. As the truck goes down the road, the drum continues to rotate, helping to keep the concrete from curing.
Once the truck arrives at the construction site with the concrete, it is then discharged from the drum. This is accomplished by reversing the direction that the drum is rotating. When this happens, the spiral blade inside the drum forces the concrete out, where it either is transported down a chute or added to a concrete pump.
The chute attachment is usually used for situations where the concrete is being poured close to the truck. On job sites where the concrete needs to be poured in an out-of-the-way or inaccessible location, the truck discharges the concrete into a concrete pump. Using one of these pumps is the fastest and easiest way to move the wet concrete over longer distances.
This should give you a clearer picture of what cement trucks do. Even though a lot of people call them cement trucks, they really are designed for mixing and transporting concrete. In some instances, they are used to mix dry ingredients with water to create concrete. They then haul this concrete to the job site. In other cases, they are loaded with premixed concrete, carrying the wet concrete from the mixing plant to the area where it is being used.