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1. WAT IN TRK iNote ange Edits Before Batching and or ring Discharge of Previous Batch I 1 INGREDIE LEF 2nd Process ie Mixer Enable Inspect Mod 1 Yes O No Max Load Volume x 10 iAgg Scale Maximum iCement Scale Maximum 1 Cont Disch 2 Cont Run 0 nitial Water Charge 85 ater Holdback 15 inimum Water Holdback 30 l T i BH W M Start Water mSec Start Cement mSec 0 Sta Agg mSec 0 LEFT F2 RIGHT i i i i i i i F7 Edit Values F8 Toggle There are two sets of these parameters labeled LEFT and RIGHT that you quickly switch to alter the Spectrum s batching control for special circumstances To select between the LEFT 1 and RIGHT m set of parameters simply pressing the desired function key This takes the set of parameters and overwrites the values in their respective setup screens You can alternate toggle between sets by pressing ss The name of the current set being used appears in the upper right corner of the Batch Setup Screen To edit the values or the titles of these sets of parameters press r When you are finished editing press to save these changes to the hard disk Use to exit the Quick Edit Screen A description of the parameters in the Quick Edit Screen follows on the next page Page 182 SECTIO
2. ER SCALE Active Conv Bint Descripti Scale Max Decimals Bit Map 256 Color FLYASH 0 2 MOISTURE 4 256 4 MOISTURE 1024 Description is the displayed name of the additional batcher Page 169 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP Scale Number represents the location of the scale in the Modify Scale Calibration Screen Scale Max represents the capacity of the scale Decimals is the number of decimals to be displayed Active Bit Map is the device number which will make this scale active in the Graphics Screen Conv Bin 256 Color is the bin number of an ingredient whose Batching Units will be used to convert from U S to Metric and vice versa 255 is a special case and should only be used for Temper Water Add to this number the color code times 256 to display a colored bar Color codes can be found in Section 7 4 in the Index Display Def Color Example To use the units from the first cement scale for conversion and display a bright red bar Cement bin 9 Bright Red 12 9 256 12 3081 After entering all necessary values use the key to leave the Scale Editor The values entered in the example above are displayed in the Batching Screen on the following page Scale 0 100 Scale Nam Weight Aggregate 0 Cement 0 Water 0 FLYASH 40 MOISTURE 4 76 MOISTURE NOTE Extra batchers i e Flyash in above example will not weigh simultan eously unless t
3. Updating a material means changing the amount in the On Hand column This is done to reflect incoming deliveries and other sales of materials not carried out by the Spectrum With the cursor on the Date field press the e key to move to the Ingredient field The date will automatically default to the current date and time Type the name of the material or use the browse function key m to start this change The cursor will then move to the Adjustment field where you enter the amount of received material To decrease the On Hand amount use a minus sign in front of the number The next two lines are for recordation of the supplier and receipt number of the delivery ticket Once all data has been entered press the n key to save this record to the disk An Inventory Log can be printed by pressing the r key now or you will be asked if you wish to print the log at the end of the day when printing inventory reports The inventory log is stored for one full calendar month This means that in January all receipts are kept Once into February the log is cleared of all January receipts Pressing the pkey when Zero On Hand Amount is displayed will zero the On Hand amount for that material and create a record on the hard disk This record is not editable nor can it be deleted This is done to maintain a level of security Page 108 SECTION 4 INVENTORY 42 TODATE USAGE The following screen appears when selecting To Date TODATE U
4. Put the formatted disk into the computer s floppy drive and type Y and press the ekey This will copy the batch weights file onto the diskette After it is copied a message similar to the following will appear Batch Weights successfully copied First Ticket 40 Last Ticket 551 Write these Numbers on the Disk Label Press Enter to Continue Take the diskette out of the computer and write the batch number information on the diskette for future reference Page 115 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE Pressing the ekey will give you the following message Copy Batch Weights File to MS DOS format Y N Y If a DOS version of this file is required type Y and press the ekey If there is no need for a DOS version of this file type N and press the ekey NOTE This will only work if the DOS FILE SYSTEM option is enabled and the proper software is loaded on the hard drive You are then prompted with the following message Delete Source File from hard disk Y N N It is suggested that the file be deleted from the hard drive since a copy of it exists on the floppy However if it is not deleted the batch weight file will continue to grow becoming too big to fit on a floppy and eventually filling up the hard drive This will result in the loss of the batch information on all batches since last backed up To delete the file type Y and press the ekey 5 4 ROBO TILT DATA FILE Robo Tilt Only The Robo Tilt data file co
5. PRINTER MANUFACTURER SELECTION Epson Panasonic Epson Okidata Okidata All others NULL After the printer type has been selected insure that the printer is turned on and that the paper tear off is just above the print head Press t to print the labels The screen will show the number of labels waiting to be printed You can stop the printing at any time by pressing the k After printing the labels can be re edited and printed again if necessary When all labels are complete press u to end the program Using a pair of scissors cut the labels out on the lines provided by the printer Then insert the label into the small slot on the edge of the Manual Station Overlay The widths of the slots vary slightly it may be necessary to trim some pieces thinner than others LCI 1 REV K 1 REV K CALIBRATION INSTRUCTIONS Page 217 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION The load cell driver boards are located inside the Manual Station towards the back of the unit Connection to the load cell is via a nine pin subminiature D type connector which is accessible from the rear of the Manual Station The pin numbers and functions are shown in Figure 1A on the previous page There is an external zero potentiometer for each driver board located on the top of the Manual Station just below the display area Refer to Figure 1A and locate the zero and span dip switches These switches are binary weighted with the least significant bit LSB to the left and t
6. To set these codes up select System Setup from the Main Menu Select Order Entry Setup and the Order Entry Setup Menu will appear as shown below ORDER ENTRY SETUP MENU Order Entry Defaults Format Ticket Record Transactions Link 20 Transactions Tax Codes Discount Codes Credit Codes User Defined Names Import Export Setup A description of the choices from this menu follows Page 10 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY ORDER ENTRY DEFAULTS This allows setting default values for the Batch Code COD flag and Remote Ticket Number fields These fields will be discussed in Section 1 7 FORMAT TICKET Selecting this choice will pop up the Ticket Format screen In this screen the ticket can be set up to be printed as required The ticket format is discussed in detail in Section 1 5 RECORD TRANSACTIONS When printing tickets the information associated with each ticket is saved in a file 3 rgb cust ticket dat Using the Record Transactions screen the format of this file may be changed to fit your needs for possible uploading of tickets for accounting The ticket file is described in greater detail in Section 1 6 LINK 20 TRANSACTIONS When printing tickets using the Link 20 protocol the information associated with each ticket is saved in a file Link 20 is used when tickets are electronically dispatched to the Spectrum Using the Link 20 Transactions screen the format of this file may be changed for your needs The ticket fil
7. 3000 Page 157 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP TIME TO RESET AGG VIB COUNT The Pulse Number For Agg Vibrator counts the number of pulses issued to establish flow If the Spectrum has not issued an open pulse during this time the counter accumulating these pulses resets AGG FULL OPEN WEIGHT As the aggregate scale empties this parameter opens the gate wide at the weight value entered here A typical value is 2000 INCL CONV CONTINUOUS ON Normally aggregate discharge conveyors use a start and stop pulse If required this start signal can be changed to be continuous throughout the aggregate discharge Entering 1 will cause the Dis Start Pls output on the J Box I O assignment to be on continuously A normal value is zero Contact Alkon Service if you have questions about this TIME TO START ADMIX DISCH After the start of discharge each admix can be delayed by this period of time before discharge AGG TO START CEMENT This parameter allows the cement to begin discharge after percentage of aggregate has discharged regardless of load size HOLDBACK ON ALL MULTI BATCHES Entering 1 forces the Spectrum to washdown at the end of every partial batch Entering 0 forces a washdown at the end of the last batch A typical value is zero END OF DAY TRUCK WASHOUT Enter the amount of water to be used to wash out trucks at the end of the day This amount will run automatically by using key in the Auto Batch Setup Screen P
8. By pressing the pkey the Batching Screen will appear This allows a quicker access to this screen This will also work while in the Job Index Screen RUN BATCH This is the same as pressing the n key and selecting the Run Batch option By pressing the qkey the batch will be started TOGGLE TO EQUIVALENTS Switchable US Metric Only To invoke this press and hold the rkey While this key is held down the display will change to the other systems weight equivalent for this load Example Your plant is calibrated in U S units i e Lbs Gal Oz and you are batching a Metric mix i e Kgs Liters ML all numbers on the screen will be in Metric including Slump Water in Truck Trim etc When the batch is run the system will convert all numbers to their U S equivalents in order to batch on a U S calibrated plant The r key will show what numbers will be used when the batch is run NOTE Once the batch has been initiated the key can be pressed and released in the graphics display to change the display back to Metric The default display is always in the scale calibrated units A typical calculation might look like the following 1000 Kg M3 2204 6 Lb M3 100 Lt M3 24 6 GI M3 Page 46 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING Ctrl F7 Volumetric Toggle Switchable US Metric Only F8 F9 F9 To invoke hold down the b key and press the rkey at this point the key may be released keeping the r key depressed W
9. CT CT T T T 0o CC CT T Perhe H ky pepe PeH ee pepe el ee ee er Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF Bright ON All available options are shown in the options editor The selected options are brighter than the options that are not selected or have in the case of remote terminal To change these options press h This will cause a pointer to come up on the first option Using the arrow keys move the pointer to the selection to be changed and press h to toggle that selection on or off When finished editing use to save and exit Page 186 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION NEW SOFTWARE INSTALL PROCEDURE For Versions 4 37 and greater Spectrum Install Preparatory Actions A You will need the following 1 QNX B Boot Disk 2 2 Data D disk 2 3 Fbackup Disks 1 amp 2 4 Any other diskettes for options purchased a Ditto for Remote Diagnostics b Dfs Qtalk for Dos File System c MS DOS for Dos File System d For Ticket Editor 1 ZimQRT disk 2 Ticket Editor 1 amp 2 B Put B Boot disk in drive and turn the computer on The Install A When you see a blue screen that says Please Enter Time and Date or Please put Data disk in drive take the Boot disk out and put the NEW Data disk in the drive Press e when you have done this Type N for NEW when prompted The software will guide you through the _ installa
10. F1 Help F3 Menu Save Remove CtrI F7 Convert Sizes Page 94 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS MIX NAME Can be up to 10 characters in length with any combination of numbers and letters When browsing Mix Designs this is the name that the browse will search against therefore it should be a short but descriptive name that can be easily recognized UNIT PRICE The selling price for one cubic unit yard or meter of this mix design This price is the standard unit price which may be printed on the ticket but may also be adjusted in the Order Entry screen for special pricing If the Order Entry feature is not available on your system this field will not appear DESCRIPTION A 30 character description of this mix which can be printed the delivery ticket and is intended to be more detailed than the Mix Name TAXABLE Y allows this Mix to be taxed on a delivery ticket N will make this Mix tax exempt This field will not appear if Order Entry is not present MIXING TIME Appears for central mix plants and can be entered for mixes that have different mixing times than that of the default value set in the System Setup screens MIXER NUMBER Used for central mix plants with more than one mixer and forces this mix into a particular mixer Mixer preference can be changed prior to charging using the skey DESIGN SLUMP The slump at which this mix has been designed Changes to this field in the Pre Batch and or Order Entry optio
11. hard disk heads NOTE All computers 386 and higher should not perform this function as they have automatic disk head parking 5 8 QNX TO DOS TRANSFER Selecting this option from the Backup Restore Menu will allow an existing QNX file to be copied to a DOS file Any file can be copied using this method Note that the proper software must be available for this feature to work 5 9 TRANSFER TICKET DATA TO DOS MEDIA By selecting this option from the Backup Restore Menu the QNX file of the tickets 1 ticket dat will be copied to a DOS file also named ticket dat The system will ask if you want to copy this file to a DOS formatted floppy disk or to the DOS partition of the hard drive Page 120 SECTION 6 REPORTS 6 0 REPORTS If REPORTS is selected from the MAIN MENU a list of all available reports will appear To print a desired report move the cursor to that report name and press the ekey A message will appear and ask if the printer is ready If the printer is on line and has blank paper loaded i e not tickets press Y and the e key and the appropriate report will start printing If the printer is not ready press N and the ekey and the Main Menu will return This message is there to allow the user a second chance if necessary to switch to plain paper from tickets in the printer Below is a list of descriptions of each report INGREDIENTS This report details all parameters associated with each ingredient MIX DESIGN
12. the system will batch a load correspond ing to the Load Size minus the Return Amount If the Return Mix is changed to a mix that has the same ingredients but different amounts the system will correct the batch for these differences If the Return Mix is changed to a mix with ingredients not contain ed in the formula to batch the system will give a message stating these differences and will batch a load as if the Return Mix were the same as the Mix Name Before batching this load the system provides the ability to continue or to make changes Page 39 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING The printout will reflect the actual Load Size entered however the batch weights will show the actual amounts batched The amount returned will also be on the printout SLUMP This field will be automatically pulled in from the Mix Design or in the case of Order Entry from the order This slump may be changed and will affect the amount of water to batch per unit of the Load Size by the amounts specified in slump adjust parameters found in the System Setup Screens Refer to Section 7 for more details Example Mix is 3 changed to 4 system will add usually 1 gallon of water per yard extra This also applies for metric loads using liters per meter WATER ADJUST YD This is a numeric field that will change the amount of water batched per unit of the load size For example a 1 0 entered in this field will add 1 gallon liter of water per yard meter to the lo
13. 0 for On Hand This is handy for ingredients such as water So as to avoid very large negative amounts ON HAND LOW ORDER LEVEL By changing the color of this ingredient from green to red in the Batch Setup Bar Graph and Inventory screens the Spectrum can alert you that the On Hand Inventory level has dropped below this level and is time to re order BATCHING ON HAND CONVERSION If a volume conversion between Batching and On Hand units is required i e LB YD the conversion factor must be typed in This conversion can be acquired from your supplier and is often referred to as bulk density PURCHASE ON HAND CONVERSION If a volume conversion between Purchase and On Hand units is required i e YD TN the conversion factor must be typed in This conversion can be acquired from your supplier and is often referred to as bulk density Page 90 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS 3 3 CHEMICAL INGREDIENT PARAMETERS This screen shows all the parameters associated with a chemical admix ingredient All of the admixes have the same number of parameters Even though the names and values are probably different follow the same structure as shown The following information describes each item that may differ from the previous parameters listed already in the section above on Major Ingredients CHEMICAL INGREDIENT Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 16 36 32 Ingredient Name REDISET Bottle Number Over Tolerance Under Tolerance A
14. 1 ORDER ENTRY 1 00 INTRODUCTION Order Entry is for Spectrum systems equipped to print delivery tickets from an On Line customer base If your system is not equipped with Order Entry Ticketing skip to Section 2 In this section the Order Entry software will be described in detail from the setup of the customer data to the printing of the delivery ticket Before orders can be entered batched and printed several sets of information must be entered into the Spectrum software These data sets consist of formulae customers extra products and charges tax rates discount rates credit codes and the format of the printed ticket 1 31 ENTERING MIXES All mixes that can be batched should be entered in Mix Designs Refer to Section 3 on Mix Designs for detailed information on entering mixes 12 ENTERING CUSTOMERS A customer file containing all regular customer information must be created This information is entered in the Customer File screen and is accessed by selecting Customers Products Transactions from the Main Menu This will pop up a smaller menu as shown below EDIT MENU Customers edit Products edit Transactions edit Select Customers Edit from this menu and the Customer File screen shown on page 2 appears Page 1 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY CUSTOMER FILE Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Apr 7 14 46 21 CUSTOMER CODE NAME CREDIT CODE ADDRESS DISCOUNT CODE DISCOUNT RATE TAX CODE CITY CREDIT LIMIT STATE CURRENT BAL
15. A PASSWORD Changing a password is the same as entering a password position the cursor on the appropriate line type the new code and press the PRIORITY The highest priority should be given to the password which permits access to this screen Less important screens may be given a different password which allows selected operating personnel to have access to several functions SECURITY When passwords are typed the computer displays an for each key pressed to hide the code from those watching 7 3 PLANT CONFIGURATION Page 126 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP PLANT CONFIGURATION Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Jun 21 13 35 58 Mix Default US 1 Metric 0 1 Initial Gate Close Wait 500 Sgl drop batcher 0 Max Number of Batches Allowed 100 1 Cont Disch 2 Cont Run 4 ARTP Ticket Number 10807 0 Metered Water 0 No 1 Yes 2 HT 1 Agg Scale Max 36000 Manual Batch Print Enable 0 Cem Scale Max 7000 Calibration 0 1 U S 1 Wat Scale Max 3000 Weight of Water x 1000 8330 Max Load Volume x 10 100 Weight of Calcium x 1000 11275 Split Load by Mixer Size 1 Y 0 Non Air Mix Slump Adjust 8330 Calcium Soln Concentration 33 Small To Large Volume 128 Default Slump 10 40 Plant Number 2 Jog Settle Time mSec 1000 Agg Batching 0 Net 1 Actual 0 Scale Settle Time mSec 2000 Cem Batching 0 Net 1 Actual Admix Settle Time mSec 1000 Wat Batching 0 Net 1 Actual Default Slag 0 Jog Every Batch 0 None 1 2 4
16. By selecting this option from the Select Menu an existing QNX disk may be copied to a newly formatted QNX disk After choosing this option the message below appears Place source disk drive 1 Press Enter when ready Put the disk to be copied into the computer s disk drive and press the ekey The files will be read off this disk and the message shown below will appear Reading files After all the files are read off of the source disk a message will appear as shown below Place destination disk in drive 1 Press Enter when ready Take the source disk out of the computer at this point and put the newly formatted QNX disk from above procedure into the computer s disk drive Pressing the e key will start writing the files onto this disk with a message stating that this is occurring After all the Page 118 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE files are written to this disk a message will appear as shown Disk Copy is Complete Press Enter to Continue Press the e key and the Main Menu will reappear Take the disk out of the computer and label it appropriately 5 5 3 MAKING SYSTEM DISKS By selecting this option from the Select Menu a Data Disk and or the Fbackup disks may be made After selecting this option the following menu appears AIN MENU Auto Batching Select Disk s to Make Order Entry Mix Designs Data Disk Customers Products Order Entry Data Disk View Adjust Invent Mix Design Data Disk
17. Clear All On Hand Amounts prompt since this will clear all On Hand totals the system currently has Display controls are the same as the Daily usage screen Page 109 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE INTRODUCTION This section deals with the file management capabilities of the Spectrum System There are two basic functions that can be performed on files in the Spectrum software writing files backup and reading files restoring The file management selections are found in the Backup and Restore Menu shown below BACKUP RESTORE Data Files Customer Files Order Files Product Files Mix Designs Batch Weights Robo Tilt Data File Format Copy Make System Disks Install Update Convert Old Data Hard Disk Head Park Program QNX to DOS Media Transfer Transfer Ticket Data To DOS Media To access this menu select Backup Restore from the Main Menu Before the Backup Restore Menu is accessed a message will appear as shown below Ingredient Table Reports System Setup c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation Page 110 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE SO 241 The system is preparing the files that are used in the Backup Restore Menu s functions You are also warned to have all systems idle before using the floppy disk This means that there should be nothing in automatic mode i e Batching Bin Filling Mixer Control After the files are ready the Backup Restore Menu will appear A description of the different choices on
18. Name The ability to edit this field is useful for creating orders using a generic customer for non regular customers i e Cash Page 20 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY DELIVERY ADDRESS Three lines are provided to enter the delivery address of the order PO NUMBER A purchase order number may be entered here SO NUMBER A sales order number may be entered here You may prefer to use the Lot here COD Entering a Y in this field will print the pricing of the order on the delivery ticket Entering an N or leaving this field blank will suppress the printing of the prices TAX CODE browsable field This is the tax code entered for the customer This field has a browse feature accessed using the mkey CREDIT CODE browsable field This is the credit code entered for the customer Page 21 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY MIX browsable field This is the Mix Name of the mix for this order as entered in Mix Designs The browse will show the Mix Name and its description as shown below 5 SK 5 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL Y 5 SK 5 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL Metric 6 SK 6 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL 6 5 SK 6 5 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL 7 SK 7 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL 7 SK 7 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL Metric 8 SK 8 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL Metric 8 SK 8 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL 5SKA 5 SAND amp GRAVEL WITH AIR 5 5 SKA 5 5 SACK SAND amp GRAVEL WITH AIR lt lt lt lt lt lt Up Dn Esc Enter Each mix has a Y or M
