NEWS & EVENTS
Road Construction:
Real-time Information System - Critical Information on the Status
of your Paving Operations
eRoutes is real-time information and traceability system intended
for public works.
eRoutes provides the following services:
- Tick2DB: Universal ticket capture and import into accounting software
- AcquiEx: Coordination of operations between asphalt plants and jobs
- PaveTag: Tracking the haul of construction material with RFID technology
- AcquiLab: Capturing and measuring production-related data
- eWatch: Energy efficiency assessment for hot mix plant
- PaveLog: A paving data acquisition system
Universal Ticket Capture And Import Into Accounting.
The eRoutes Tick2DB application intercepts and extracts information
from truck tickets and sends it to a database where it can be exported
to invoicing and accounting software.
The system uses the Internet or the Enterprise Intranet to send
the tickets to eRoutes server in real-time.
Export formats can be built in the application. The resulting file
is saved on the user PC, ready to be imported in any ERP or invoicing
software.
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Coordination between asphalt plants and jobs is now a more exact
science.
Information access on a paving projects status is made a lot more
efficient with AcquiEx. Everyone involved in paving projects gets
the information they need automatically and directly to their desktop
computer or Internet enabled mobile phone. Data are captured from
load-out sites and sent to eRoutes web servers where data can then
be retrieved by authorized users. Any brand and type of control
system and load-out software can be connected.
Truck Fleet Optimization
Tools help decide the number of trucks needed based on paver
flow rate and round trip duration.
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Tracking the Haul of Construction Material with RFID Technology.
The PaveTag application traces trucks from hot mix plants to pavers
using inexpensive RFID tags. The system automatically collects ticket
data, computes transportation and waiting times and ensures total
traceability on loads delivered to the job.
Trucks are detected
at every stage of the transport process. At the asphalt plant yard
entrance the RFID reader detects the truck entering the asphalt plant yard
entrance. At the scale, our patent pending PrintUp™ capture device
reads the truck load tickets when they are printed and transmits
that data to eRoutes™. When the truck leaves the asphalt plant we detect
it using the RFID reader. Pavers are also equipped with onboard
electronics including an RFID reader and detects when a truck arrives
and is also capable of detecting which one is dumping. The truck
arrival time and location are sent through cellular networks to
eRoutes™ servers.
A Geographic Information System is part of PaveTag and gives very
detailed information regarding the location of every truck-load
on the road. Through the PaveTag portal, graphical information about
the paver and trucks is shown and provides data related to the load
such as Truck ID, lane, layer, weight, distance covered, duration,
round trip, etc. When combined with AcquiLab, the system provides
total traceability from production to job site.
Detailed timing
analysis, in the form of a Gantt chart or a table, provides
time of arrival at the asphalt plant, time of loading, time of departure
from the asphalt plant, transport time to the paver, time waiting at the
paver, time of unload into paver, time spent unloading, time of
departure from the paver and finally transportation time back to
the asphalt plant. The distance covered by the paver with a truck and the
position of the paver when the truck unloads is also provided.
RFID Technology
PaveTag uses "ILR"
(Intelligent Long Range) active tags. This technology
features a field loop marker providing two
detection ranges: a long range of about 300 feet
and a short range of about 10 feet. With this
technology waiting trucks are detected around
the paver while the truck being serviced is
singled out. Minds Inc and RFID leader IDENTEC SOLUTIONS
(www.identecsolutions.com) have established a
partnership to bring this technology to the
operations of the constuction industry.
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Anything measured can be improved
eRoutes AcquiLab application captures production-related data from
hot mix plants and stores it on eRoutes servers. Real-time alerts
and reports are available on cell phones while long term archiving
and data mining helps the diagnosis of quality related problems
and improves consistency.
- Assess coherence of production data by comparing redundant information like total feeder flow rate versus aggregate belt scale rate; or total tons produced to total tons at truck scale; etc.
- Compares asphalt plants on key indicators like percentage of production out of tolerance, number of start/stop per thousand tons, temperatures, etc.
- Provides real-time alerts on cell phones on out of tolerances data.
- Rates your hot mix plant on key indicators related to quality and compares it to other asphalt plants.
- Extract professional reports quickly. When questions are raised about your production, provide professional reports in a matter of seconds.
- Reduces the time spent by quality technicians traveling from offices to asphalt plants.
- Provides affirmation to equipment managers regarding improvement and investments needed.
- Measures how your corrective measures to quality problems provide results.
Data are immediately accessible by all people with Internet access and necessary credentials. Reports are complete and user friendly. System is small in size and very easy to install.
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Where environment meets money
Energy loss factors in hot mix heating and drying processes is defined
by the ratio of actual energy used on theoretical amount of energy
needed to accomplish the task. The task here consists of taking
a given amount of raw material (say daily tonnage of aggregates)
containing a percentage of water, from an ambient temperature to
about 300 degrees Fahrenheit, evaporating the water in the process.
The amount of energy needed to accomplish such a task is easily
found once one has the underlying data: ambient and output temperatures,
percentage of water, and total tons produced. The amount of energy
needed can be compared to the actual amount of energy provided by
the quantity of fuel used multiplied by the energy available in
each unit (gallons, cubic feet, etc.) of that specific fuel. A "good"
loss factor is 1.15. This means that the heating process actually
took 15% more energy than it should have. A typical loss factor
ranges from 1.13 to 1.50. It is very hard to go lower than 1.13,
but bringing a loss factor from 1.3 to 1.2 is not a difficult task
to do and saves more than $35,000 per year on a 100,000 T/year hot mix plant.
Calculating and watching that loss factor is the purpose of the
eWatch application of eRoutes.
Reducing energy loss factor in hot mix heating & drying process
saves big dollars and preserves the environment.
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PaveLog is a paving data acquisition system developed by Roadware
BV and is integrated with eRoutes. PaveLog logs all events that
are of any influence on the quality of the paver operations.
Accurate logging
of instant and average hot mix used (lb/sqf), completed distance
(ft), slope (%), asphalt temperatures (°F), paving width (ft) and
other physical data allow exact determination of what happens on
a paving project. PaveLog uses state-of-the-art technology so any
optional extensions are easy to add. For instance connecting several
special sensors like humidity sensors, air temperatures sensors
or infra-red camera have already been taken into account.
Geographic follow
up of paver activity with icons and color coding, provide
a complete archive of the conditions and events that prevailed at
the job site. Operator input, pictures and lab results can be entered
in the system to complete the information over time.
PaveLog screens provide helpful information to the paver operator.
The system is linked in real-time with eRoutes information system
and displays a list of the trucks that have loaded at the asphalt plant
and are on their way to the paver. The trucks in the process of
dumping are displayed in green while trucks which have completed
the task displayed in red. Another screen provides real-time data
on the job being done such as paver width, distance covered, temperatures
and much more. All data captured are available on eRoutes in real-time
and playback from recorded data over a user defined period of time.
Numerous screens and reports provide information for total traceability
like never before seen. PaveLog uses different types of sensors
that can be fitted to any brand and model of paver.