19. Normally the weigh batcher gates are controlled by a single solenoid valve which must remain energized to open the gates When de energized the batcher gates close automatically Page 67 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING INCHING CONTROL This type of discharge inches the discharge gates open or closed to maintain the specified flow rate from the weigh batcher so as not to plug the truck s loading chute This requires two separate solenoid valves to control the discharge gates One valve provides control to open the gate while the other closes the gate When the valves are de energized the discharge gate remains in its last position INGREDIENT DISCHARGE SEQUENCES Separate from the type of discharge is the sequence of discharge which defines the order in which the materials will be released from the weigh batchers The best way of covering this subject is by example Example The plant is a low profile installation with an inclined conveyor to discharge the aggregates from the weigh batcher into the truck The cement batcher is sitting above the boot and the water is metered into the truck through a holding hopper for the initial charge of water Past operation has shown the following sequence works best for this plant Start conveyor immediately no Start initial water charge of 50 into truck gt O Start chemical discharge with the water and discharge for fifteen seconds After two seconds open the
20. Once you have done this answer Y to the next prompt and the system will start the DFS program and transfer the rgb cust mat_rec dat file to the DOS partition This file contains the necessary data needed for QC Helper and or any third party software that tracks plant efficiency You will have the choice of transferring this file to either the Hard drive the Floppy drive or both 5 2 CUSTOMER FILES ORDER FILES MIX DESIGNS PRODUCT FILES Choosing any one of these options will prompt you again for Backup or Restore Once you have chosen which option you want the appropriate disk is asked for and transfer will occur If Restore is chosen the system will rebuild the internal indexes automatically at which point you may resume normal operations Page 114 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE 5 3 BATCH WEIGHTS If the Batch Weights to Disk option is enabled each time the Spectrum batches a load the batch weights are stored in a file This file grows with each load After the file gets to be a certain length 9096 of the floppy s storage capacity a message appears notifying the operator that the batch weights need backed up To back the batch weights up a Spectrum formatted disk is needed To format a disk for this use refer to Section 5 5 1 With a formatted disk ready select Batch Weights from the Backup Restore Menu The following will appear Place a Spectrum formatted disk in drive 1 Hit Enter when ready Esc to quit Y
21. Plug in the Pre Cal board and record the reading at each of the ten positions Also record the switch settings on the zero and span switches Page 219 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION NOTE When all scales have been calibrated replace the cover over the span switches This will prevent others from accidentally changing the span while trying to adjust the zero reading Repeat the above procedure until all LC 1 s are calibrated NOTE The LCH boards should be checked and recalibrated if necessary at a maximum of six month intervals For Revision K LCH Boards a green LED will be located on the board as shown in Figure 1A on the previous page The following adjustment will be required for this board With all the connections made and the power on adjust the LED potentiometer clockwise until the LED goes out Now turn the pot counter clockwise until the LED just comes back on The circuit that drives the LED monitors the current draw of the load cell and by making this adjustment it is now fine tuned to its particular cell This adjustment is not necessary for proper operation of the board however it does act as a watchdog over the load cell and cable connections If part of the load cell should open or a sense or exciter cable line break the LED will go out If the LED blinks on momentarily when the control power is applied it means that a sense line is missing or one cell of a multiple cell hookup is bad This concludes the calibr
22. RELATED FUNCTION KEY Will clear all displayed orders in the Job Index REMOVE ONE JOB Delete Removes selected job from system GRAPHIC F5 Allows access to the Batching screen UPDATE AND REPAINT INDEX Used to update the Job Index after changing time or date of an order Also used frequently when a remote terminal or remote system is used to enter orders into the Spectrum software TOGGLE TO AND FROM BATCHING SCREEN Allows direct access to the Batching screen LOAD SELECTED JOB Loads selected job into Auto Batch Setup screen EDIT DATE FIELD AND DISPLAY THAT DATE S ORDERS Allows modifying the date field of the Job Index which controls the displayed jobs MODIFY COPY SELECTED JOB Pulls selected job into Order Entry screen to be changed or copied DISPLAY TODAY S JOBS Changes date field of the Job Index to current date which displays only today s orders Page 33 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY F10 DISPLAY ALL JOBS Changes date field of the Job Index to ALL which displays all orders in the system F11 MOISTURE EDITOR Shows the moisture editor below MOISTURE EDITOR Bin Number amp AUTO probe Moisture AGG Name On line Percentage 1 GRAVEL N 0 50 2 ROCK N 0 75 3 ROCK 0 75 4 GRAVEL 1 20 5 SAND 4 45 The Moisture Editor allows the moisture values entered for the aggregate materials to be altered It also allows the automatic moisture probes to be turned and off line The first column sh
23. Set buttons in the switch group labeled Display See FIGURE 1 Page 213 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION DISPLAY MANUAL SET ADVANCE SELECT GRAD TEST ALT COUNTER POWER RESET FIGURE 1 Pressing the Set button will cause the display to blank except for the first character in the upper left corner If the display has never been set up before this character will be a zero By momentarily pressing the advance button the digit will display an S for scale by pressing the advance button again it will display a C for counter When the correct letter is shown defining whether the display is to be used for a scale or a counter momentarily press the Select button to accept it The letter will disappear and a three digit number representing the graduation size will be displayed To determine the graduation size divide the scale s total capacity by 2000 This should result in a number with several digits and possibly a decimal point somewhere in the number Disregarding the decimal point and any trailing zeros for a moment the number remaining is the graduation size The grad size cannot be larger than 255 If it is the scale capacity is not a valid one for use with the Spectrum Manual Station display EXAMPLE Scale Capacity 40000 Step 1 40000 2000 20 Step 2 20 Grad Size is 20 EXAMPLE Scale Capacity 100000 Step 1 100000 2000 50 Step 2 50 Grad Size is 50 EXAMPLE Scale Capacity 7200 Step 1 7200 2000 3 6
24. System This knowledge helps diagnose problems that may occur 2 7 1 INITIAL CHECKS At the start of each batch the ingredients in the mix design are checked against the ingredient table for valid ingredient names and bin or bottle numbers The computer also checks that the weigh batcher limit switch gates are closed and that the printer is on line before starting the batch Any errors found will be displayed at the bottom of the screen The batch will not be allowed to begin until these errors are corrected 2 7 2 SCALE ZERO TOLERANCE Due to build up of materials in the weigh batchers scales rarely read zero prior to the start of a batch The computer will compensate for this non zero condition as long as it is within the zero tolerance This is set by the Auto Zero on the Modify Scale Calibration Screen If the scale is above the Auto Zero a message will appear before starting the batch that will give the operator the choice of proceeding with the batch or aborting If the batch is started the weight in the scale will be considered as the first material to be weighed in that scale for this batch 2 7 3 AUTOMATIC SPLITTING OF BATCHES The computer will automatically split the batch size into two or more equally sized loads if the following conditions are met 1 If the sum of the accumulated final target weights for any one scale exceeds the Scale Max as shown in the Plant Configuration table and the Quick Edit Screen and 2 If the Ma
25. TAX CODES This is where different tax rates are entered Ten different tax rates can be entered as ten different tax codes The tax code can be any 4 character alphanumeric string that uses the corresponding tax rate in the Tax Code Table Selecting Tax Codes will pop up the Tax Code Table TAX CODES CODE RATE CITY CNTY In the example above two tax codes have been entered The CITY tax code corresponds to a tax percentage of 5 where CNTY will charge all taxable items in an order at a 6 rate It is important to note that you are not restricted to ten tax jurisdictions but ten percentages Many jurisdictions carry the same tax rate Page 13 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY DISCOUNT CODES Discount Codes are where different discount rates are entered Ten different discount rates can be entered as ten different discount codes The discount code can be any four character alohanumeric string that uses the corresponding discount rate in the Discount Code Table Selecting Discount Codes will pop up the Discount Code Table DISCOUNT CODES CODE RATE 1 00 2 00 3 00 4 00 5 00 6 00 7 00 8 00 9 00 10 00 2 ACOOUT Refer to Section 1 3 for a amount discount CREDIT CODES This is where different credit codes are entered Ten different credit codes can be entered The credit code can be any 4 character alphanumeric string that uses the corresponding credit code description in the Credit Code Table Se
26. UP NEXT BATCH This allows the operator to set up the next load during the discharge of the present load 2 5 6 STARTING THE DISCHARGE OF A PARTIAL BATCH Pressing the key will initiate the discharge sequence according to the discharge parameters When the discharge is complete for the partial batches it will again redraw the graphics and begin the next partial or the final batch for the load When the system is satisfied with the batch it will automatically begin the discharge as long as no out of tolerance condition has occurred If there was a tolerance error in the second batch the operator must again okay the discharge by pressing the The computer will now give the message I SET UP NEXT BATCH 26 MAKING REPEAT BATCHES After a batch is completed and the discharge is in progress the computer will give the prompt I SET UP NEXT BATCH If the key is pressed the display will return to the Job Index with the cursor on the order that has just been batched Systems without the Order Entry option will find it a time saver to be able to make repeat batches by simply pressing the ekey The computer will recall all of the data from the previous load except for LOAD SIZE TRUCK NUMBER DRIVER NUMBER Enter this information and you are ready to start batching Page 58 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 7 SEQUENCES OF THE AUTOMATIC BATCH This section will help the operator understand the automatic sequences of the Spectrum
27. __ __ 2 TM CEREREM j Pao 21 TP EMI ___ n S E _ 10 m EE 11 I BEEN 12 mm 555 13 m 555 14 m mE 15 c D 16 m I A DISPLAY READING B READING ON RESULTS BAKEOUT AT TIME OF CALIBRATOR DIAL TAKING SAMPLE TO CREATE C WET DRY x 100 ABSORBED READING A DRY TARE Page 207 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE DATE MOISTURE CALIBRATION WORKSHEET TARE EMPTYPAN ABSORBEDWATER A B C D E F G READING DISPLAY CAL BAKEOUT WET DRY WET DRY DRY TARE m __ __ 2 TN o a s a fe o n TEES 10 m EE 11 mm BEEN 12 mm 555 13 m 555 14 m mE 15 c D 16 m I A DISPLAY READING B READING ON RESULTS BAKEOUT AT TIME OF CALIBRATOR DIAL TAKING SAMPLE TO CREATE C WET DRY x 100 ABSORBED READING A DRY TARE Page 208 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE DYNAMIC CHECKS If the Probe was installed properly the reading will probably drop a few tenths of a percent when sand is flowing If this change is more than 0 5 the Probe face angle must be adjusted as described in Section IV on page 9 7 The trick is to keep the Probe face horizontal enough so that the sand compacts against it uniformly while keeping it at enough of an angle that sand will flow across it without creating a dead zone If the Probe angle is OK then use the External Zero Adjustment to raise the standing moisture reading slightly The flowing sand read
28. a positive or negative count If a positive count is present it will pulse the valve closed Agg Normal Close Pulse if Flow High or Cement Close Pulse if Flow High If the count is negative it will pulse the valve open Agg Open Pulse if Flow Low or Cement Open Pulse if Flow Low to correct the flow On the aggregates each open pulse is counted until the value set for the Pulse Number for Agg Vibrator is reached which must occur within the time period specified by the Time to Reset Agg Vib Count the Pulse Number count is reset after this time expires When this occurs the vibrator is turned on for the time period specified by Agg Vib Pulse if Flow Lowto re establish the flow With cements if the flow falls below the Critical Cement Flow the computer adds a one to a counter Each time the flow reading is sensed above this value a one is subtracted from the counter At the end of the time period set by Time to Issue Cem Crit Pulse if the net result of this counter is greater than zero the Full Open P if Flow Critical and the Close P if Flow Critical will be given to the gate to establish the flow Page 72 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING TUNING INCHING CONTROL Most of the parameters required to tune the inching control will be found in Discharge Parameters with the following exceptions PARAMETER SCREEN DISPLAY Flow Smoothing Factor X 100 System Parameters Time Between Flow Calc s mSec System Parameters The typical values given below shou
29. angle the mounting hole will be elliptical in shape Insert the sleeve into the hole and rotate it so the small notch faces upward Ona sloping bin wall the sleeve should be inserted as far as possible i e until the top edge of the flange touches the bin wall For a gate mounting the sleeve should extend 2 3 inches into the gate Make sure that the gate when fully opened doesn t hit the sleeve or its flange Tack weld it into place while holding it horizontal Page 203 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE Check to make sure that the sleeve is level and extends straight into the bin Adjust as necessary then finish welding into place Probe Attachment Probe Attachment Carefully insert the Probe into the sleeve It may be necessary to feed sand while you are doing this to reduce the effect of sand packing around the Probe Bolt the Probe in place using bolts flat washers and lockwashers IV Probe Adjustment Probe Adjustment Position the Probe in such a way that the Probe face is at an angle of approximately 30 degrees from horizontal The flat section of the Probe extends past the mounting sleeve Rotate the Probe or move it in out until positioned properly Tighten the sleeve bolts To be sure the Probe is in the proper position look down into the empty bin with the gate open V Cable Connection Cable Connection Install the Moisture Probe cable to run between the Probe and the Spectrum Manual Station Note that the rou
30. average This time is used by the Spectrum to calculate the Super Jog time A Super Jog works as shown in the example listed below MAX NUMBER OF SUPER JOGS Super Jogs another word for Timed Feed are based on the Feed Rate Sec and will determine the time needed to obtain the target amount based on Target Feed Rate Sec Sec Sec Number of Super Jogs Sec Super Jog Example Target 3000Lbs Small Weight 3500 Super Jogs 2 FR S 500 3000Lbs 500 Lbs S 6 Sec 6 Sec 2 3 Sec There will nominally be two three second Super Jogs Should the Spectrum over or under weigh on any one of the drops a re calculation is made and the new gate open times are used instead This method of weigh up only occurs if the required amount is under the Small Weight value After a main feed the system will use Super Jogs to try and achieve target before it tries small jogs The material name turns gray on the Bar Graph screen during a Super Jog Page 83 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS MATERIAL FLOW CHARACTERISTICS There are three variables to take into consideration when trying to achieve a target weight System Jitter Preact mounding and Feed Rate System Jitter This can be many things which are not very predictable i e Low air pressure Sluggish gates Preact mounding As a scale fills mounds are created and depending on the amount required the mounds will be large or small Smaller mounds for smaller loads and larger mounds for larger load
31. being used to print tickets at different locations Also from this screen the last ticket can be reprinted by pressing the o key This is helpful if the printer jammed or ran out of paper while printing a ticket Page 51 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 23 STARTING A BATCH To begin an automatic batch enter the Auto Batch Setup Screen Enter all the required information on this screen Note that the only required fields that must be entered to run a batch are the Mix Name and the Load Size After you have verified that the information on the Auto Batch Setup Screen is exactly what you want for this batch press the n key to bring up the Auto Batch Select Menu or press the q key to immediately start the batch If the n key was used select Run Batch to start the load Once Batch Start has initiated the computer will first verify that a quantity and a proper mix have been entered and that all ingredient names in the mix design are in valid bins silos and bottle numbers It will also check the scale interlock contacts to make sure the gates are closed and within the zero tolerance Also it will issue a pulse to all discharge gates to energize them closed Any errors found at this point will cause an error message and require the operator to either correct the error and retry the batch or accept the error and begin the batch After all checks have been made the Batching Screen will appear and the weigh up of materials will begin Page 52 SECT
32. feed stages PREACTS freefall compensation Page 62 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING The Normal Preact Ingredient Table is the weight which will be in suspension after closing the gates This value is affected by many conditions such as gate response times batch size and material flow characteristics To compensate for these variables the computer learns from its previous experience of weighing that material After completing the Slow Feed Stage of the weigh up the computer subtracts the weight in the scale recorded as soon as the feed gates were shut from the total weight recorded after the Scale Settle Time has expired This difference is used to adjust the Normal Preact for the next batch Since the material freefall can be largely affected by the batch size due to the distance the material must fall many other parameters are provided to try and offset these variances The following variables are only used if Adjust Large Small Weight Scale Value and Cutoff Parameters is turned on in Material Feed Control found in the Ingredient Table Small Weight Scale Value This value represents the smallest amount the Spectrum batches of this ingredient Every time a smaller amount is used it is stored here until finally this will be the smallest This now tells the system the smallest weight that it can batch using a fast feed scenario Small Weight Cutoff This value represents the amount of suspended weight there is after the gates were
33. following describes updating the Spectrum batching system software on the computer s hard disk to the current version This procedure will only work when updating from version 4 15 and up Verify current version number and notify the Alkon Service Department at 1 614 792 0677 if current version is earlier than 4 14H Page 198 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION CHECKOUT Use the following list to verify that all necessary diskettes are on hand PN PN 1 21375 21381 Disk 1 Data 1 21376 21382 Disk 2 1 21377 21383 Disk 3 Customers Jobs INSTALLATION 1 Locate the Boot disks shipped with the original software If your computer uses 5 1 4 instead of 3 1 2 disks also locate the Boot Utilities disk Insert the Boot disk into the floppy drive and turn on the computer 2 Wait for the screen to turn blue and the words Please Enter Date Remove the Boot disk from the floppy drive and replace it with the new Data Disk PN 21375 or PN 21381 Press e From this point forward the Spectrum will ask for each disk When the system asks if UPDATE or NEW type U for UPDATE 3 At some point the paragraph below will print on the screen Spectrum Installation for Version 4 XX If you are upgrading an earlier version of software version 4 15 through 4 XX to version 4 XX type U for update If you are installing this software on a computer without any Spectrum software at all or you need to start over and want to completely
34. for a new order Delete DELETE SELECTED JOB Removes selected job from the system Alt P PRINTER PORT SELECTOR REPRINT LAST TICKET The Printer Port Selector screen appears Same as above Page 35 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 21 GENERAL INFORMATION The Spectrum Software is designed to automate all the various types of concrete batching plants Before being able to actually use the Spectrum for automatic batching some data must be entered into the system This data includes ingredients mix designs and configuration information that personalizes the Spectrum System with the batch plant If the Order Entry feature is enabled more information must be entered before delivery ticket printing is possible This section deals with using the Spectrum s automatic batching functions There are two forms of batching with the Job Index Order Entry without the Job Index Non Order Entry Plants which have the optional Order Entry software can batch either way Those plants without this option are limited to the description of batching without the job index and should ignore any references to printing delivery tickets Before a batch can be initiated the Auto Batch Setup Screen must be accessed 2 1 1 BATCHING WITH THE JOB INDEX On systems with the Order Entry software the Job Index Screen appears when selecting Auto Batching from the Main Menu For details on this screen and how to enter an order refer to Section 1 of this
35. identified by two numbers The number preceding the device name is the device number and is used by the system for batching Diagnostics can be done in the I O TEST Screen with these numbers as well The number following the device name identifies the I O device in the J Box I O ASSIGNMEN Alkon Corporatio Version 4 4xx Sep 25 15 05 44 INPUT OUTP OUTPUTS ABORT EE A00 EM DIS CLOS TCH EE A01 CEM VIBRATOR TCH A02 ADX 6 FEED A03 COLD FEE A04 COLD FEE A05 HO coo WAT C02 ADX Col ADX 09 A08 All A10 Q o w Q p wW o D uU EP CO CO PO 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 i 8 9 H DPUUOUUUU UU pd Ed Fd Ed EH Er QU tr O1 4 Q0 ND ES PWWAANAAAA C08 n Next Page There are six pages of IO assignments with the fourth page being a user defined screen Page four is typically used if any custom PLC code needs to exist for a special need that your plant might have Page 177 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 9 SCALE CALIBRATION This screen allows for calibration of the scales to the dial heads or electronic readout devices For calibration procedures refer to Section 10 SCALE CALIBRATION Al
36. is suggested to do a backup of the Data Files as soon as possible after making ticket format changes Page 17 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 16 THE TICKET FILE FORMATS A ticket file is created or appended after printing a ticket This file can be transferred to a DOS format and uploaded into other DOS compatible programs The format of this file is contained in the Record Format screen This screen is accessed by selecting Record Transactions from the Order Entry Setup Menu LINK 20 REC FORMAT Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Nov 6 9 02 53 FIELD ROW COL FIELD ROW COL FIELD ROW COL TICKET SIZE 80 C O D 0 0 TAX CHARGE 16 71 DATE 10 CREDIT CODE 30 PREV TOTAL 18 71 TIME 1 20 TAX CODE 8 40 SUB TOTAL 14 71 CUSTOMER CODE 0 PROJECT CODE 8 50 DISCOUNT 15 71 ACCOUNT 60 BATCH COST EXT 9 71 NEW TOTAL 17 CUSTOMER NAME FORMULA 10 GRAND TOTA L9 CUST ADDRESS 1 DESCRIPTION 20 PERCENT DISC 0 CUST ADDRESS 2 LOAD SIZE 3 CALCIUM 19 CITY DEL ADD LINE1 0 MEMO 23 STATE PRICE PER UNIT 64 2 24 ZIP ORDERED 50 TRUCK LEFT PLAN 0 NOTES DELIVERED 58 TRUCK 0 DELIVERY INST1 LOADS 0 TRUCK LEFT JOB 0 INST2 TRUCK 40 TRUCK RETURN a0 o 0 7 3 4 5 6 6 6 0 3 4 INST3 DRIVER 60 DELADDLINE2 0 INST4 DRIVER NAME 0 DEL ADD LINE3 0 INST5 SLUMP 60 CANADIAN FED BATCH REPORT 26 CAN FED TX S TOO BATCH NUMBER 1 0 REMOTE TICKET 0 USER ONE 20 PLANT USER TWO 21 gt Note that this
37. other plant outputs as required This parameter is set using an Options Editor The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the ukey Refer to Section 7 15 for instructions on using an Options Editor MIXER 1 SELECT CONTROL Select Output ON when Mixer 1 is READY Select Output ON when Mixer 1 is Empty Select Output ON when Mixer 1 is Requested Select Output ON when Mixer 1 Selected by Quick Edit Suppress Select Output Switching until Next is Ready Leave Select Output ON Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF Bright ON Page 166 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP SELECT CONTROL FOR MIXER 2 DEFAULT MIXER 2 DISCH TIME INITIAL MIXER 2 DISCH PULSE SECONDS UNTIL FULL MIXER 2 OPEN MIXER 2 OPTIONS 2 4 8 16 CHARGE EARLY 2 DISCH DELAY These parameters are identical to the mixer 1 parameters explained previously except they pertain to the 2nd mixer ENABLE BIN FILLING SYSTEM If the Spectrum system also controls the material handling this parameter will be set toa 1 Otherwise this should be set to a value of 0 ENABLE SHRINK MIXER CONTROL If a shrink mixer is to be controlled as mixer 1 this parameter should be set to a value of 1 otherwise it should be 0 MIXING TIME IN SHRINK MIXER This is the amount of the total mixing time as a percentage that the shrink mixer will use out of the total mixing time defined for that mix BACKUP DATA TYPE Entering a value of 1 will force the Spectrum to re make
38. screen can only be accessed if a ticket file does not already exist Page 18 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 1 7 ENTERING ORDERS The Order Entry screen can be accessed from the Main Menu or the Job Index To enter an order from the Main Menu select Order Entry This will bring up the Job Orders screen as shown below JOB ORDERS READY Alkon Corporation Version 4 Feb 25 15 42 46 CUSTOMER CODE CUSTOMER Home DELIVERY ADDRESS JOB NUMBER NOTES PgUp SLUMP S 0 ORDERED FLYASH C O D LD SIZE SLAG TAX CODE LD DATE CALCIUM CREDIT CODE LD TIME HOT WTR LD INTVL BATCH CODE NUM LOADS PgDn CODE ORD D DELIV D DESCRIPTION QTY PRICE EXT SUB TOTAL TAX DISCOUNT NEW TOTAL End PREVIOUS TOTAL GRAND TOTAL New Order Esc Index F3 Menu F4 Mix Description F7 Clear F8 Copy A description of all the fields in the Job Orders screen follows CUSTOMER CODE The first field on the order is the Customer Code This must be entered identically to the Customer Code entered in the Customer File screen as described in Section 1 2 If the code entered here is not found in the Customer file the screen will give an error message Page 19 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY The browse feature is applicable in this field by using the mkey all the Customer Codes are displayed in a scrollable box The browse feature on this field is an extremely powerful tool as it alleviates the task of memorizing the Customer Co
39. shut when the scale read the above value Large Weight Scale Value This value represents the largest amount the Spectrum batches of this ingredient Every time a larger amount is used it is stored here until finally this will be the largest This now tells the system the largest weight that it batches using a fast feed scenario Large Weight Cutoff This value represents the amount of suspended weight there was after the gates were shut when the scale read the above value Together these four parameters are used to determine the new preact cutoff value As load size increases the suspended weight becomes less and vice versa With this in mind using the above parameters the system can extrapolate data points to arrive at a fairly accurate preact cutoff for varying load sizes SUPER JOGS Page 63 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING After the fast and slow feed phases are over the system will wait for the Scale Settle Time The scale will then be read and the system will determine if the weighed amount is within tolerance If the error calculated is within the tolerance range the system will consider that ingredient weigh up complete If the error is above the Over Tolerance amount the system will flag this ingredient as out of tolerance If the error is below the Under Tolerance the system will go into the Super Jog stage of the weigh up The length of each Super Jog is determined by the amount left to batch the Feed Rate per Sec and the
40. the gate full until the scale reaches the target weight minus the sum of the Normal Preact and the Slow Feed Cutoff The Spectrum will then wait a few seconds before deciding if jogs are necessary This is not a self adjusting number MAXIMUM NUMBER OF JOGS This parameter saves wear and tear on a plant If a bin runs empty it could jog forever without this parameter Typical numbers range from 10 to 20 meaning the Spectrum will jog this material 10 to 20 times if necessary This number should be set to zero for auger and pump feeds JOG WEIGHT Lbs kg etc This parameter is entered in scale units per jog It represents the amount of material the Spectrum tries to obtain in one jog If this value is too big it will limit the accuracy of the system However if it is too small it will work the plant too much and be ineffective The material name turns Magenta purple on the Bar Graph screen while jogging Page 82 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS JOG TIME mSec This is the estimated amount of time the system takes to try and achieve the Jog Weight above This value is self adjusting but can be locked to a specific number by changing the Jog Sensitivity value in the System Parameters screen to zero FEED RATE PER SEC Lbs Kg etc The amount of material that feeds through a gate in one second To obtain this parameter feed a material for five seconds and divide the scale weight by five It is best to do three trials and take the
41. the r key and the following screen will appear DAILY USAGE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 15 9 40 40 LAST CLEARED SEP 14 1995 13 45 49 U S 50 00 Y 85 32 Y Metric 27 00 M M Y 65 23 M INGREDIENT IN ON HAND 0 00 TN 0 00 TE 0 00 PORTLAND SLAG CEMS FLYASH COLD HOT Clearing the Daily Inventory requires a report to print Do you wish to print the report Y N If you answer N to this question nothing will happen If you answer Y a second message will appear giving you the option of either Parallel Printer or Hard Disk The hard disk option will store the usage to the hard disk under rgb cust daily rpt and clear the totals in each column with the exception of the On Hand This is recommended for people with no printer or a specific reason to do so i e Inventory to DOS The parallel printer option will prompt another message asking if the printer is ready This will allow time to back out the tickets if used from the tractor feed of the printer and feed plain paper for the report to print on consult an Alkon Service Engineer for more on the Okidata 320 Printer Park feature When this is done select Y to print the report and clear the totals All totals will be cleared with exception of the On Hand amounts After the report prints another message will appear to allow the clearing of All On Hand amounts Page 106 SECTION 4 INVENTORY To revise the usage of a material press the m key
42. the screen The Date and Time can be changed on a Job Index Screen The Index Display Column labeled Truck Num in the screen print above can also be changed Refer to Section 7 4 for further explanation Page 28 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 1 8 1 ORDERS DISPLAYED ON THE JOB INDEX When first entering the Job Index after booting up the computer the Date field will show the current date and display all orders entered for that day If the date is incorrect it may be changed in the System Setup screens Refer to Section 7 1 To view all the orders in the system press the ukey Notice the Date field is now displayed as ALL JOB INDEX Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Mar 23 13 55 11 Date ALL INDEX DATE TIME TRUCK NUM JOB CODE ORDERED DELIVERED Home End XXX Esc F1 Help F4 Repaint F5 Graph F7 Date F9 Today F10 All PgUp PgDn To view only the current day s orders press the tkey The Date field will now show the current date To view orders for a specific date other than today press the rkey The cursor will now be in the Date field type in the date of the orders to be displayed in the form MMM DD where MMM is a 3 letter abbreviation for the month and DD is the day of the month For example if the orders for April 8th are to be displayed the operator would type APR 8 and press the ekey Page 29 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY Once an order is d
43. this material as a high volume admixture and the water needs to be reduced by the amount of calcium solution in the load When computing the target amount of calcium the Spectrum uses the total of all the cementitious type materials Some examples are Cement Port and Flyash The calcium ingredient must be entered with a zero dosage amount The percentage to be dosed is entered in the Order Entry or Batch Setup screens next to Calc See also Order Entry Section 1 32 MAJOR INGREDIENT PARAMETERS Page 78 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS INGREDIENT NAME Materials may be called anything you wish It may be necessary to use a Special Ingredient Name as discussed in the previous section or materials can be described by their common name This name is used to identify the material on the batch printout inventory reports and the Batching screen This field also has special impact on the feeding of the aggregates If two independent bins of the same material exist with the same name the Spectrum will feed from both bins to speed up batching See also Bin Number below BIN NUMBER Bin Number tells the Spectrum which group this material falls into The Bin Number is used by the Spectrum to identify which gates to open The following describes the bin number groups used for the entire system 1 8 Aggregate feed gates 9 16 Cement feed gates 17 18 Water feed bins Page 79 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS USE OF BIN NUMBER ZERO Occasionally it may
44. this menu follows 5 1 DATA FILES CUSTOMER FILES ORDER FILES MIX DESIGNS PRODUCT FILES These options backup the files on the hard drive to a floppy diskette and restore files from a floppy diskette to the hard drive When any one of the options above is selected from the Backup Restore Menu the following menu will appear Sep 8 16 12 36 MAIN MENU Auto Batching Order Entry Mix Designs Customers Products Transactions View Adjust CHOOSE Backup Restor Ingredient Tabl ackup Reports estore System Setup c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation SO 241 Page 111 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE DATA FILES Choosing the Data Files option will store the data files onto the hard disk The content of the data files includes all the information stored in the System Setup screens Ingredient Table Mix Designs Products Customers and other miscellaneous data to the hard drive While this data is being written to the hard drive the following message will appear Sep 8 16 13 27 Backing up data files please wait Duplicating data files in 3 rgb data_dup directory c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation SO 241 The Data is saved to the hard drive and a backup copy is also made in case the original copy gets corrupted After the data is backed up to the hard drive the following message will appear Data successfully backed up to hard disk Press Enter to continue Pressing the e key will display th
45. this weight This represents the end of the Fast Feed Stage of the weigh up When two bins are used for the fast feeding of the materials the lowest bin number will be considered as the slow feed bin and the higher bin number the fast feed bin FAST FEEDING TWO AGGREGATES FROM TWO BINS This is common practice with sand and is accomplished by putting the same ingredient name into two bins The computer will give you a warning message when this is done to indicate there are duplicate material names This message can be ignored by pressing the ekey The computer will use the lower bin number for the slow feed and the higher bin number for the fast feed The higher bin parameters need not be set to work properly FAST FEEDING CEMENT FROM TWO SILOS This is generally done to speed up the batching when each silo has only one feed mechanism In the Ingredient Table only enter one ingredient name Unlike aggregates two outputs are turned on when fast feeding a cement These outputs may be used to feed two silos simultaneously or use one output for aeration FAST FEEDING CEMENT FROM ONE SILO The computer is programmed to provide control for two feed devices on each of the three cementitious silos These two devices are labeled Feed A and Feed B When two separate feed devices are provided connect the devices as shown on the electrical connection drawings Feed A will only be energized when fast feeding Feed B will be energized during all
46. user device that conflicts will be set to null On boot up the system will change this to null automatically or if you are in the Editor Screen nullification occurs when leaving the screen You can re enter at this point and try another setup Page 173 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP C D Typing the character as the first character of command line two will cause command line 2 to be appended to command line one Type comm at a QNX prompt i e in the 3rd console to get more information on the comm program One of the options of the comm program is the i modem init string With this option the comm program initializes a modem with the characters following i Example The command mdm comm hayes i ATZO will cause the comm program to send the characters ATZO out the mdm port when the program initializes if it senses a Clear To Send CTS signal from the modem If a system has a config dial dir file and the file contains the hayes setup description the software will import the modem initialization string from the file into the second command line of the Main Console User If the string ixmodem init string is appended to a command line with comm i e comm hayes i modem init string the system will replace the modem init string with the actual initialization string found on command line 2 of the Main Console User The B option will cause the modem to auto d
47. 0 Md Load Mixer Disch Time S Robo Tilt Controller Bd Address Enable PLC Task Robo Tilt Mixer Return Setting Robo Tilt Rate Modifier Robo Tilt Table Init Tilt Rate Erie Mixer Tilt Cushion Time Enable Batcher Start from I O Available 2nd Process Controls Backup Data Type Material Record Options 26 Mat l Record File Size df 300k OOO OOF OO O OO C9 C9 C9 C Page 1 F6 User Scale Editor F7 Robo Mixer Table F8 Misc Printed Fields F4 User Dev Editor PgDn Up Next Page Pressing will display the next screen of parameters Page 160 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP H HOPPER PARAMETE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Jun 21 13 44 48 Agg Slow Flow Agg Normal Flow Agg Fast Flow Agg Very Fast Cem Slow Flow Cem Normal F1 Cem Fast Flo Cem Very Fas Agg Variatio Cem Variatio Water Tank Time Star Ti Start Agg After Conv Start Ce Start Water Purge Incl Conveyor Close Gates at End e Issue Agg amp Cem Pulses Agg to Start Cement Select Control for Hold Hopper Agg Full Open Pulse at Strt Agg Normal Close Pulse at Strt Agg Close Pulse if Flow High Agg Open Pulse if Flow Low Pulse Number for Agg Vibrator Weight to Turn On Agg Vibrator Agg Full Open Weight Agg Vib Pulse if Flow Low Time Agg Gate Open After Zero Normal Cement Open Pulse Strt Cement Close Pulse if Flow
48. 0 the Discount Unit Price will be used all the time STANDARD UNIT PRICE This is the price per unit of the product for an amount ordered that is less than the Discount Quantity described above Page 6 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY PRODUCT TYPE browsable field This determines how the product is priced The choices are E EACH N NO CHARGE U FLAT RATE A ADMIX M MANUAL Up Dn Esc Enter EACH is used for products that are sold independent of the load size of the concrete delivered Examples rebar expansion joints etc NO CHARGE is used for products that have no charge associated with them but are desired to be printed on the delivery ticket Examples could include Front End Discharge Conveyor etc FLAT RATE is used for single charges Examples Haul Charge Saturday Delivery etc ADMIX is for any product that is charged per yard Examples Calcium Chloride Fiber Mesh etc MANUAL forces the operator to manually enter the amount ordered when entering the job order TAXABLE Enter a Y to tax this product an N will not calculate taxes on this product DISCOUNT Y N If the cost of the product is to be given a percentage discount associated with the customer s discount code enter a Y in this field If no percentage discount is to be given to any customers for this product enter an N Page 7 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY AUTO ADD TO ORDER browsable field A product can be automatically adde
49. 00 8 100 37020 3 030 FLY 900 900 HOT E 86 86 COLD WATE 86 48 POZZ 322N 157 154 AIR MIC 24 24 DOVO OOOO D This part of the Batching Screen shows each ingredient in the mix design that is being batched The slump of the current batch is shown at the top right side of the screen The bar graph represents the percentage of these ingredients that has been weighed or metered The first of the three columns on the right shows the target weight required for the batch The other two columns can be configured to show a choice of the two or three selections shown below Batched The amount already weighed metered Error percentage of the amount batched vs the target amount Variance The amount batched minus the target amount These columns are configured by the Batching Display Option found in the System Parameters Screen refer to Section 7 4 for details In the example above all ingredients except COLD WATER have been weighed up to their respective target values When any ingredient is in the fast feed cycle the name of the ingredient will turn green and an asterisk will appear next to it During the Super Jog cycle the name is in gray and during small jogs the name is in purple The bar graph for that material will grow from left to right to indicate a positive flow of material into the scale or bottle Page 54 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 4 2 THE SCALE SECTI
50. 00 Lbs WEIGHT OF CALCIUM SOLUTION 11 3 Lbs Gal REQUIRED WEIGHT OF SOLUTION 2 X 4 X 400 91 43 Lbs 3596 REQUIRED VOLUME OF SOLUTION 91 43Lbs 8 09 Gallons 11 3 Lbs Gal REQUIRED VOLUME IN U S OUNCES 8 47 X 128 2 1084 OUNCES AIR ENTRAINING AGENTS Example TOTAL CEMENTITIOUS WEIGHT 1593 AIR DOSAGE 2 OZ 100 Lbs AIR VOLUME 02 X 1593 31 86 OUNCES EFFECTIVENESS FACTOR 80 COMPENSATED AIR VOLUME 31 86 X 1 25 39 83 OUNCES Page 100 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS HOW MIX CONVERSIONS ARE DONE Example Calculation 2500 LB of Stone per Cubic Yard 866 98 KG of Stone per Cubic Meter LB 25005 LB KG KG UH 2500 0 4535970244 YD LB 1133 992561 2 2046 1133 992561 0 7645376841 V ar 3 866 9800463 wu 1 30798 The conversion factors used above can be found on the next page Page 101 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS 3 6 CONVERSION FACTORS Ton 2000 Lb mw 0 0011023 _ OmMso Pon o 2246 Qm ar wen O ObicMees m mot a O o Die o ow O Page 102 SECTION 4 INVENTORY 40 VIEW ADJUST INVENTORY MAIN MENU Auto Batching Order Entry Formula Table INVENTORY MENU Customers Pro View Adjust Daily Ingredient Usage Backup Restor To Date Ingredient Usage Ingredient Tabl Reports System Setup c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation This section covers the batching inventory record
51. 15 START WINTER DATE MMM DD NOV 15 ENTERING DATE AND TIME The date is entered as MMM DD YY i e Aug 22 96 The time is entered on the basis of a 24 hour clock All six digits and both colons must be entered for the time to be read properly For example a time of 3 45 pm is entered as 15 45 00 If the Spectrum has an AT compatible PC such as Unisys DFI IBM or Compaq the internal battery backup clock is automatically set CHANGING SUMMER AND WINTER START DATES These dates are entered as MMM DD where MMM is a three letter abbreviation These dates are used for special extra products used in the Order Entry software Refer to Section 1 3 Page 125 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 2 PASSWORDS 2 PASSWORDS 2 PASSWORDS Passwords may be set to protect certain screens from unauthorized access Each password is an alphanumeric field of up to six characters To set these passwords select Change Passwords from the System Setup Menu The screen appears below SET PASSWORDS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 13 46 11 SET DATE AND TIME SET PASSWORDS PLANT RARE SYSTEM PARAM RS DISCHARGE amp AD MISC MIXER PARMS TRUCK TABLE INPUT OUTPUT ASSIGNMENTS SCALE CALIBRATION IE RESIGN ED Ter DISPLAY MIX DESIGN INGREDIENT TABLE INVENTORY REVISE USAGE DAILY amp TO DATE REPORTS AUTO BATCHING BACKUP RESTORE REPORTS CUSTOMER EDIT PRODUCT EDIT VIEW ADJUST INVENTORY INCOMING INVENTORY ENTERING OR CHANGING
52. 4 Default Fly 0 Hold if Batcher Out of Tol 1 0 Hold if Scale Under Zero 0 Default Hot Water 0 Wait For End Tares 1 Default Harshness x 10 10 of Total Water in First Batch 0 Default Air Effectiveness x 10 10 Delay Water 0 No 1 Yes 1 Parameters on this screen tailor software to specific plant configurations A description of all the parameters contained on this screen follows All parameters that are Quick Edit Field types cannot be changed in this screen and must be changed in the Quick Edit pop up The Quick Edit pop up is discussed in further detail in Section 7 14 The message shown on the next page will appear when placing the cursor on the Quick Edit Field parameters NOTICE Please change this value in Batch Setup using the Spectrum Quick Edit Screen MIX DEFAULT US 1 Metric 0 When creating a new Mix Design the Spectrum will default to the condition of this flag Toggling to the other system is possible in the Mix Design Screen via rkey Switchable US Metric only Refer to Section 3 4 for details on Mix Designs Page 127 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP SGL DROP BATCHER bitmapped If a load has reason to split batch i e over scale capacity over mixer capacity etc this parameter forces the Spectrum to weigh up the total target weight of the specified material in the first stage of the multi batch rather than splitting the target for all stages Using this parameter also holds the disc
53. 677 for assistance 4 09 through 4 14 Run anormal backup of data customers and orders to old diskettes Then proceed to the following page 4 15 and later Perform an update as directed on Section 8 28 Page 191 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION INSTALLATION NOTE Do not use CAPS LOCK during this procedure 1 Insert one of the Boot disks into the floppy drive and turn on the power The system will first run through a series of diagnostic routines If any error messages are displayed during the diagnostics call the Alkon Service Department at 1 614 792 0677 immediately After the diagnostics are complete the computer will then read the Boot diskette in the drive After a short delay the following message will appear ALKON CORPORATION Mounting another window Please enter date dd mon yy hh mm am or pm 2 Remove the Boot disk from the drive and replace it with the new Data Disk press e The Spectrum will then display Spectrum Installation for Version 4 XX If you are upgrading an earlier version of software version 4 15 through 4 XX to version 4 XX type U for update If you are installing this software on a computer without any Spectrum software at all or you need to start over and want to completely wipe out the hard disk type N for New install Type N for New Page 192 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION Select the monitor type used on the system Three choices will be available S
54. A brief report is made on each order that includes the customer name amount ordered and amount delivered This report will print either in order of times or alphabetically depending on how the Job Index is sorted PRODUCTS This is a sorted report of all products in the system with current inventory levels Page 122 SECTION 6 REPORTS BATCH WEIGHTS This feature allows an operator to view or print the batch weights from any batch run through the Spectrum It can also be used to print a selected range of batch weights If the operator selects View a batch number must be entered If this is unknown simply press the e key or the d key and the first or last batch respectively will be selected All Batch Weight records may be browsed by using the and keys If Select Range is chosen simply enter the first and last batch numbers that are to be printed If one of these numbers is invalid or not found a warning of invalid range will appear If All Records is selected all currently stored batch weight records will print NOTE The Spectrum will search a floppy disk with batch weights stored on it by simply placing a disk in the disk drive before entering data SPECIAL This report details the last 40 power up events and anytime the time and date have been changed ALT PORT SELECT This will bring up the Printer Port selector window to allow different printers to be used in the case of more than one ticket printer This is main
55. A typical value is 100 milliseconds Page 151 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP TIME TO START CONV TIME TO START AGG AFTER CONV TIME TO START CEM These timing values set the discharge sequence of ingredients The values entered in milliseconds all begin when the discharge cycle is started TIME TO START WATER Works the same as above parameters but should be changed in the Quick Edit Menu Refer to Section 7 14 AGGREGATE FULL OPEN PULSE AT STRT By the time the discharge cycle starts the materials in the scales may have settled and packed By pulsing the agg gates open to full and back down see below the material can be induced to start flowing at a high rate and then a more reasonable rate can be maintained with the gate partially closed This value should be the amount of time it takes to open the agg scale door to full Time is entered in milliseconds i e 2000 mSec 2 Sec AGG NORMAL CLOSE PULSE AT STRT After the Spectrum has fully opened the discharge gate and established flow from the batcher it tries to close the gate to a position which gives a flow equal to the SLOW FLOW RATE Typical values depend upon the plant s mechanical reaction and range from 500 to 1000 milliseconds AGG CLOSE PULSE IF FLOW HIGH If during the DISCHARGE SCALE READ TIME the flow rate has exceeded the desired value slow normal fast very fast flow rate by the percentage in the VARIATION IN FLOW parameter the Spectrum will energize the
56. ANCE ACCOUNT NO PHONE Esc Exit F2 Customer Codes Menu The customer information is described as follows CUSTOMER CODE browsable field The first item to be entered is the Customer Code This is a ten character alphanumeric field Since the Customer browse uses this code in the Order Entry screen itis strongly recommended that a short name or abbreviation that is easily recognized by the operator be used there is a separate field for Account below Notice the two brackets around this field This represents a browse feature that allows a view and select feature of all customer codes that have been entered The browse feature is accessed using the m key If no customers have been entered the m key will reveal a blank blue box NAME This is a 40 character alphanumeric field that should be entered as the name to be printed on the delivery ticket 2 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY ADDRESS These two lines which 30 character alphanumeric fields are used for the customer s billing address Note that the City State and Zip Postal Code need not be entered on the second line as they have their own fields below CITY 15 character field STATE 3 character field ZIP POSTAL CODE 10 character field ACCOUNT NO 10 character field PHONE 10 character field These fields should be entered as the customer s billing location Even if this information is not to be printed on the ticket it ma
57. ARSHNESS x 10 This value allows the ratio of sand and stone to be altered from a base of 1 0 A value of 1 0 assumes the sand and stone in the mix design is ideal However if more sand is needed than stone the Spectrum will increase the sand weight by 20 Lbs per yard for each 0 1 increase of default harshness and decrease the stone weight Subsequently a 0 1 decrease will subtract 20 Lbs sand and add 20 Lbs stone The Spectrum multiplies the entered value by ten to place the decimal For example enter 10 to mean 1 0 DO NOT set this value higher than 20 DEFAULT AIR EFFECTIVENESS x 10 This value allows any changes in the air entraining chemical effectiveness to be compensated for without altering the basic mix design This is beneficial when climatic changes affect the air entraining effectiveness throughout the day Normally a value of 10 is set which represents 100 INITIAL GATE CLOSE WAIT Before a batch the Spectrum will pulse all discharge gates shut for the time specified All gate checks are done after this time has elapsed Normally this value is set to 500 mSec 1 2 second MAX NUMBER OF BATCHES ALLOWED This parameter restricts the number of partial batches allowed load If too many batches are required to make the load an error message is displayed Typical values are 1or2 Page 131 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP TICKET NUMBER Enter the digits at which to start the numbering of the batches This can be re
58. After the Time To Start Flow per ingredient has timed out the weigh batcher is checked to ensure material flow has been established The Spectrum takes flow readings based on Time Between Min Flow Checks specified in System Parameters If a flow less than the Minimum Flow per ingredient is detected the feed gate is closed and the material is flagged as being out of tolerance To disable this check make the Minimum Flow value zero CALCULATING SCALE TARGET WEIGHTS In weighing out the materials the computer will calculate two or three target weights depending on the values set in the Ingredient Table for Fast Feed Cutoff and Slow Feed Cutoff After the computer has expanded the mix design weights for the size of the batch including all the compensations to the individual ingredients and has adjusted for the initial scale weight the computer obtains the final target weight The Slow Feed Target is calculated by subtracting the normal preact and the slow feed cutoff from the final target weight The normal preact is a self adjusting parameter The computer closes the slow feed device at this scale reading This represents the end of Page 61 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING the Slow Feed Stage of the weigh up The Fast Feed Target is calculated by subtracting the fast feed cutoff from the slow feed target weight When the ingredient bin is equipped to provide two stage material feeding the main feeder or fast feed device will be turned off at
59. Backup Restore Fbackup Disks Ingredient Table Reports System Setup c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation SO 241 Select the desired disk to be made Note that Fbackup disks need not be formatted all other diskettes require a QNX formatted disk Follow the instructions as they appear on the screen After the disk is successfully made take the disk out of the computer and label it appropriately 5 6 INSTALL UPDATE CONVERT OLD DATA Selecting this option will give two choices If you choose nstall Update you will be prompted to place the new version s Data D disk into the drive This will perform an Page 119 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE update to your existing software If you choose Convert Old Data you will be prompted to enter either a Data disk i e Either Data D disk or Disk 1 or a Customers disk i e Either Data D disk or Disk 3 or very possibly both You will be prompted for the correct disk if you make a mistake in your choice The system will then proceed to convert those older data files up to the version that it is currently running 5 7 PARKHARD DISK HEADS Selecting this option from the Backup Restore Menu will physically move the heads off of the hard drive This should be done when moving or shipping a computer After the hard disk heads are parked the screen will display a message stating that the power to the computer should now be turned off It is necessary to reboot the computer to unpark the
60. Door Inching is enabled in the Mixer Options described below the Initial Mixer Disch Pulse is the time the mixer will initially tilt open The mixer will then wait for Seconds Until Full Mixer Open before fully tilting opening MIXER 1 OPTIONS 2 4 8 16 The Mixer Options are set using the Options Editor shown below MIXER OPTIONS EDITOR Auto Tilt Open Mixer when Mixing Time Expires Auto Tilt Open Mixer when Button Pressed Auto Right Close Mixer when Mixing Time Expires Auto Right Close Mixer when Button Pressed Enable Mixer Door Inching Control Hold Mixer Door Open after Open Limit Enable Robo Mixer Control Enable Robo Mixer Test Mode Start Mixing Time at Discharge Start Start Mixing Time when I O True Allow Material Discharge Before Mixer is Ready Allow Multiple Batches to be Discharged into Mixer Enable Test Points Display Enable External Tilt Open before Mixing Time Interlock Continue Mixing Time while Waiting for Second Mixer Ready AUTO TILT OPEN MIXER WHEN MIXING TIME EXPIRES Start tilting opening immediately after mixing time expires without manual intervention AUTO TILT OPEN MIXER WHEN BUTTON PRESSED Start tilting opening after TILT OPEN button on manual station has been pressed AUTO RIGHT CLOSE MIXER WHEN MIXING TIME EXPIRES Start righting closing immediately after mixer disch time expires without Page 162 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP manual intervention AUTO RIGHT CLOSE MIXER WHEN BUTTON PRESS
61. E INSTALLATION PREPARING FOR INSTALLATIONFOR INSTALLATION The following pages describe the steps to install the Spectrum Batching System software onto the computer s hard disk CHECKOUT Use the following list to verify that all necessary diskettes came with the package QUANTITY 3 1 2 PART 5 1 4 PART DESCRIPTION 1 21375 21381 Disk 1 Data 1 21376 21382 Disk 2 1 21377 21383 Disk 3 Customers Jobs If this is a new system or if the software version your machine is currently running is Version 4 14 or earlier the following disks are required QUANTITY PART NUMBER DESCRIP TION 2 20475 QNX Boot disk If your system has Remote Diagnostics Plus PN 20710 meaning there is a modem on your system that an Alkon technician can call for troubleshooting the following disk is required QUANTITY PART NUMBER DESCRIPTION 1 20709 Ditto If your system has DOS Ticket File to Diskette PN 20471 which is used for copying tickets to an accounting machine Expanded Reports or Ticket Editor the following disk is required QUANTITY PART NUMBER DESCRIPTION 1 20440 DFS Page 190 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION SAVING PLANT PARAMETERSPLANT PARAMETERS Determine what version of software the Spectrum was using before this update by looking at the old diskettes currently being used Use the following table to decide which procedure to follow Old Version Instructions 4 00 through 4 08H Call Alkon Service Department 1 614 792 0
62. ED Start righting closing after TILT OPEN button on manual station has been pressed ENABLE MIXER DOOR INCHING CONTROL Allows for partial door open Mixer open signal will pulse for the Initial Mixer Disch Pulse duration HOLD MIXER DOOR OPEN AFTER OPEN LIMIT Holds mixer door open after open limit for the duration of Mixer Disch Time ENABLE ROBO MIXER CONTROL ENABLE ROBO MIXER TST MODE Used for systems equipped with Robo Tilt Refer to Robo Tilt Section START MIXING TIME AT DISCH START Mixing time starts with discharge rather than at the end of discharge START MIXING TIME WHEN I O TRUE Used in conjunction with the I O assignment OK to Start Mix Time The mixing time will not begin until this input is received ALLOW MATERIAL DISCHARGE BEFORE MIXER IS READY Starts discharge cycle before mixer is in home position Used with Charge Early Discharge Delay described below NOTE This is a dangerous option and should only be used when trying to achieve maximum plant production ALLOW MULTIPLE BATCHES TO BE DISCHARGED INTO MIXER Allows mixer to be charged up to the Mixer Size fora multi batch load Page 163 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP ENABLE TEST POINTS DISPLAY Test points are used for software development ENABLE EXTERNAL TILT OPEN BEFORE MIXING TIME INTERLOCK This allows the Tilt Open signal to be held on if it is pressed before the mixing time has expired CONTINUE MIXING TIME WHILE WAITING FOR SECOND MIXER READY This wa
63. ET 1 ACTUAL CEM BATCHING 0 NET 1 ACTUAL WAT BATCHING 0 1 ACTUAL These parameters compute cutoff weights In the NET mode each material will receive the target amount called for regardless of any previous material For example assume a mix design calls for 1000 Lbs of sand and 1000 Lbs of rock Regardless of the actual amount of sand the Spectrum will batch 1000 pounds of rock In the ACTUAL mode each material will get the cumulative target amount called for For example assume a mix design calls for 1000 Lbs of sand and 1000 Lbs of rock If the actual sand batched was 1100 Lbs the Spectrum will batch 900 Lbs of rock Conversely if 900 Lbs of sand were batched 1100 Lbs of rock would be called for JOG EVERY BATCH 0 NONE 1 2 4 This parameter tells a particular batcher agg cem or water to always jog up to the target weight on every partial batch Normally the Spectrum doesn t jog to target on every partial batch Instead any errors are made up for on the last batch This parameter is not needed if you don t multi batch The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the u key See Section 7 15 PARTIAL BATCH OPTIONS EDITOR Jog Aggregate on All Partial Batches Jog Cement on All Partial Batches Jog Water on All Partial Batches Jog Admix on All Partial Batches Ignore Batching Errors in Previous Partial Batch Adjust Targets for Batching Errors in Previous Partial Batch Esc Exit Insert S
64. Flow mSec Minimum Moisture Minimum Flow Lbs Kg etc Max Moisture Change per Batch Normal Total Preact Freefall MSec to Start Reading Probe Small Weight Lbs Kg etc Don t Adjust for Neg Moisture Fast Feed Cutoff Lbs Kg etc Material Mixer Number Slow Feed Cutoff Lbs Kg etc Alternate Scale Number Max Number of Jogs Last Actual Feed Rate per Sec Jog Weight Lbs Kg etc Absolute Preact Scale Reading Jog Time mSec Absolute Preact Freefall Feed Rate per Sec Lbs Kg etc 2000 Material Feed Control Maximum Number of Super Jogs 1 F3 Remove Ingredient 5 Other Parameters Press F10 to Start Flag Editor To set up an ingredient a list of parameters and their descriptions are in Section 3 2 3 1 SPECIAL INGREDIENT NAMES The Spectrum has the flexibility of allowing materials to be identified by their common names Certain adjustments such as water correction make Special Ingredient Names necessary The Spectrum uses these names to decide which ingredients to make these adjustments to The following describes the use of each Special Ingredient name SLAGXXXXXX OR FLYXXXXXXX When setting up a load for substitution of regular cement above with a percentage of slag cement or flyash the first three characters of the flyash ingredient must be FLY and the first four slag cement ingredient must be SLAG COLDXXXXXX WATERXXXXX OR AGUAXXXXXX Page 77 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS This allows the Spectrum to make the proper corr
65. For Admix 10 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 11 18 Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF BrightZON Page 132 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP CALIBRATION 0 Metric 1 U S Set the value based on the calibration of your plant 0 for Kgs Liters etc 1 for Lbs Ounces etc WEIGHT OF WATER X 1000 This parameter designates the weight of one volume of water Typical values are Metric 1 Liter 1 KG use setting 1000 U S 1 Gal 8 345 LB use setting 8345 Imperial 1Gal 10 0231 use setting 10023 WEIGHT OF CALCIUM x 1000 This parameter used in calcium calculations represents the number of pounds per gallon This information is available from the chemical supplier Typically a 35 solution in U S units is 11 265 Lbs Gal NON AIR MIX SLUMP ADJUSTMENT This parameter specifies the weight of water used when adjusting slump for NON AIR mixes If an adjustment of one gallon per inch of slump is desired then enter the weight of one gallon If U S measure enter a value of 8345 Lbs In the case of Metric if a change of 5 Liters per 25 mm of slump is desired enter a 200 SMALL TO LARGE VOLUME This parameter determines how many ounces are in one gallon or milliliters in one liter 128 1000 Gallons to Ounces Milliliters to Liters PLANT NUMBER This is the plant number and it is printed on the delivery ticket Enter a value between 1 and 65 000 Page 133 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP AGG BATCHING 0 N
66. High Cement Open Pulse if Flow Low Weight to Turn On Cem Vibrator Ti m Gate Open After Zero itial Water Charge or float nt of Water to Holdback Water Gate Open After Zero regate Scale Number nt Scale Number hed Water Scale Number F6 USER SCALE EDITOR F7 ROBO MIXER TABLE F8 MISC PRINTE Page 2 Esc TO EXI PgUp PREVIOUS PAGE These are parameters for plants with a mixer holding hopper or both There are also several parameters to deal with special options and features of the Spectrum System A description of all the parameters on these screens follows 2nd PROCESS MIXER ENABLE Quick Edit Field This parameter specifies to the Spectrum which options i e Mixer Holding Hopper etc are available to be used MIXING TIME SECONDS DEFAULT If no mixing time is entered in the Mix Design Screen for a given mix the mixing time will default to this value DEFAULT MIXER 1 DISCH TIME S This is the length of time the mixer stays in the full tilt open position before returning to the home position This parameter is used with Auto Right Close After Mixing Time Page 161 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP in the Mixer Options described below INITIAL MIXER 1 DISCH PULSE SECONDS UNTIL FULL MIXER 1 OPEN If Mixer
67. IGHING OF MAJOR INGREDIENTS SUMMARY Check that the scale is within the zero tolerance Close the scale discharge gates Energize the primary and secondary feed devices Monitor for start of flow De energize fast feed device at fast feed target De energize slow feed device at slow feed target Wait for the scale settle time Perform Super Jogs Check tolerances if within tolerance stop if under tolerance jog if over tolerance alarm 10 If jogging open slow feed device for jog time 11 Wait for the jog settle time 12 Check tolerances and repeat if necessary 13 Update jog times and preacts 14 Donext ingredient if necessary SH SEDED IUE 2 8 2 CHEMICAL METERING PROCEDURES Control of the chemicals is through volumetric pulse meters supplied by the chemical supplier Each chemical must be fitted with the appropriate electrically operated control valves and a flow meter on the line to each sight bottle The system will work with a direct feed admix as well The computer will open all of the chemical valves called for in the mix design simultaneously at the beginning of the batch Each valve closes when the computer receives a reading equal to the final target volume minus the preact Following the measurement the computer will adjust the preact value in the same manner as for weighed ingredients During the metering process the computer is also monitoring the flow to ensure placement of chemicals into the bottle
68. INCOMING PURCHASE UNITS This refers to the units that this material is purchased in i e TN LB KG etc Typical values for Aggregate LB or KG Typical values for Cement LB or KG Typical values for Admix OZ or ML U S BATCHING UNITS This refers to the units that this material will use when batching U S measure In the case of Switchable US Metric optional these units will be used to convert between the two systems These units must be the smallest possible unit for that material i e LB not TN OZ not BL barrel METRIC BATCHING UNITS This refers to the units that this material will use when batching in Metric In the case of Switchable US Metric optional these units will be used to convert between the two systems These units must be the smallest possible unit for that material KG not TE metric Ton CL centiliter CAL ibrated UNIT COST per 1000 When printing either Inventory Daily or To Date reports the entry in this field allows the Spectrum to calculate the raw material costs of each ingredient Each mix design will also calculate raw material costs for that mix based on the cumulative total of all ingredients in that mix By leaving the UNIT COST at zero the reports will print the material cost as zero This cost must be entered in material cost per thousand scale units Page 89 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS DISPLAY ON HAND Y N Y allows On Hand to display running total N will display zero
69. ION 2 AUTO BATCHING 24 THE BATCHING SCREEN After a batch has been started the Batching Screen will appear The Batching Screen shows the weighing and metering of all materials and the subsequent discharge of these materials An example of the Batching Screen is shown below RUN Jul 20 11 14 43 100 Slump 4 in Target Batched E 13 324 13 380 8 059 8 060 8 100 8 100 3 020 3 030 900 900 86 86 86 48 POZZ 322N 1 57 154 24 24 E H H R Scale 0 D Scale Units Nam t t t t t Aggregate Cement Water DISCHARGE E Mix Name 1300028BS Track 2 3 F1 SE E ELE E Qty Batched 10 00Y Today 76 25 PRESS Batch 1 1 Loads 13 To completely describe the Batching Screen we will divide it into three sections The first section discussed will be the top half of the screen This will be called the Ingredient Section The Scale Section will be described next This section is the lower set of bar graphs on the Batching Screen The bottom of the screen will be the last section detailed This is the last three lines of the Batching Screen which will be called the Batching Status Section Page 53 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 4 1 THE INGREDIENT SECTION OF THE BATCHING SCREEN RUN Jul 20 11 14 43 100 Slump 4 i Target Batched 13 324 13 380 8 059 8 060 8 1
70. Maximum Number of Super Jogs Each Super Jog s length is determined by the following formula Target Batched t Length of Super Jog Max of Super Jog Feed Rate Sec of Jogs taken imm JOGGING The primary feed mechanism slow feed is used for jogging control The feed device will be activated for the Jog Time stated in the Ingredient Table to obtain the specified Jog Weightalso in this table Example Weight to go 52Lbs Jog Weight 20Lbs Jog Time 350 The system will open the gate for 350 mSec to try and achieve 20Lbs per Jog The computer will then wait for the Jog Settle Timein Plant Configuration before deciding to jog again If the weight is consistently going over tolerance as it jogs it may be necessary to decrease the Jog Time found in the Ingredient Table The computer attempts to weigh the specified Jog Weight in a single jog by re adjusting the Jog Time after each jog The range for the jog time is limited by the Max Allowable Jog Timein System Parameters The rate at which the jog time is changed is controlled by the Jog Sensitivity value which is also in System Parameters The Jog Sensitivities range from 0 to 100 the lower the value the smaller the increment in the jog time adjustment The Maximum Number of Jogs per ingredient limits the number of jogs Typically this value ranges from 10 to 30 with a value of 0 inhibiting jogging Page 64 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING AUTOMATIC WE
71. N 7 SYSTEM SETUP 2ND PROCESS CONTROL i e MIXER ENABLE Tells the Spectrum software that the plant has one mixer value of 1 two mixers a value of 3 a holding hopper a value of 16 or a mixer and a holding hopper a value of 17 enabled INSPECT MODE 1 YES 0 NO Setting this parameter to 1 forces the Spectrum to stop after weigh up of each material and wait for the operator signal to continue This value is typically set to zero MAXIMUM LOAD VOLUME x 10 This value expressed in units of volume tells the Spectrum the largest truck capacity The x10 factor is used for decimal point placing For example if the maximum truck capacity is nine yards enter a value of 90 The Spectrum then multiplies the value by ten to place the decimal point at 9 00 Maximum value is 200 or 20 cubic yards AGG SCALE MAXIMUM CEMENT SCALE MAXIMUM These values expressed in units of weight tell the Spectrum the maximum capacity for each scale On the basis of these values the Spectrum will split batch By recognizing the total weight for aggregates cements and water the Spectrum determines if the scales are capable of taking the full load weight If any one scale is too small the load will be split into two or more batches Page 183 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 1 CONT DISCH 2 CONT RUN 4 ARTP Cont Disch forces the Spectrum to discharge the load without operator authorization If an out of tolerance occurs during
72. NOTES DELIVERED 58 TRUCKONJOB 0 DELIVERY INST1 LOADS 0 TRUCK LEFT JOB 0 INST2 TRUCK 40 TRUCK RETURN 0 INST3 DRIVER 60 DELADDLINE2 0 INST4 DRIVER NAME 0 DEL ADD LINE3 0 INST5 SLUMP 60 CANADIAN FED BATCH REPORT 26 CAN FED TX S TOO BATCH NUMBER 1 0 REMOTE TICKET 0 USER ONE 20 PLANT USER TWO 21 anwnoaooooo This screen shows the format of the printed ticket There are two pages in this screen Page 2 is accessed by pressing the key All printable fields are shown on this screen The line and column numbers representing where to print these fields are to their right Fields with zero for ROW will not print Pressing the n key will pop up the Extra Products Ticket Format screen The and keys will scroll through the five Extra Products Ticket Formats Press the key to exit Page 16 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY PRODUCT TICKET FORMAT FIELD PRODUCT CODE DESCRIPTION QUANTITY ORDERED QUANTITY DELIVERED 12 QUANTITY THIS BATCH 12 TAXABLE DISCOUNTABLE PRICE TOTAL PRICE Press PgDn for Next product Press PgUp for Previous Product THE LABELING EDITOR A labeling editor has been provided to print labels or messages on every ticket This editor is accessed by pressing the u key in the Ticket Format screen Labels do not overwrite printable fields except in the batch report After changes have been made to the Ticket Format screen the key will bring back the Main Menu It
73. ON OF THE BATCHING SCREEN This is the metric equivalent of the Batching Screen found in Section 2 4 0 Metric Equivalent 100 Scale Scal Weight Name Aggregate 11 784 5 Cement 1 796 2 Water 507 2 The Scale Section shows the name of all weigh hoppers and the current weight in each weigh hopper The weight in each scale is represented in bar graph form as a percentage of the full scale capacity The actual weight in the scale is shown in numerical form at the right of the bar graph When the scale is being discharged the Scale Name will turn green and an asterisk will appear next to it The bar graph will descend until the scale is empty This is helpful in monitoring the flow rate of the material Note that additional scales may be added to this display These scales are set up in the User Scale Editor refer to Section 7 6 for details Page 55 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 4 3 THE BATCHING STATUS SECTION OF THE BATCHING SCREEN DISCHARGE Mix Name 1300028BS Truck 123 F1 SE E ELE E ER Qty Batched 10 00Y Today 76 25 PRESS Batch Liom Loads 13 The Batching Status Section shows the stage that the current batch is in the operations performed with the certain function keys and some information about the current batch The left side of this section gives valuable information to the operator The top line tells the user the current s
74. OWABLE SAND MOISTURE previously discussed Any readings which are not at least this value or greater are thrown out and are NOT counted towards the 20 valid samples needed for the average calculations If not enough valid samples are received or the average moisture calculated is greater than the MAX ALLOWABLE SAND MOISTURE then the Spectrum will notify the operator with a MOISTURE OUT OF TOLERANCE message Overriding the error causes the Spectrum to use the last valid average moisture obtained usually from the previous batch If the moisture is calculated successfully it is saved for use on the next load if needed Page 212 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION CONFIGURING THE MANUAL STATION DISPLAY The Spectrum Manual Station display provides an active stream of scale and counter readings to the Spectrum computer The Manual Station is designed to interface the Spectrum computer via a Com port but will function independently if manual batching ever becomes necessary The display is a seven segment LED type consisting of up to ten six digit displays It was designed to be totally field configurable i e graduation size and decimal point location can be set up or altered by the end user The scale and counter set up information is stored an EEPROM Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory which retains its data without power or battery backups The data stored in the EEPROM will remain there forever unles
75. S This report prints any or all of the mix designs in the Spectrum The operator may select a range if desired DAILY This report selects the current material usages and prints the today s records It is recommended that at the close of the day s operation this report be printed This report must be printed before clearing the daily inventory See Inventory Section 4 1 TO DATE This report prints the usage of all materials Its totals are meant to supplement the DAILY report by maintaining values over a period of time This report must be printed before clearing the to date inventory See Inventory Section 4 2 Page 121 SECTION 6 REPORTS The DAILY and TO DATE reports will prompt the user with the following message Parallel Printer Hard Disk File 3 rgb cust Select Parallel Printer to print the report to paper or Hard Disk File to save the report to a file on the hard drive for future use LOG OF INCOMING INVENTORY This report will print the entire Incoming Inventory Log and will then ask you if you wish to purge c the file If you answer Yes the file will be deleted if No the file will stay however the next time the Daily Inventory is cleared you will be asked for a 30 day purge This purge keeps one calendar month s worth of tickets on the disk The number of days is not configurable CUSTOMERS This report prints a sorted customer list ORDERS This reports contains all orders currently in the system
76. SAGE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 15 9 15 44 LAST CLEARED JUL 24 1995 17 34 35 U S Metric INGREDIENT ON HAND REDISET 121 411 AIR 113 395 REDISET P 62 817 CALC 37 659 RETARDER 33 301 DCI 0 POZZ 20 0 1368 50 Y Y M 0 00 M M Y 1368 50 Y 1046 27 M F1 Help F7 Print amp Clear PgDn Up Next Page The To Date usage is similar to the Daily usage except that it is not cleared everyday The purpose of this table is to allow a secondary means of inventory storage It may be cleared weekly monthly or as necessary It need not be cleared at all if desired To clear the table press the rkey You will be prompted whether you want the report on the hard disk or printer The hard disk option will store the usage to the hard disk under rgb cust todate rpt and clear the totals in each column with the exception of the On Hand This is recommended for people with no printer or a specific reason to do so i e Inventory to DOS The parallel printer option will prompt another message asking if the printer is ready This will allow time to back out the tickets if used from the tractor feed of the printer and feed plain paper for the report to print on Select Y to print the report and clear the totals All totals will be cleared with exception of the On Hand amounts After the report prints another message will appear to allow the clearing of All On Hand amounts Caution must be used when entering Y at the
77. Sections INTRODUCTION SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS SECTION 4 INVENTORY SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE SECTION 6 REPORTS SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Alkon Spectrum Concrete Batching System This guidebook was written for first time users and as a reference source for more experienced users The first eight sections of this guidebook describe the Spectrum Software Sections 9 through 11 describe the hardware of the Spectrum System FIRST TIME USERS It is recommended that a first time user read the first seven sections It is desirable to start entering information required by the system as soon as possible For this reason it is recommended to unpack and connect the computer monitor and keyboard to boot up the Spectrum Software before the installation of the system is performed Once the computer is unpacked and plugged in turn on the power To start entering data into the computer refer to Sections 1 and 3 for systems equipped to print delivery tickets For systems without this feature skip Section 1 and refer only to Section 3 BOOTING UP The software will be preloaded onto the computer After powering the computer it will perform various internal checks and then begin loading the operating system Before the actual Spectrum Software is loaded t
78. Step 2 3 6 Grad Size is 3 6 but 36 is the number to enter as the grad size The decimal point will be inserted later More commonly a grad size of 5 would be used to get even divisions and still have plenty of capacity EXAMPLE Scale Capacity 300 Step 1 300 2000 15 Page 214 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION Step 2 15 Grad Size is 15 but 15 is the number to enter as the grad size If the grad size that is displayed is correct press the Select button to accept it If the grad size is not correct press the Advance button momentarily The left most digit will remain on and the other two will disappear Pressing the Advance button again will show a new choice for that digit When the correct digit is displayed press the Select button to accept and advance the display to the middle digit Repeat the process of the Advance and Select buttons until all three digits are correct Press the Select button again to accept the grad size and to advance the display to the decimal point selection If no decimal point is required Select the zero If a decimal point is required press the Advance button for your choices and the Select button to choose it EXAMPLE Scale Capacity 300 Grad Size 15 Press Advance until the display shows 00 then press Select The first digit of the second display should now be on Repeat the above process until all displays are configured In the event that a scale or counter is
79. TE The medium zero potentiometer has an approximate range of 14 graduations of adjustment HOWEVER it should not be used until the best possible switch configuration is set After setting the zero add weight to the scale that is equal to the scales total capacity Observe the reading on the screen If it is not up to full scale turn off one or more span switches If the reading is above full scale indicated by OC over capacity on the LED display adding span switches will reduce it Follow the same procedure as the example in the zero section but remember turning on span switches reduces the span while turning off switches increases it The fine span adjustment has a range of 5 graduations at full scale only Use of this adjustment should be only after the best possible switch configuration is set After the span is set remove the weights so the scale is empty and check the zero It may be necessary to repeat the zero and span procedures again because a large adjustment in the span circuit may change your zero reading When the zero and span circuits have been set any further zero adjustments such as the external zero will not affect the span With the scale empty the three grad zero limit jumper may be removed to give approximately 7 grads of external zero adjustment If removed re zero the display with the medium zero adjust or the external zero adjust NOTE Some states require the 3 grad limit for the external zero adjust
80. TER PORT 0 lpt Ser 8 The Printer Port Options Editor appears when placing the cursor on this parameter This editor selects which port will be used for printing the delivery tickets and or batch weights If a serial port is selected the setup information is also determined In the example shown below the ticket information will print from the Com1 serial port at a baud rate of 19 200 bps with 8 data bits 1 stop bit and no parity The printer that is connected to Com1 should be set up for the same SYSTEM PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 14 20 41 Color by Material on Graphics 1 Inspect On enable 1 disable 0 Use Lpt 1 lpt for Parallel Printer Port Use Lpt 2 lpt2 for Parallel Printer Port Use Com 1 mdm Serial Port 1 on Computer Use Com 2 term1 Serial Port 2 on Computer Use Com 3 or Port 1 term2 of Serial Port Expander Board Use Port 2 term3 of Serial Port Expander Board Use Port 3 term4 of Serial Port Expander Board Use Port 4 term5 of Serial Port Expander Board Set Baud Rate at 300 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 1200 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 2400 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 4800 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 9600 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 19200 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity _ Esc Exit Insert Start Ed
81. UNT UNIT PRICE 0 00 DISCOUNT QUANTITY 0 00 STANDARD UNIT PRICE 0 00 PRODUCT TYPE TAXABLE Y N DISCOUNT Y N AUTO ADD TO ORDER D AMOUNT USED 0 00 AMOUNT RECEIVED 0 00 CURRENT BALANCE 0 00 Press F7 to set up a US Metric Flag for this Product Esc Exit F2 Product Codes Menu F7 Toggle US Metric Page 5 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY A description of all the fields on this screen follows PRODUCT CODE browsable field The Product Code is a 10 character alphanumeric field This should be entered as a short description of the product that the operator will easily recognize or your company s accounting code for this product DESCRIPTION This is the description of the product to be printed on the delivery ticket This is a 30 character alphanumeric field DISCOUNT UNIT PRICE This is the discounted price per unit of the product This price will be used if the amount of this product ordered per batch is greater than the Discount Quantity listed below Example An order has 10 bags of fiber on it Discount Quantity 5 The Discount Unit Price will be used over the Standard Price since the quantity for this batch is greater than the Discount Quantity DISCOUNT QUANTITY This is the amount of product ordered per batch that will cause the Discount Unit Price to be used instead of the Standard Price If the ordered quantity is greater than or equal to this value the Discount Unit Price will be used NOTE If this field is
82. Water Holdback 96 Time to Start Conv Minimum Water Holdback Time to Start Agg After Conv Time Water G Open After 0 Tol Time to Start Cem Seconds to Blow Out Admixes Time to Start Water Time to Purge Incl Conveyor Agg Full Open Pulse at Strt Time to Close Gates at End Agg Normal Close Pulse at Strt Initial Water Charge 96 Agg Close Pulse if Flow High Hold Agg Gates Open 0 1 Agg Open Pulse if Flow Low Hold Cem Gates Open 0 1 DISCHARGE PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Jun 21 13234 55 Agg to Strt Main Water Chg 0 Time to Start Admix 8 Disch Cem to Strt Main Water Chg 0 Agg to Start Cement Agg Vib on Weight 500 Time to Start Admix 9 Disch Start Water Material Control 1 Time to Start Admix 10 Disch Time Issue Agg Close Pulse 1000 Holdback on all Multi batches Issue Agg Open Pulse 2000 End of day T Washout Issue Cem Close Pulse 3000 Early dischar bit mapped Issue Cem Open Pulse 1500 Time to Star ix 11 Dise Issue Cem Crit Pulse 1000 Time to Star ix isc Pulse if Flow Low 0 Ti isc As Reset Agg Vib Count 11000 Ti to isc g Full Open Weight 800 Ti cl Continuous On 0 isc to Start Admix 1 isc to Start Admix 2 Disc 5000 isc Start Admix 3 Disc 5000 Start Admix 4 Disc 5000 5 6 7 e Time ar ar ar ar ar Disc 5000 C OOcOooOococoooocooccoc2o co 2 500 050 0 0 05 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 5 Ch Ch
83. a new Data disk every time it performs a backup This should not be used unless you consult and Alkon Service Engineer prior to setting it to 1 A value of zero will disable this feature Page 167 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP MATERIAL RECORD OPTIONS This parameter defines the format that will be used when storing each batch record to disk These records are to be used by the QC Helper program or other 3rd party programs for use of tracking plant efficiency and accuracy The editor for this parameter appears on the following page This is only needed if the Material Records To Disk option was purchased MATERIAL RECORD OPTIONS EDITOR Disable Material Record Storage Store All Types of Loads Store Automatically Batched Loads Batch Code Y or B Store Non Batched Loads Batch Code N or P Store Manually Batched Loads Store Simulated Loads Remove CR character from Record Separator Line Feed only Record Items are TAB Delimited Record Items are COMMA Delimited Record Items are PIPE Delimited MAT L RECORD FILE SIZE df 300k This parameter defines the size of the file described above that the Spectrum should allow before alerting the user that it is time to back it up All of the parameters on page two the Holding Hopper Parameters Screen pertain to the automatic discharge of a holding hopper Since the discharge can be flow controlled many of these parameters are duplicates from the Discharge Parameters Scree
84. a shipment is received The Current Balance field is the On Hand amount of the product ADDING A US METRIC FLAG TO PRODUCT Switchable US Metric Only Pressing the r key will add a US Metric Flag to this product Subsequent presses of the r key will toggle the flag between systems of measure To remove the flag press the band rkeys SAVING AN EXTRA PRODUCT After all the information is entered it must be saved in the product file To save this information pull up the Product File Menu by pressing the n key and select the Save option After the product is saved the Product File screen will be blank ready for another product to be entered After all products are entered pressing the key will bring back the Main Menu REMOVING A PRODUCT To remove a product from the product file pull the product into the Product File screen by entering the Product Code Once the product information is pulled into this screen it may be removed from the file by selecting the Remove option from the Product File Menu This menu is accessed using the nkey CREATING A UNIT PRICE DISCOUNT If a dollar discount is desired as opposed to a percentage discount an extra product can be created with a negative unit price Page 9 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 1 4 ENTERING SPECIAL CODES FOR ORDER ENTRY 4 ENTERING SPECIAL CODES FOR ORDER ENTRY Special codes used in the Order Entry software include Tax Codes Discount Codes Credit Codes and User Defined Names
85. ad where a 1 0 would take out 1 gallon liter per yard meter HOT WATER If using the Spectrum s ability to blend hot and cold water this field is where the percentage of hot water to be batched is entered Refer to Section 3 for more details on using this field SLAG FLYASH The Spectrum has the ability to substitute flyash or slag for cement This field is where the percentages to be used must be entered Refer to Section 3 for more details on using these parameters Page 40 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING MIXING TIME For a central mix plant mixing time represents the seconds required to mix the load This numeric field is pulled in from the Mix Design Screen but may be changed here for the current load MIXER NUMBER For plants that have two mixers a mixer and a holding hopper or a wet and dry side the entry in this field determines which mixer the batch will be discharged into BATCH NUMBER This field represents the next batch number that will be used However if a change to this number is required it must be made in the Plant Configuration Screen Refer to Section 7 3 not here LEFT SET Left set is the label of the current Quick Edit set being used To change this field refer to Section 7 14 Quick Edit Screen for more information 2 2 2 THE MIX DESIGN SECTION 2 2 THE MIX DESIGN SECTION 2 2 THE MIX DESIGN SECTION This section is located at the lower left side of the Auto Batch Setup Screen These ingredie
86. adjustment back counterclockwise exactly two full turns to center it The readout should end up within two or three percent of the actual sand moisture 3 Collect two or more samples of sand while the sand is feeding and bake them out The samples should be taken directly under the gate from the sand that flows into the weigh hopper 4 When the test of number 3 is taken run it automatically using the average on the Batch Report printout NOTE the Display high and low readings The readings should not vary more than 1 to 2 5 If the readings differ by this amount adjust the angle of the Probe 2 3 degrees depending on the variance Keep repeating the process until you can get consistent readings and bakeouts 6 Unplug the Moisture Probe cable from the Manual Station and connect the precalibrator Adjust the precalibrator until the dial setting is at 1 Write down the display reading Continue this for 2 3 4 etc 7 The following bakeout procedure should be used You should calculate moisture using the following formula Moisture Wet Dry x 100 Absorbed Dry 8 Repeat the bakeout test at least one more time to eliminate any chance of error The two results should match within 2 The next page is a chart to help in the calibration Paqe 206 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE DATE MOISTURE CALIBRATION WORKSHEET TARE EMPTYPAN A ABSORBEDWATER A B C D E F G READING DISPLAY CAL BAKEOUT WET DRY WET DRY DRY TARE m
87. age 158 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP EARLY DISCHARGE bitmapped This allows any batcher to discharge before other batchers are finished weighing A value is entered which is a sum of all batchers to be discharged early Admixtures discharges are set up by the Basis Feed Discharge Type parameter in the Ingredient Table See Section 3 The Early Discharge Option Editor appears as shown below when the cursor is placed on this parameter EARLY MATERIAL DISCHARGE CONTROL Disable Early Material Discharge Enable Early Aggregate Discharge Enable Early Cement Discharge Enable Early Water Discharge Page 159 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 6 ADJ MIXER amp MISC PARAMETERS MIXER PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 14 46 29 Select Control for Mixer 1 Select Control for Mixer 2 Default Mixer 2 Disch Time S Initial Mixer 2 Disch Pulse Seconds Until Full Mixer 2 Open Mixer 2 Options 2 4 8 16 CHARGE EARLY 2 disch delay S Enable Bin Filling System Enable Shrink Mixer Control Mixing Time in Shrink Mixer nd Process ie Mixer Enable ilh ixing Time seconds default efault Mixer 1 Disch Time S nitial Mixer 1 Disch Pulse econds Until Full Mixer 1 Open ixer 1 Options 2 4 8 16 HARGE EARLY 1 disch delay S ixer Size x 10 ixer Small Load Size x 10 Qo igiOiuHnHU iSMN Load Mixer Disch Time S Mixer Medium Load Size x 1
88. aggregate gate After twelve seconds start the cement discharge 6 After 50 of aggregate and cement release main water discharge of 30 NOTE main water charge is the difference between the initial water charge and the holdback amount 7 When the cement scale reaches 200Lbs turn on the vibrator for five seconds Page 68 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 8 After the cement scale reaches zero tolerance setting leave the gate open for two seconds 9 When aggregate scale reaches the zero tolerance setting turn on the vibrator and leave the gate open for two seconds 10 After aggregate gate closes purge the conveyor for seven seconds 11 When the aggregate and cement scales reach the zero tolerance release the water holdback of 20 or a minimum of 20 gallons 12 Close all gates at the end of the discharge for two seconds Page 69 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING With a simple statement such as this you are armed with enough information to set the discharge sequence parameters in DISCHARGE PARAMETERS PARAMETER SETTING UNITS Time to Start Conv 0 mSec Time to Start Water 0 mSec Initial Water Charge 96 50 96 Seconds to Blow Out Admixes 15 Sec Time to Start Agg After Conv 2000 mSec Time to Start Cem 12000 mSec Agg to Start Main Wat Chg 50 Cem to Start Main Wat Chg 50 Weight to Turn on Cem Vib 200 Lbs Cem Vibrator Pulse Length 2000 mSec Time Cement Open After 0 Tol 2000 mSec Time Agg Gate Open After Ze
89. and the following screen will appear DAILY USAGE Alkon Corporation Version Sep 15 9 39 22 LAST CLEARED SEP 14 1995 13 45 49 U S 50 00 Y Y M 85 32 Y Metric 27 00 M M Y 65 23 M INGREDIENT BIN MANUAL REQUIRED BATCHED VARIANCE TOL 0 0 0 0 0 0 LB 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4 2 6 3 5 5 9 PORTLAND SLAG 10 CEMS 11 FLYASH 12 COLD 17 HOT 18 Ooooooooooooo oOooooooooooo INGREDIENT 57 LS INCREMENT TO REQD INCREMENT TO BATD Revising usage means adding material to the Required or the Batched columns of the screen To revise usage of a single material first enter the name of the material exactly as it appears in the table and press the ekey or use the browse function key m If you are changing the amount required enter that number now in scale units otherwise press the e key to change amount Batched Page 107 SECTION 4 INVENTORY To update a material s On Hand amounts press the n key and the following screen will appear DAILY USAGE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 15 9 40 11 LAST CLEARED SEP 14 1995 13 45 49 U S 50 00 Y Y M 85 32 Y Metric 27 00 M Y 65 23M INGREDIENT BIN ON HAND INCOMING INVENTORY LOG 1 0 00 0 00 0 00 0 00 Date 09 15 95 09 40 Ingredient 57 LS New Entry Adjustment 1000 00 TN On Hand 0 00 TN Supplier YOUR SUPPLIER Receipt 12345 PA2 4 2 6 3 5 5 9 PORTLAND SLAG CEM3 FLYASH COLD HOT 44494 49 9 F3 Save Record F7 Print Log
90. ank ready for another customer to be entered After all customers are entered the key will bring back the Main Menu REMOVING A CUSTOMER To remove a customer from the customer file pull the customer into the Customer File screen by entering the Customer Code Once the customer information is pulled into this screen it may be removed from the file by selecting the Remove option from the Customer File Menu This menu is accessed by using the nkey Select remove then press the ekey USE OF A GENERIC CUSTOMER After all customers with accounts are entered it is suggested to enter a generic customer such as COD for ticketing non regular customers This will allow the operator to quickly prepare an order for these customers without having to enter their name in the Customer File screen The actual customer name may be entered in the Auto Batch Setup Screen Page 4 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 13 ENTERING EXTRA PRODUCTS AND CHARGES Extra products are any non concrete items sold and any additional charges associated with the delivery of concrete To enter these extra products please select Customers Products Transactions from the Main Menu This will pop up the smaller menu shown below EDIT MENU Customers Edit Products Edit Transactions Edit Select Products Edit from this menu and the Product File screen will appear as below PRODUCT FILE Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Apr 7 14 53 28 PRODUCT CODE DESCRIPTION DISCO
91. ation procedures Page 220 SECTION 10 STATION THE MANUAL LOAD CELL COLOR CODESCELL COLOR CODES This cross reference chart allows you to replace one brand load cell with another when they have the same output mv v and the same physical size EXCI SENSE EXCI SENSE OUTPUT OUTPUT SHIELD TATION TATION Revere Green Black White Red Oran Beowulf Green Black White Red Bare BLH Green Black White Red Yell HBM Green Black White Red Yell HBM PLC SBE Red Black Green White Yell Toledo Green Black White Red Yell Allegany Green Black White Red Bare National Green Black White Red Yell Cardinal Green Black White Red Bare Evergreen Green Black White Red Bare Transducers Red Black Green White Oran Interface Red Black Green White Bare Electroscale Red Black Green White Bare Genisco Red Black Green White Bare Ormond Red Black Green White Bare LeBow Red Black Green White Bare Alphatron Red Black Green White Bare Strainsert Red Black Green White Bare Nikkei Red Black Green White Bare Sensor tronics Red Black Green White Bare Sensortronics 60007 Green Black White Red Yell Tedea Green Blue Black Brown Red White Bar NCI Red Yel Black Blue White Green Bar Pesage Promotion Blue White Red Black Yel Kubota Red White Green Blue Yell Phillips Red Blue Green Gray Bare Transducers System Red Green Yellow Blue Bare Tha
92. ause they do affect the batch s target weights for specific ingredients Refer to Section 7 3 for details on these parameters These fields cannot be changed on this screen They are found in the Plant Configuration Screen Page 44 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING The second line of the Function Section shows the operations that are performed using the function keys The keys and their uses are described below F1 HELP Esc LEAVE PRESENT WINDOW The key exits the current screen in use F2 BROWSE FUNCTION ON FIELDS When the cursor is placed on a field that has a browse function available a pair of brackets will enclose the cursor By pressing the mkey a list of the choices available for these fields will appear Refer to the introduction of this manual for details on using the browse feature F3 SYSTEM MENU SELECT By pressing the nkey the following menu will appear on the bottom of the screen Select Run batch Graphic Selecting Run batch will start the batch Selecting Graphic will enter the Batching Screen F4 ED IT CUSTOMER LINE By pressing the okey the cursor will jump to the first field in this screen which is the Customer Name Any changes to this field can be made and will print on the ticket and or batch report Page 45 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING F5 F6 F7 TOGGLE TO AND FROM BATCHING SCREEN This is the same as pressing the n key and selecting the Graphic option
93. aving or not Page 47 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING saving By choosing not to save this can be used as a scratch pad The User Defined section can be accessed by pressing the pkey There are three user defined fields that can be changed to suit your applications Pressing the key will save your configuration The Volume field actually does a double conversion Once to the other system of measure and again from either yards to meters or vice versa To convert an ingredient amount place the cursor on the ingredient you wish to change press the u key and the editor will be invoked with the selected ingredient name Enter the new amount and it will be dynamically converted to the other system of measure Pressing the n key will then save then change to the selected ingredient CONVERT SIZES EDITOR Metric U S Load Size 2 00 2 62 Mix Slump 127 mm 5 00 Trim 0 0 LT m 0 0 Wat In Trk 0 0 LT 0 0 Rtn d Amt 0 00 0 00 Strength 2413 MPa 3500 Volume 0 KG m 0 User Deft 5 IG 6 005 User Def2 0 KG 0 Esc Exit F3 Save F5 User Page 48 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING F11 MOISTURE EDITOR By pressing the f key the Moisture Editor appears as shown below MOISTURE EDITOR Bin Number amp AUTO probe Moisture AGG Name On line Percentage 1 GRAVEL N 2 ROCK N 3 ROCK 4 GRAVEL 5 SAND The Moisture Editor allows the moisture values entered for the aggregate materials to be altered It also allows the automatic moi
94. ays the amount of this particular mix used By pressing the ukey the Number of Batches and Amount Used fields can be edited When the mix is complete press the n key and choose save to keep a record of the mix on the disk There are many other Quick Keys that can be used to maneuver your way around this screen They are as follows F1 Used to invoke a help screen to tell more about this screen F2 Invokes a browse box for Mix Designs and Ingredients F3 Invokes a menu box with Save and Remove options The Save option will save the current mix to the disk The Remove option will delete the current mix from the disk Page 97 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS F5 Allows for deletion of individual ingredients when the cursor is on an ingredient field F7 Toggles the mix flag from U S to Metric and vice versa when creating a new mix The mix begins with the flag set to the default value in System Setup Plant Configuration Mix Default F9 Clears the current screen for creation of new mixes Ctrl F7 Used by holding the b key down and pressing the rkey This will convert a mix from U S to Metric and convert all of the weights accordingly This is a true volumetric conversion meaning it will take one cubic yard and change it to one cubic meter and vice versa There are two calculations that take place when this occurs They can be explained best by the example 3 55 EXAMPLE CALCULATIONS The values used for Calci
95. be necessary to replace one of the ingredients in the feed bins with another for a particular order To prevent the loss of inventory information and or various parameters the material being replaced may be given a bin number of zero Another blank slot in the ingredient table can be assigned the bin number previously used by the material now identified by the bin number of zero Any mix which contains an ingredient with a bin assigned as zero will give the error message MATERIAL NOT FOUND if tried to load The use of bin number 0 is best described using an example Example PROBLEM A mix calls for pea gravel to be fed out of bin 4 Bin 4 currently has rock in it SOLUTION Empty Bin 4 of rock Change rock s bin number to 0 zero and change pea gravel s bin number from 0 to 4 Fill Bin 4 with pea gravel Run the batch OVER UNDER TOLERANCE This parameter defines the maximum over or under tolerance that the Spectrum will accept without giving an error message Note that this parameter works in conjunction with the Abs Over Under Tol value described below During a batch the Spectrum will use either the Over Under Tol or the Abs Over Under Tol whichever is greater to decide whether a material is out of tolerance or not ABS OVER UNDER TOL Lbs Kg etc This parameter sets up the maximum amount of tolerance that is allowed for this material when batching smaller loads Typically on a one or two yard load the one or t
96. bsolute Over Tolerance Absolute Under Tolerance Time to Start Flow mSec Minimum Flow Preact Basis Feed Discharge Type Water Correction Factor Slow Feed Cutoff Max Number Of Jogs Jog Time Material Feed Control F3 Remove Ingredient F5 Other Parameters Press F10 to Start Flag Editor BOTTLE NUMBER The Bottle Number tells the Spectrum which feeds discharges meter outputs and inputs to use to control this bottle Refer to Section X on I O ASSIGNMENTS for more information Bottle numbers range from 1 18 Page 91 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS BASIS FEED DISCHARGE TYPE This is known as a Bit wise multi purpose parameter and its value is governed by the sum of all highlighted conditions Calculate Admix per 100 Weight of Cement Calculate Admix per Yard or Meter Delay Admix Feed Until Discharge Start typically no bottle Start Delayed Feed or Discharge Admix with Wash Down Water Skip Zero Check after Feed of this Admix typical no bottle Discharge Admix Immediately after Batching Complete bottles Discharge or Start Admix Immediately with Release of Water Discharge or Start Admix Immediately with Discharge Okayed Use this Material as a Cement in Water Cement Calculation The Spectrum has the capability to calculate the admix dosages two ways One method assumes the mix design contains the desired admix amount needed per hundred weight of cementitious materials Please note that this method uses ALL the cementitiou
97. bstitute for the Portland cement If the Sub Factor is 1 10 then the one yard weights would be Ingredien Amount PORTLAND 400 Lbs FLYASH 100 Lbs 100 1 10 110 NOTE The Sub Factor is a universal setting meaning it will affect all loads Fora load by load affect use the values in the Auto Batch Setup Screen Refer Page 85 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS to Section 2 2 MOISTURE PROBE SCALE NUMBER This is the scale number where an automatic moisture probe is read from the Manual Station Scale numbers are obtained from the System Setup Modify Scale Calibration screen and are the numbers in blue Multiple probes may be used one per ingredient AUTO PROBE ON LINE Y means to average the probe readings for this material when doing moisture compensation calculations N means use the value in the Moisture Sub Factor parameter MAXIMUM MOISTURE This value prevents the Spectrum from accepting an average moisture greater than the maximum If exceeded a Moisture Out Of Tolerance error occurs and the system uses the last valid average taken instead of the invalid value MINIMUM MOISTURE This value prevents the Spectrum from accepting an average moisture less than the minimum If moisture is less than this value a Moisture Out Of Tolerance error occurs and the system uses the last valid average taken instead of the invalid value MAXIMUM MOISTURE CHANGE PER BATCH This value provides a window of acceptable values the S
98. cal However this pulse should be of shorter duration so that the gate doesn t completely close Typical values are 100 for the open and 25 for the close WEIGHT TO TURN ON CEM VIBRATOR This value instructs the Spectrum when to turn on the vibrator in the cement weigh batcher Generally this should occur in the last 200 to 300 units of weight CEM FULL OPEN WEIGHT As the cement scale empties this parameter opens the gate wide at the weight value entered here A typical value is 250 TIME CEMENT OPEN AFTER 0 TOL This value controls how long the cement discharge gate remains open after the scale reaches zero A typical value is 3000 mSec WATER HOLDBACK 96 Quick Edit Field Page 154 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP This value represents a percentage of the total water to hold until the washdown cycle MINIMUM WATER HOLDBACK Quick Edit Field On smaller loads a percentage of water may be too small This value represents the minimum amount allowed for washdown water TIME WATER G OPEN AFTER 0 TOL On weighed water plants or plants with a water holding tank this parameter controls the length of time the water discharge valve remains open after the hopper reaches zero A typical value is 0 TIME TO BLOW OUT ADMIXES in seconds The Spectrum blows out the empty admix bottle for the length of time entered here A typical value is 1 Second TIME TO PURGE INCL CONVEYOR On low profile plants that use an inclined conveyor to dis
99. ch load The sixth and seventh columns are the unit price and the extension respectively Page 24 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 A list of the Function Keys follows Help Screen Brings up the Help Screen Browse Function on Fields Will pull up a browse window when the cursor is on specific fields Menu Select Brings up the Order Entry Menu This menu and a description of the selections are shown below Select Save Batch Job Main Menu Save Save the current order and clear the screen Batch Job Save the current order and then load that order into the Batch Setup Screen in preparation to batch Main Menu Does not save the current order and leaves the screen going to the Main Menu If changes have been made appropriate messages are displayed before loosing changes Edit Mix Description This allows access to the First Description in the product portion of the screen which is reserved for the Mix Design This was added to allow different descriptions of the same mix design for different orders This should only be changed after the Mix field is entered into the order Toggle to and from Batching Screen Allows direct access to the Batching Screen Page 25 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY F6 Printer Port Selector Reprint Last Ticket This pulls up the Printer Port Selector screen as shown below PRINTER PORT SELECTOR Port Number Printer Location Description Po
100. charge the aggregate this parameter determines how long the conveyor will run after the scale reaches zero in order to clear the belt During a multi batch the conveyor remains on between batches A typical value is 10000 mSec TIME TO CLOSE GATES AT END After discharge is complete this parameter ensures that all gates are closed by pulsing all gate close solenoid valves for the period of time entered here A typical value is 2000 mSec INITIAL WATER CHARGE This parameter specifies the amount of water that should be added prior to discharge of any other materials and should be changed in the Quick Edit Menu Refer to Section 7 14 HOLD AGG GATES OPEN 0 1 HOLD CEM GATES OPEN 0 1 Page 155 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP To hold the discharge gates of these materials open for the duration of the discharge enter 1 for both of these parameters It is possible to have inching on one or both of the discharges For inching control enter O for these parameters AGG TO START MAIN WATER CHG CEM TO START MAIN WATER CHG Enter the percentage of the aggregate and or cement weights to release the main water charge AGG VIB ON WEIGHT During discharge the Spectrum turns on the aggregate vibrator when the scale reaches this value A typical value is 2000 START WATER MATERIAL CONTROL If the Initial Water Charge and Water Holdback add up to less than 100 96 a third stage of water will be used This stage is called the Mai
101. ched amount Variance amount Percent 96 Variance The Batching Display Options Editor appears when the cursor is placed on this parameter and is shown below The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the u key Refer to Section 7 15 for details on using an Option Editor SYSTEM PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 14 23 12 Color by Material on Graphics 1 Inspect On enable 1 disable 0 Max Allowable Jog Time mSec 1000 Default Serial Port Baud Rate Sort Feeds by Mix path a Air i Slump Adjust BATCHING DISPLAY OPTIONS EDITOR Display 96 Error on First Column Display Batched on First Column Display Variance on First Column Display 96 Error on Second Column Display Batched on Second Column Display Variance on Second Column Display Batched Today and Number of Loads Today 5 0 2 0 4 1 8 0 8 0 0 0 Printer Options e No Operator Edit Pirnter Port 0 1 Ser 8 Demand On enable 1 disable 0 0 Truck Washdown Time mins O Printer Poll Time micro secs Press F10 Disable Flag Editor Page 146 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP LINK 20 PORT O OFF SER 8 If the Spectrum has Link 20 it can be programmed for different communication rates specified by this parameter SYSTEM PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 14 25 34 Color by Material on Graphics 1 Inspect On enable 1 disable 0 Max Allowable Jog Time mSec 1000 Default Seria
102. close solenoid valve for the time entered here This value should be small in order to keep the change gradual The minimum effective value is 20 milliseconds and a typical value ranges between Page 152 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 50 and 75 milliseconds AGG OPEN PULSE IF FLOW LOW If the Spectrum notices the flow rate is less than the desired value slow normal fast very fast flow rate by the percentage in the Variation In Flow parameters during the Discharge Scale Read Time it energizes the open solenoid valve for the time specified here This value should be kept small to make gradual changes in the position of the discharge gate opening The minimum effective value is 20 milliseconds and a typical value is 50 to 75 mSec PULSE NUMBER FOR AGG VIBRATOR Each time the aggregate discharge open solenoid valve is energized with no change in the flow rate the pulse is counted After accumulating the number of pulses set on this line the Spectrum energizes the batcher vibrator and establishes the flow A typical value for this parameter is 10 TIME AGG GATE OPEN AFTER ZERO After the aggregate batcher has been discharged to the scale zero tolerance value set on the Scale Calibration Screen the Spectrum closes the aggregate batcher gate following the delay specified on this line A typical value is 3000 mSec NORMAL CEMENT OPEN PULSE At the start of the cement discharge the batcher gate must be wider than during dis charge Th
103. d for Spectrums with an Integrated Manual Station Page 143 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP INDEX DISPLAY CONTROL On Spectrums with Order Entry this parameter chooses the field that will be displayed up to 10 characters in the third column of the Job Index Screen The following choices are available 0 Blank 1 Delivery Information 2 Memo Link 20 Field 3 Notes 4 Project Code Link 20 Field 5 Mix Design Code 6 Truck Number 7 Sequence Number Display Only All fields except the Mix Design Code can be modified on the Job Index Screen Do not enter a value greater than 6 The Index Display Control as shown above appears when placing the cursor on this parameter The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing u See Section 7 15 INVENTORY CONTROL OPTION A Spectrum with Order Entry has the capability to print tickets without actually batching a load The Spectrum can also print theoretical target weights on the ticket By setting this parameter to 1 the Spectrum will deduct the theoretical batch weights from the On Hand Inventory This is used mostly with stand alone Order Entry Ticketing By adding 2 the Spectrum will automatically reset the ticket number to zero when the daily inventory is cleared By adding 4 the Spectrum will compensate for returned Mix Design usage INVENTORY CONTROL Clear Inventory Control Flags Update Material Inventory on Non batch Tickets Reset Ticket Nu
104. d to orders using this field The choices are D Disable Auto Add of Products A Add Product to ALL Orders W Add Product to Winter Orders S Add Product to Summer Orders L Add Product to Order based on Load Size 0 Add Product to Order based on Ordered Size Up Dn Esc Enter Disable Auto Add of Product will force the operator to enter the product when creating an order Add Product to ALL Orders will automatically add the product to all orders when entering them Add Product to Winter Orders will automatically add the product to every order entered with a load date between the Start Winter Date and Start Summer Date specified in the Enter Date and Time screen Refer to Section 7 1 Add Product to Summer Orders will automatically add the product to every order entered with a load date between the Start Summer Date and Start Winter Date specified in the Enter Date and Time screen Refer to Section 7 1 Add Product to Order based on Load Size will automatically add this product to and order if the Load size is less than the Discount Quantity Add Product to Order based on Ordered Size will automatically add this product to and order if the amount Ordered is less than the Discount Quantity Page 8 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY AMOUNT USED AMOUNT RECEIVED CURRENT BALANCE These fields are used for inventory purposes The Amount Used will increment every time the product is printed on a ticket The Amount Received can be updated when
105. deral Tax Rate x 100 000 Disk 1 Type 1 2 3 4 Batching Display Option Link 20 Port 0 0ff Ser 8 Multidrop Number Link 20 Cntrl TS Delay mSec Date Format in Ticket Record 0 CRAB BUS port 0 df 1 378 2 278 0 Printer Options 778189 Printer Port O lpt Ser 8 0 Demand On enable 1 disable 0 0 Del Tckt Aftr Btch enable 1 0 No Operator Edit Truck Washdown Time mins Printer Poll Time micro secs This display contains several of the plant tuning values used during the weighing and discharge sequences COLOR BY MATERIAL ON GRAPHICS By entering 1 in this parameter each batcher s materials bar graphs will be set to acertain color This was added to help make the Batching Screen more readable MAXIMUM ALLOWABLE JOG TIME mSec The jog time for each ingredient is calculated after each jog to determine the optimum time to open the gate for the specified jog bite size This value is the maximum time the Spectrum can calculate to be the jog time If the jog time reaches this value the Spectrum will stop jogging and error It then resets the jog time to its starting value A typical value for this limit is 2000 milliseconds two seconds SORT FEEDS BY MIX DESIGN ENTRY Page 137 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP A non zero value in this parameter will enable this feature allowing the cementitious materials to batch in the order that they were entered in the mix design A value of 2 enables
106. des Another benefit of the browse feature in this field is the search capability This allows the operator to type in the first few characters of the Customer Code then press the m key for the browse The browse will find the location in the Customer File of the characters typed and begin at this starting point Once the cursor is positioned on the correct Customer Code in the Browse window pressing the ekey will pull that customer into the order JOB NUMBER The Job Number allows a customer to have multiple orders For instance if John Smith is doing several jobs around town separate orders should be entered for each job The first job entered for John Smith will have job number 1 assigned to it The next job number for John Smith will be 2 and so on If the operator presses the ekey when the cursor is on this field the Spectrum will automatically assign the next available job number for the selected customer To select a previously entered order the operator can enter the job number in this field NOTES This field can be used for any special notes on an order This field as any other field on this screen may or may not be printed on the delivery ticket This is determined by the ticket format as described in Section 1 5 CUSTOMER This is the customer s name as entered in the Customer File screen This field can be edited here to change this order only The next order for this customer will revert back to the Customer File s Customer
107. e 7 15 OPTIONS EDITOR Several parameters in the Spectrum software are edited with the use of an options editor The prompt for the editor will pop up when the cursor is placed on these parameters Pressing u on the following fields will enable the graphical editor Printer Options Printer Port Options Batching Display Options Link 20 Port Options Index Display Control Options Inventory Control Options and Multidrop Number Link 20 Cntrl Options in System Parameters Cont Disch Cont Run Manual Batch Print Enable and Jog Every Batch Options in Plant Configuration Mixer 1 amp 2 Options Available 2nd Process Control Select Control for Mixer 1 amp 2 amp Holding Hopper and Material Record Options in Adj Mixer and Misc Parameters Basis Feed Disch Type in the Ingredient Table for Chemical ingredients and Material Feed Control in Major and Chemicals An example of one of these editors is shown on the next page Page 185 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP BATCH REPORT PRINTER OPTIONS er Disabled Net Weights on Batch Report Cumulative Weights on Batch Report Original Mix Weights SSD from Batch Setup Only Target Weights on Batch Report Tolerance Locked or Unlocked Moisture Column for All Aggregates Water Cement Ratio Actual Water in All Materials Column Water in Truck nt Water To Add ude Water to Add in Wat Cem Ratio Calculation t Manual Trim Occurred or No Manual Trim t Temper Water t Mixing Time CU
108. e Last Feed Rate as Feed Rate Per Sec Sets Feed Rate Sec equal to Last Actual Feed Rate Sec 8 Set Number of Super Jogs to 1 After Main Feed After main feed only one Super Jog will be used to obtain target regardless of Max Number of Super Jogs 16 Set Number of Super Jogs to 2 After Main Feed After main feed only two Super Jogs will be used to obtain target regardless of Max Number of Super Jogs 32 Use Scale Settle Time for Super Jog Settle Time After each Super Jog a settle time must occur Either use Jog Settle Time default or Scale Settle Time 64 Record this Material s Batching Results to File Creates a file with batching results for this material rgb cust _results raw where agg or cem 128 Adjust Large Small Weight Scale Value and Cutoff Creates mounding parameters above to be used for large and small load size differences 512 Enable Adjustment to Preact Based on Actual FR S Allows constant correction of the cutoff for varying feed rates Especially helpful with cements Page 88 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS More parameters are kept in a pop up window and can be entered by pressing the p key from this screen They include the following INVENTORY ON HAND UNITS This refers to the units that the On Hand will display in in the Inventory screen i e TN LB YD KG etc Typical values for Aggregate LB or KG Typical values for Cement LB or KG Typical values for Admix OZ or ML
109. e batching units Enter the number below for a U S Plant with this admix batching in Ounces 1 Pints gt 16 Quarts 32 Gallons 128 Enter the number below for a Metric Plant with this admix batching in Milliliters gt 1 Centiliters 10 Deciliters 100 Liters 1000 Page 93 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS More parameters are kept in a pop up window and can be entered by pressing the p key from this screen They include the following with respect to those which are different from Major Ingredients U S DECIMAL PLACES The amount of precision this admix can have when entered in a Mix Design i e To enter 4 25 OZ in a mix this value must be 2 Used for U S Calibration or fora U S Mix Switchable US Metric METRIC DECIMAL PLACES The amount of precision this admix can have when entered in a Mix Design i e To enter 2 5 ML in a mix this value must be 1 Used for Metric Calibration or for a Metric Mix Switchable US Metric 34 DESIGN ENTRY When selecting Mix Designs from the Main Menu will show the following screen MIX DESIGN ENTRY Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 16 44 01 Cubic Yard MIX NAME DESCRIPTION UNIT PRICE 00 TAXABLE Y N MIXING TIME 0 MIXER NUMBER 0 INGREDIENTS UNIT DESIGN SLUMP in 4 00 MIX USAGE SUMMARY NEW BATCHES USED Daily 0 0 00 To date 0 0 00 RETURNED BATCHES USED Daily 0 0 00 Raw Material Cost 0 00 AMOUNTS Esc Exit
110. e following message Place DATA DISK in drive 1 This is a disk marked with a large D Push disk in firmly until it snaps in place Is diskette in drive 1 Y N Page 112 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE If the data needs to be stored on a floppy diskette put the Data diskette into the computer type Y and press the This will write all the data described above onto the data diskette After the data is written the following message will appear Sep 8 16 46 58 MAIN MENU Backing up data files please wait Backup Restore Ingredient Table Reports System Setup c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation SO 241 Take the diskette out of the computer and store it in a safe place Press the e key to return to the Main Menu If there was a problem writing to the disk during the process described above the following message will appear Data not backed up to disk Press Enter to continue Press the e key to continue and call The Alkon Service Department for further instructions at 1 614 792 0677 Page 113 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE If you have the Material Records to Disk option the following prompt will appear Sep 8 16 35 39 Copy Material Record File to MS DOS format Y N View Adjust Inventory Backup Restore Ingredient Table Reports System Setup c 1986 1997 Alkon Corporation SO 241 Answering Y to this question will prompt you to insert an MS DOS disk into the drive
111. e is described in greater detail in Section 1 6 If using the Link 20 protocol to transfer ticket to the Spectrum the file format is contained in the Link 20 Transactions Screen Access to this screen is obtained by selecting Link 20 Transactions from the Order Entry Setup menu This screen is shown on the next page Page 11 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY LINK 20 REC FORMAT Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Nov 6 9 02 53 FIELD ROW COL FIELD ROW COL FIELD ROW COL TICKET SIZE 80 C O D 0 0 TAX CHARGE 16 71 DATE 10 CREDIT CODE 30 PREV TOTAL 18 TIME 1 20 TAX CODE 8 40 SUB TOTAL 14 CUSTOMER CODE 0 PROJECT CODE 8 50 DISCOUNT 15 ACCOUNT 60 BATCH COST EXT 9 71 NEW TOTAL 17 CUSTOMER NAME FORMULA 10 GRAND TOTA L9 CUST ADDRESS 1 DESCRIPTION 20 PERCENT DISC 0 CUST ADDRESS 2 LOAD SIZE 3 CALCIUM 19 CITY DEL ADD LINE1 0 23 STATE PRICE PER UNIT 64 2 24 ZIP ORDERED 50 TRUCK LEFT PLAN 0 NOTES DELIVERED 58 TRUCKONJOB 0 DELIVERY INST1 LOADS 0 TRUCK LEFT JOB 0 INST2 TRUCK 40 TRUCK RETURN a0 o 0 7 3 4 5 6 6 6 0 3 4 O o KO O 0 INST3 DRIVER 60 DELADDLINE2 0 INST4 DRIVER NAME 0 DEL ADD LINE3 0 INST5 SLUMP 60 CANADIAN FED BATCH REPORT 26 CAN FED TX S TOO BATCH NUMBER 1 0 REMOTE TICKET 0 USER ONE 20 PLANT USER TWO 21 There are two pages of this screen which are changed by pressing the and keys The n key will bring up the Extra Products Record Format Page 12 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY
112. e labeled the Batch Information Section The second screen section described will be the Mix Design Section and is located in the lower left side of the screen Next the Extra Product Section lower right side will be discussed The last section the Function Section is the last two lines of this screen Page 37 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 2 1 BATCH INFORMATION SECTION This is the top half of the Auto Batch Setup Screen CUSTOMER LEFT SET BATCH NUMBER 1 MIX NAME LOAD SIZE RETURN AMOUNT TRK NUM RATE RETURN MIX HOT WATER DRIVER ID SLUMP 96 SLAG WAT IN TRK WAT ADJUST 96 FLYASH MIXING TIME MIXER NUMBER A description of all the fields in this section follows MIX NAME When entering a blank Auto Batch Setup Screen the cursor is placed on this field This field must be entered before access to any other field on this screen is allowed This is a predefined field because it must be entered as one of the Mix Names as entered in Mix Designs The brackets around this field indicate that it has the browse function associated with it by pressing the mkey CUSTOMER On systems without the Order Entry Software the customer s name can be typed here to print on the batch summary To access this field press the okey LOAD SIZE The cubic amount of the batch is entered here This is a numeric field Fractional amounts should be entered as decimal values No amount greater than the Maximum Load Size defined in the Plant Conf
113. e real cutoff value Page 84 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS LARGE WEIGHT SCALE VALUE The Large Weight Scale Value represents the largest weight your plant uses and will self adjust as larger loads are used Spectrum uses this value as the high setpoint when determining cutoffs that deal with the mounding portion of the target weight LARGE WEIGHT CUTOFF The Large Weight Cutoff represents the suspended weight after the gates close when the scale is sitting at the Large Weight Scale Value The Spectrum uses this value in conjunction with the above parameter to act as a stating point for the real cutoff value MOISTURE OR SUB FACTOR On aggregate type materials this parameter allows the entry of moisture for that material On cementitious type materials such as flyash or slag it is possible to substitute these materials as a percentage of the normal cement Normally the flyash or slag replacement is not done on a one for one basis slightly higher amounts of flyash or slag are necessary The SUB FACTOR becomes the compensation percentage Example The mix design contains this ingredient Ingredient Amount PORTLAND 500 Lbs The setup of the batch includes a 20 replacement of flyash for the cement A one yard load would first be calculated to contain Ingredient Amount PORTLAND 400 Lbs 500 80 400 FLYASH 100 Lbs 500 20 100 The FLYASH ingredient is then multiplied by the Sub Factor to give the correct amount to su
114. e time period specified by this value will determine how far the gate is open The cement discharge is also affected by the Cement Close Pulse If Flow High A typical value is 125 milliseconds CMNT CLOSE PULSE IF FLOW HIGH Once the cement gate has been opened by the Normal Cement Open Pulse and the Spectrum detects the flow rate is in excess of the percentage variance the value entered here will pulse the gate partially closed A typical value is 50 mSec Page 153 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP CEMENT OPEN PULSE IF FLOW LOW Once the cement gate has been opened providing the correct flow the flow is monitored by the Spectrum The time specified here is used to pulse the gate open if the flow rate is too low A typical value is 50 mSec CRITICAL CEMENT FLOW During the discharge of cement the flow may stop or become less than the required flow rate If this value is non zero the Spectrum interprets this as cement hung in the weigh batcher The next two parameters are used to simulate the action of someone banging the gates to re establish the flow This value should normally be set to zero CEMENT FULL OPEN P IF FLOW CRITICAL CEMENT CLOSE P IF FLOW CRITICAL When the Spectrum detects that the cement flow has stopped it will pulse the open valve for the time entered here This should be equivalent to fully opening the gate Immediately afterwards the Spectrum will also pulse the cement gate closed with the Cmt Close P If Flow Criti
115. ection to the water for these moisture values When setting up a load the plant operator has the option to substitute hot water for the cold water on a Percentage basis When the Spectrum is calculating how much hot water to add it uses the ingredient with the first letters COLD WATER or AGUA to determine the total water in the load HOTXXXXXXX If you wish to substitute cold water with hot the hot water ingredient must have HOT at the beginning of the name This will allow blending of hot and cold water to take place on a percentage basis AIRXXXXXXX When setting up a load the plant operator has the option of adjusting the slump and air effectiveness The Spectrum doesn t know which material to adjust for effective ness unless it has the first three letters AIR Normally the Spectrum makes an adjustment of one gallon per yard configurable for every inch of change from the design slump When computing the water adjustment the mix is scanned to see if an ingredient with the first three letters of AIR is present If so the adjustment for slump is changed to only one half gallon per inch change configurable from the design slump The calculations for Air Effectiveness are in the Calculations Section of this chapter Refer to Section 7 3 CALCXXXXXX If it is desirable to enter calcium chloride in the mix as a percentage then an ingredient with the first four letters CALC must be used in the Spectrum This also identifies
116. ed both manually and automatically Two choices are available from this screen They are as follows DAILY INGREDIENT USAGE This option is used for generating totals for DAILY USAGE of materials at a plant The totals can be adjusted to reflect loads received i e incoming inventory batched or sold i e dump truck loads At the end of each day they should be cleared and the daily report printed to start fresh the next day TO DATE INGREDIENT USAGE This option is used for maintaining the total usage of materials in a plant Typically this is the monthly or yearly accumulation Page 103 SECTION 4 INVENTORY 4 31 DAILY USAGE DAILY USAGE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4 Sep 15 9 37 58 LAST CLEARED SEP 14 1995 13 45 49U S 50 00 Y Y M 85 32 Y Metric 27 00 M M Y 65 23 M INGREDIENT BIN ON HAND 1 0 00 4 0 00 2 0 00 6 0 00 3 5 5 0 00 0 00 0 00 PORTLAND 0 SLAG 0 CEMS 0 00 FLYASH 0 00 COLD 0 KG HOT 0 KG 22602222212 F1 Help F3 Incoming Inventory F7 Print amp Clear PgDn Up Next Page This screen displays the On Hand for all major materials in the ingredient table The admixes On Hand is accessed by pressing the d key The top right shows the total yardage batched since last being cleared The display shows Total yardage of U S mixes Total shipped of Metric mixes Combined total in Yards and Combined total in Meters Switchable US Metric only If Switchable US Metric is n
117. elect monitor type C CGA monitor standard All Wyse PC IBM XT Zenith computers Unisys computer with Unisys or Magnavox monitor EGA monitor VGA monitor All IBM PS 2 Unisys computer with ACER monitor Selection Select the appropriate option It is now necessary to tell the Spectrum which type of hard drive is in the system After a few moments the following menu will appear Select Hard Disk Type 10 Megabyte h 4 n 17 t 306 IBM PC XT computers 20 Megabyte h 4 n 17 t 612 Wyse PC Zenith computers 30 Megabyte h 4 n 17 t 2460 Leading Edge Enter h xx nzxx t2xxxx IBM at or compatible All Unisys and Computers IBM PS 2 Model 30 286 IBM PS 2 Model 50 esdi The Alkon Spectrum is supported by many types of PC compatible processors However most Spectrum systems were shipped with one of three processors Choose which configuration applies Page 193 SECTION 8 INSTALLATION SOFTWARE If your processor is not one of the above mentioned contact the Alkon Service Department for assistance at 1 614 792 0677 After a short delay the following menu will appear Spectrum Installation Main Menu Version 4 XX 1 Install Spectrum This step will first ask you to create a QNX partition on the hard disk A suggested size s 30 Megabytes 10 Megabytes is the minimum Then the system will ask for the floppy disks as needed and copy them onto the hard disk Convert Data Files to New Vers
118. er ere cr er ct ct ct ct ct ct ct ct ct ct Start Admix Disc 0 Start Admix Disc 65000 Start Admix Disc 0 ocoooooorv Chock ick crt ct ct c Page 150 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP Page 2 Esc TO EXIT PgDn PgUp For Next Previous Page AGG SLOW FLOW RATE AGG NORMAL FLOW RATE AGG FAST FLOW RATE AGG VERY FAST FLOW RATE CEM SLOW FLOW RATE CEM NORMAL FLOW RATE CEM FAST FLOW RATE CEM VERY FAST FLOW RATE Each of the above flow rates specify the weight per second that is allowed to flow from the scales They relate to classifications given to each truck in the Truck Discharge Table Typical values are as follows AGG CEM Slow 300 125 Normal 375 15 Fast 400 140 Very Fast 450 145 AGG VARIATION IN FLOW CEM VARIATION IN FLOW During inching of the aggregate and cement discharge gates the Spectrum uses these percentages to determine if corrective action is required It does this by pulsing the gate open or close bringing the flow rate within this tolerance band The normal tendency is to set these values too low causing the Spectrum to constantly take corrective action Typical values range between 20 and 50 TIME TO SWITCH OPEN AND CLOSE During the discharge cycle the Spectrum adjusts the gates by pulsing the open or close solenoid valve To prevent both from coming on at the same time the value entered here forces a delay between the open and close pulses
119. es and amounts The ingredients are broken down into two types major and chemical Major ingredients consist of all aggregate cement and water materials The chemical ingredients are reserved for all admixtures Refer to Section 3 2 for a complete description of ingredient names Page 96 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS To enter an ingredient type in the full ingredient name exactly as it appears in the ingredient table then press the ekey The Spectrum will search the ingredient table and verify that the name exists If the typed name does not match any ingredient name in the table a Warning unknown material message will appear If this appears press the m key to invoke the browse function and choose an ingredient from the list There may be occasions when you don t care about this message In those cases just continue entering data without regards to the warning After choosing the ingredient name enter the amount desired Continue until all ingredients have been entered The total number of materials ingredients in a load cannot exceed twelve 12 Aggregates A total of six aggregates can be batched per load from a choice of eight bins Cements A total of three cements can be batched per load from a choice of eight bins Water A total of two waters can be batched per load from a choice of two bins Admixtures A total of eight admixtures can be batched per load from a choice of eighteen bottles The USAGE SUMMARY window displ
120. essary to have all ingredients available entered into the Spectrum To do this from the MAIN MENU go to the INGREDIENT TABLE The following display will appear INGREDIENT TABLE Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Nov 7 17 33 18 MAJOR BIN CHEMICAL BOTTLE Aggregates use 1 SAND ADX 1 1 Admixes use BINS 1 8 AGG 2 ADX 2 2 BOTTLES 1 18 AGG 3 n ADX 3 3 AGG 4 4 AGG 5 5 AGG 6 6 Cements use CEMENT BINS 9 16 FLYASH CEM 3 Waters use WATER 17 BINS 17 amp 18 18 HOT 18 36 Run daily amp to date reports before deleting an ingredient Enter choice Before any ingredients are entered a few Special Ingredient names must be understood See Section 3 1 Notice that some sample ingredients have been entered The numbers to the left of the names do not necessarily refer to actual bin numbers they are just there to make the table easy to read and use Page 76 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS To enter an ingredient s parameters enter the number to the left of it If you chose a number from 1 18 a Major Ingredient which includes aggregates cements and waters the screen will look similar to this MAJOR INGREDIENT Alkon Corporation Version 4 4XX Sep 11 16 31 43 Ingredient Name SAND Bin Number Over Tolerance Moisture 96 or Sub Factor Under Tolerance Moisture Probe Scale Number Abs Over Tol Lbs Kg etc Auto Probe On line Y N Abs Under Tol Lbs Kg etc Maximum Moisture Time to Start
121. et SERIAL WORD For weighed water systems the serial word value is 4 otherwise 3 b Set SPAN FACTOR to 1 000 C Set GRAD SIZE to 1 000 d Enter zero offset at a value of 2 000 System setup is complete Be sure to run a DATA BACKUP to save these changes Page 211 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE OPERATION Initially the target for the sand is the SSD weight 0 moisture The Spectrum takes approximately 10 samples per second while the material is flowing over the gate As soon as the feed gate shuts an average of all the readings is made and this becomes the value used to add the additional sand to the load and make a correction to the water Overall the Spectrum must have at least 20 valid readings two seconds worth in order to do an automatic calculation A valid reading is defined as a Readings taken after an initial delay This delay is to allow time for the feed gate to open and for material flow to be established The parameter is called TIME TO START FLOW mSEC and is located in the INGREDIENT TABLE in the sand bin This value is normally 500 for 5 seconds Decreasing this value will allow more initial samples to be used in the calculation This may be necessary if many small loads are batched or the feed system is extremely fast If the value is too small the system may begin sampling moisture before the sand is flowing resulting in inaccuracies b Any reading used must be greater than the MIN ALL
122. etect the Baud rate of the calling modem The D option allows for a direct connect i e local remote terminals NOTE There is the ability to have the comm program display the commands that is uses as it uses them i e echo on The default for this when it leaves Alkon s facility is off i e echo off If the hayes or l options are going to be used then the modem init string must contain E1 or modem equivalent as part of the init string to turn echo on Pressing q from the Editor Screen will re initialize ports and comm programs All user information including command lines will be skipped on startup if the Port Desc for that user is null Page 174 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 77 TRUCK DISCHARGE The Truck Table is accessed by selecting Truck Discharge from the System Setup Menu TRUCK TABLE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 15 22 52 TRUCKS by NAME 182 214 295 186 216 30 188 v 218 315 190 a 20 325 194 2222 334 196 952 34 198 3554 35 200 270 36 202 276 3T4 204 jo 3928 S Ot 206 x 220 395 208 224 40 210 2502 41 212 2504 42 ie 25 4 Ox 6 7 8 9 PRPRPE BWNHRO Enter choice to 56 PgUp Previous Page PgDn Next Page The Truck Table consists of two columns for each truck The first column is the index number and the second column is the truck number The Truck Table has the capability of storing up to 100 t
123. for the order This was added for situations that require a Federal Tax Rate on top of local taxes Several locations on the Order Entry screen have keystroke labels next to them By pressing the corresponding key the cursor will jump to that location The following list describes these fields and the key used for this quick cursor movement Move Cursor to Customer Code Field Move Cursor to Mix Code Field Move Cursor to Mix Delivered Field Move Cursor to Previous Total Field Q 7 0O Page 27 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 18 THE JOB INDEX 8 THE JOB INDEX The Job Index screen is the interface between the Order Entry and the batching software of the Spectrum System The Job Index is accessed by selecting Auto Batching from the Main Menu JOB INDEX Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Mar 23 13 55 11 Date MAR 23 INDEX DATE TIME TRUCK NUM JOB CODE ORDERED DELIVERED Home End XXX Esc F1 Help F4 Repaint F5 Graph F7 Date F9 Today F10 All PgUp PgDn The Job Index screen lists all orders entered in the Spectrum software either chronologically by date and load time or alphabetically The Index can hold up to 500 orders There are 20 orders contained on each page of the Index and these pages can be accessed by using the and keys The Index is designed to display all orders for a given date specified in the Date field at the top center of
124. g the n key will resume the weigh up 2 5 3 ABORTING A BATCH DURING DISCHARGE Pressing the t key will close all discharge gates and stop the conveyor belt A message will appear as shown below DISCHARGED ABORTED I SETUP NEXT LOAD p EXIT Press the key to go to the Pre Batch Screen to set up the next load 2 5 4 TRIMMING A BATCH If for some reason the computer has had difficulty dispensing a particular ingredient the measurement may come up under tolerance as signaled by a red target and batched amounts in the Ingredient Section of the Batching Screen with a negative ERROR or positive VARIANCE The operator has the option of instructing the computer to trim the ingredient by pressing the okey The computer will then prompt you for the ingredient name as it appears above The first few letters can be typed when in a hurry NOTE If two ingredients share almost the same name i e Cement and Cement II the full name must be typed It will then prompt you to enter an amount The amount should be entered as the value shown in the VARIANCE portion If Switchable US Metric is available the amount entered will be converted automatically to the scale calibrated weight Page 57 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 5 5 STARTING THE DISCHARGE FOR A SINGLE BATCH Pressing the key will initiate the discharge sequence which has been set up in the discharge parameters While the discharge is in progress the computer will give the prompt SET
125. g the nkey Any changes you make will not effect the order you used to access this screen since they were saved under a different Job Number 1 8 5 REMOVING AN ORDER There are several methods for removing orders from the system Orders may be removed by date all at once or one at a time REMOVING ORDERS BY DATE To remove all orders for a given date these orders only need be displayed in the Job Index This is accomplished by using the date field as described above After the correct date is displayed all the orders from that date are removed using the Clear Jobs By Date selection from the Job Index Menu The Job Index Menu is accessed by pressing the nkey REMOVING ALL ORDERS To remove all orders all the orders must be displayed in the Job Index This is accomplished by using the u key as described above After all the orders are displayed they are removed using the Clear Jobs By Date selection from the Job Index Menu The Job Index Menu is accessed by pressing the nkey Page 31 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY REMOVING ONE ORDER AT A TIME To remove a single order that order must first be selected from the Job Index by placing the cursor on that order The selected order can be removed by pressing the ckey This will flash the word Delete next to the selected order To remove that order press the c key again If the flashing Delete is next to an order that should not be removed press the Another method to remove a single orde
126. gain The same results are obtained using the Modify Copy Selected Job option from the Job Index Menu This menu is accessed using the n key in the Job Index screen The final method to pull an existing order into the Order Entry screen is to enter the Customer Code and existing Job Number in a blank screen Once a change is made to an order it must be saved again for that change to take effect NOTE A common mistake made when changing an order is not updating the load time If the current time is past the load time and the order is saved the software assumes that the order is for the following year and puts it at the end of the Index This can cause confusion if the Index is set to display only the current day s orders Page 30 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 1 8 4 COPYING AN ORDER On some jobs more than one mix is called for at different times This will cause several orders to be entered for this job To alleviate the task of entering all constant information for this job one order can be entered and then copied and modified for the remaining orders for this job To copy an order it must first be pulled into the Order Entry screen This can be done by the methods described in the previous section Once the order is in the Order Entry screen it can be copied to another order by pressing the skey Notice that this will increment the Job Number and all other information remains unchanged Any changes can now be made and the order saved by selectin
127. h These parameters are used in determining when to split batch a load WAT SCALE MAX This parameter sets the maximum amount of water that can be batched in a single batch For plants that weigh water this value should be set to the scale capacity For plants with metered water a value greater than 0 must be entered a typical value being 3000 MAXIMUM LOAD VOLUME x 10 This parameters tells the Spectrum to not allow a load size any larger than this number Example Max Load Volume is 100 a load size of 10 YD or 10 M3 depending on which way your plant is calibrated is the highest load size allowed SPLIT LOAD BY MIXER SIZE 1 Y Entering a 1 in this parameter will use the Mixer Size parameter in the Adjust Mixer Parameters Screen to split the load for multi batching The individual maximum scale checks are still done CALCIUM SOLUTION CONCENTRATION If calcium is used in solution form enter the concentration percentage here This value is used when calculating the amount of solution to be dispensed compensating the batch water weight by volume This will only be used for a chemical whose name begins with CALC Refer to Section 3 on Special Ingredient Names Page 129 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP DEFAULT SLUMP x 10 When creating a new Mix Design this is the slump value with which the new mix will default This is also the number which will be used if a Mix Design is transferred via Link 20 or Mix Design Transfe
128. harge of those materials until the last batch Typically set to 0 zero Fill this parameter with the sum of all numbers to be used Use 1 for aggregate Use 4 for water Use 2 for cement Use 8 for admixes Call the Alkon Service Department at 1 614 792 0677 before using this parameter 1 CONT DISCH 2 CONT RUN 4 AUTORETURNTOPROLOG Quick Edit Field The Discharge Control Options Editor shown below will appear when placing the cursor on this parameter The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the key Refer to Section 7 15 for instructions on using the Options Editor Cont Disch forces the Spectrum to discharge the load without operator authorization If an out of tolerance occurs during weigh up the Spectrum will NOT automatically discharge the load and the operator will have to authorize discharge Cont Run forces the Spectrum to make the same load repeatedly until the operator leaves the Batch Graphic display ARTP automatically forces the Spectrum to leave the Batch Graphic display when discharge starts DISCHARGE CONTROL Normal Press F1 to Discharge Continuous Discharge Continuously Run Batches Auto Return to Prolog Batch Setup Discharge Early Discharged Materials Without Pressing F1 Page 128 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP AGG SCALE MAX Quick Edit Field CEM SCALE MAX Quick Edit Field These two parameters refer to the maximum weight each of the scales can hold in a single batc
129. he aeration should be on before the discharge sequence is started The Flow Smoothing Factor in System Parameters is used to even out the peaks and valleys in calculating the flow rates This smoothing is accomplished by averaging a percentage of the previous calculation with the present rate Higher factors use more of the present reading when averaging A typical value is 80 to 90 meaning we are using more of the present reading in our calculations The Time Between Flow Calcs s determines the frequency of calculating the flow rate It is desirable to have this calculated once a second Therefore typical value ranges from 900 to 1000 Once values have been established for the slow flow rates the normal fast and very fast rates can be entered by adding typically 50 Lbs and 20 Lbs for agg and cement respectively to each value It will not be necessary to alter the timing values since the computer will adjust them to compensate for the increased flows Page 74 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING When you have established values which give the acceptable smooth flow rates be sure to 1 Copy the screen displays to the printer by pressing and holding the band a keys and pressing the ikey Select b from the menu 2 Backup Data Files to hard and floppy disk Over a period of time you may need to slightly adjust the values due to mechanical changes Page 75 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS 30 MIX DESIGNS To enter Mix Designs it is first nec
130. he most significant bit MSB to the right The LSB produces the smallest change while the MSB produces the largest There are 8 zero switches and 10 span switches This means 255 possible zero configurations and 1024 possible span Turn off or open all but the 3 right most span jumpers and all but the 3 left most zero jumpers Center the external zero pot Make sure the 3 grad zero limit jumper is installed Turn the medium zero pot 20 turns counterclockwise Ensure the scale hopper is empty and observe the reading on the LED display If the reading for a scale is a dash under zero turn on or close one or more switches to the zero section until the reading is equal to 0 If the reading is above 0 turn off Or open one or more switches until it reads 0 NOTE Atleast one switch must be on closed in the zero section at all times Page 218 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION EXAMPLE With the initial 3 switches in the zero section turned on the displayed weight is a dash By turning on the fourth switch from the left the display reads 6 graduations above 0 Turning off the first switch reduces the display by one grad Turning off the next switch reduces the display by a total of 3 grads Turning off the next switch takes the reading under zero but by adding the first and second switch on again the reading is equal to 0 but occasionally flickers under zero Adjusting the medium zero pot at this point stabilizes the display at 0 NO
131. he screen will turn blue and pause with the following message Mounting Another Window Please Press the e key to Continue At this time press the e key The Spectrum Software will now be loaded After a few moments the Main Menu will appear This process is called booting up the computer INTRODUCTION ABOUT THE SPECTRUM SOFTWARE The Spectrum Software is divided into numerous screens Access to these screens is provided from several menus The Main Menu is the starting point for access to any screen or menu To make a selection from the Main Menu you can use one of two methods 1 Use the arrow keys on the keyboard to highlight the desired selection and then press the e key 2 Press the first letter of the desired selection For example if the user wanted to look at the Daily Inventory Screen the letter V could be pressed to select View Adjust Inventory from the Main Menu This would access the Inventory Menu then the letter D could be pressed for selection of the Daily Inventory Screen lis used to leave a screen taking the system back to the Main Menu The Job Index Auto Batch Setup Order Entry and Batching Screens have several other sub menus to be accessed Refer to the diagrams showing access to these screens at the end of this section MOVEMENT WITHIN A SCREEN Once a screen is accessed various functions can be performed from that screen Every screen has different fields used for various functions of the
132. hey are weighed admixes In the case of Flyash it will not be weighed until after the cement weighs Page 170 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP MISC PRINTED FIELDS There are several names of fields that are printed on the batch weights that can be edited to print differently The default printed names of these fields are Temper Water Hot and Hot Water To rename these fields press s when in the Adj Mixer and Misc Parameters Screen The following will be displayed MISC PRINTE ingredient summary The name on the left is the default printed name the name on the right is the actual printed name for that field On the example above TEMPER WATER will be printed as MIXER WATER HOT and HOT WATER will not get printed Page 171 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP ROBO TILT TABLE EDITOR The Robo Tilt Table as described in the Robo Tilt Section is edited in the Robo tilt Table Editor as shown below ROBO TILT TABLE INITIAL NORMAL TILT TIME TILT RATE 10Y O1 4 CO PO IS OO EH 0 Ts 2 33 4 35 6 Tis 8 9 Or COD This editor is accessed by pressing r while in the Adj Mixer Misc Parameters Screen Refer to Robo Tilt Section Page 172 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP USER DEVICES EDITOR Use the editor sho
133. higher up to 100 in order to get enough water in the first batch This is due to the unknown sand moisture of the next batch To use this parameter effectively keep the Maximum Moisture Change per Batch found in the Ingredient Table for probe monitored materials as low as possible Page 135 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP DELAY WATER 0 NO 1 YES On systems with metered water it is possible to start a batch and have the front water not start until the operator s signal is received This allows the batch to get started when the truck pulls in the yard As soon as the truck is spotted the water can be started by pressing the mkey 1 enable default 0 disable Page 136 SECTION 7 SETUP 7 4 SYSTEM PARAMETERS SYSTEM PARAMETERS Color by Material on Graphics 1 Max Allowable Jog Time mSec 1000 Sort Feeds by Mix Design Entry 0 Time Between Min Flow Check mS 1000 Index Display Def Color 1 15 Jog Sensitivity Agg 96 Jog Sensitivity Cem Jog Sensitivity Wat 96 Agg Cem Complete Pulse mSec Flow Smoothing Factor X 100 Time Between Flow Calc s mSec Time to Exceed Targ Agg mSec Time to Exceed Targ Cem mSec Time to Exceed Targ Wat mSec Alkon Corporation SYSTEM Version 4 4xx Sep 11 14 05 05 Inspect On enable 1 disable 0 0 Default Serial Port Baud Rate 1200 Air Mix Slump Adjust 8330 Option Index Display Control Inventory Control Option Manual Station Port 0 1 2 Fe
134. hile this key is held the display will change to the other systems volumetric equivalent for this load Example Your plant is calibrated in U S units i e Lbs Gal Oz and you are batching a Metric mix i e Kgs Liters ML all numbers on the screen will be in Metric including Slump Water in Truck Trim etc The operator typically will be used to the U S version of this mix What does 3 81 meters mean band keys will show what the operator is used to seeing 3 81 meters 5 00 yard s All numbers will now reflect what the mix would be like if it were in Cubic Yards and not Cubic Meters A typical calculation might look like the following 1000 Kg M3 1685 5 Lb Yd 100 Lt M3 20 2 GI Yd SPECTRUM QUICK EDIT SCREEN By pressing the skey the Quick Edit Screen appears Refer to Section 7 14 for details of this screen CONFIGURE DEMANDS By pressing the tkey the Demands Setup Screen appears For details on this screen refer to Section 7 13 HOLD BATCH Within Graphics Only This key only works while in the Batching Screen Refer to Section 2 5 2 F10 EQUIVALENTS EDITOR Switchable US Metric only By pressing the ukey a size convertor box appears like below on the following page By entering data on one side it is dynamically converted to the other side Pressing the n key will save the data to the appropriate fields in the Pre Batch Screen NOTE If you press the key you are given the option of s
135. ight 0 0 0 440 Flow 0 0 0 6 CTRS ADX1 ADX2 ADX3 ADX4 ADX5 ADX6 ADX7 ADX8 WATE EMPE 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Cnt Vol DIGITAL POINTS 11 12 13 14 Input Points 1 16 Points 49 64 Output 17 32 33 48 65 80 81 96 Enter output device Setting 0 off 1 7 11 ORDER ENTRY SETUP The Order Entry Setup Menu is used to set the ticket format the ticket file and special codes used in the Order Entry software Refer to the Order Entry Section ENTRY SETUP MENU rder Entry Defaults Format Ticket Record Transactions Link 20 Transactions Tax Codes Discount Codes Credit Codes User Defined Names Import Export Setup Page 179 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 12 BATCHING SIMULATOR The batching simulator allows for training or demonstrating the Spectrum s batching procedures Before the simulator can be turned on the data files must be backed up To turn the simulator on select Batching Simulator from the System Setup Menu The following will appear The simulator is currently OFF Do you wish to turn it ON Y N To enable the simulator type a Y and e When the word SIMULATOR appears the bottom left corner of the Main Menu Screen the Spectrum is in the simulate mode To turn the simulator off select Batching Simulator from the System Setup Menu The following will appear The simulator is currently ON Do you wish to turn i
136. iguration Screen will be accepted Page 38 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING TRK NUM RATE These are two separate fields The truck number can be entered in the first field This is a 6 character alphanumeric field The second field is the discharge rate to be used for this truck This is a predefined field that can only be entered as the numbers 1 2 3 or 4 These numbers correspond to the discharge rates set in the Discharge Parameters Screen refer to Section 7 5 If the truck number entered is found in the Truck Table it will automatically pull in the corresponding discharge rate Refer to Section 7 7 DRIVER ID This can be entered as a short name or as the employee number of the driver of the truck This field will be automatically pulled in from the Truck Table when the truck number is entered This is a five character alphanumeric field WAT IN TRK If there is wash water left in the truck the amount entered here will be subtracted from the amount of water to batch This value should be entered in gallons or liters but not by weight RETURN AMOUNT RETURN MIX Allows for leftover concrete The Return Amount is a numeric field that should be entered as the cubic amount left in the truck If a number other than zero is entered in the Return Amount the Return Mix will automatically pull in the same mix as entered in the Mix Name field The Return Mix may be changed to match any mix entered in Mix Designs If the Return Mix is not changed
137. inear due to vibration It is best to stay in the 20 to 50 range for the variation factors During manual discharge note the relative gate open position at these flow rates and try to place chalk marks on the skirt over the conveyor as a reference for the next step Page 73 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING Use a stopwatch and the manual discharge switches to determine the time required to fully open the discharge gate Ensure that the gates open and close freely without binding This will become the starting value for the Agg Full Open Pulse at Start With the gate full open try to determine the time to close the gate to the marks which indicates an open position suitable for a slow flow rate This value will become the Agg Normal Close Pulse at Start The times to open or close the gates if flow high or low are generally a very short duration and are approximated through trial and error Values below 20 milliseconds will have no affect It is best to start with values of approximately 20 to 50 The Critical Cement Flowdetermines when the material has bridged and stopped flowing A typical value for this is 0 When the computer sees that the flow has dropped below this value it will use the Cmnt Full Open P if Flow Crit and the Cmnt Close P if Flow Critto simulate banging the gates Typical values for these are 3000 and 100 respectively NOTE The success of getting a smooth cement discharge is dependent on proper aeration of the weigh batcher T
138. ing will then be correct Use the External Zero Adjustment to correct the readout any time it doesn t match the measured moisture in the sand This may be necessary if the sand composition changes greatly or over a period of time as the Probe face wears away If you find it necessary to make frequent changes to the External Zero the Probe probably requires recalibration or physical adjustment Page 209 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE MOISTURE TRACKING WORKSHEET Customer Name Date TIME BATCH BAKEOUT READOUT READOUT READOUT PRINTOUT BATCH END HIGH LOW Page 210 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE Vill Spectrum Setup Spectrum Setup To enable the Probe 1 2 Boot up system From MAIN MENU choose INGREDIENT TABLE Choose the ingredient that has a Moisture Probe Find parameter called AUTO PROBE ON LINE and set to Y Set the MOISTURE PROBE SCALE NUMBER to the value corresponding to the proper scale number This is typically a value of 4 Set MAXIMUM MOISTURE to the maximum moisture expected set MINIMUM MOISTURE to the minimum moisture expected Set the MAX MOISTURE CHANGE PER BATCH to the maximum amount the moisture should vary between batches Set the MOISTURE PROBE SCALE NUMBER to the value corresponding to the proper scale number This is typically a value of 4 Escape to MAIN MENU choose SYSTEM SETUP and choose MODIFY SCALE CALIBRATION for the moisture line Scale Number 4 a S
139. ion Format This will modify the data of Spectrum Software version 4 09 and later to the format required by this software release General Backup This will backup all files from Disk 1 to the Hard disk Usually used for Ditto DFS Utilities etc If you have any disks labeled Ticket Editor use this step to copy them to the Hard disk For a new install do Step 1 then Step 3 as needed When all disks are installed remove any disks from drive 1 turn power off and back on If this is a new system without any mixes or customers go to the Change Partition Page 194 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION Otherwise press 2 to convert the data files already on the hard disk to the proper format on the new release When prompted insert Data Disk press e and the following message will appear Converting files This will take a few moments After the previous screen has been displayed the screen will go back to the Spectrum Installation Main Menu This process has converted your old data from the hard disk to a form the new version of software can use and has been stored on floppy CHANGE PARTITION SIZE BOOT PARTITION SELECTIONPARTITION SIZE BOOT PARTITION SELECTION On a new system it is always necessary to do this step first to do so press 1 Shortly the following screen will display Next Prev Change Delete Mount Boot Unboot Save Quit 1 1 OS Start End Number Boot Na
140. isplayed in the Job Index several functions can be performed on that job These functions include batching changing the order copying the order and removing the order To perform a function on a particular order the cursor must first be placed on that order This is accomplished by using the arrow keys to move the cursor around the index Once the cursor is on the desired order the function may be performed using the corresponding function key An explanation of these functions and how to perform them follows 1 8 2 BATCHING AN ORDER 8 Once the cursor is placed on the correct line of the index the order can be batched by pressing the n or qkeys This will pull up the Auto Batching screen with all the corresponding information from the order brought into this screen This information includes the Customer Name Mix Load Size and Slump This screen is described in detail in Section 2 on Batching 1 8 3 CHANGING AN EXISTING ORDER A change may be needed on an existing order for numerous reasons such as updating the ordered amount To change an existing order the Order Entry screen needs to be accessed with the order to be changed pulled into this screen This may be done several ways The most common method is to select the order in the Job Index by placing the cursor on the corresponding line of the Index and pressing the skey This will pull that order into the Order Entry screen where all necessary changes may be made and the order saved a
141. iting Dim OFF Bright ON Q e Press F10 to Disable Flag Editor The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the u key See Section 7 15 DEMAND ON enable 1 disable 0 If the Spectrum has this option scanning of the demand inputs is available This parameter is of no consequence to most users and should be set to zero Page 142 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP INSPECT ON enable 1 disable 0 Quick Edit Field If enabled during the batching cycle after each material is weighed the Spectrum will stop and wait for the user to vary the weight via the inspect potentiometer The display will show over and under tolerance conditions When finished press the n key to proceed to next material Used mainly for certifications DEFAULT SERIAL PORT BAUD RATE The BAUD rate for all serial ports not being used by the Manual Station Link 20 or a ticket printer are set to this value AIR MIX SLUMP ADJUST x 1000 This parameter specifies the weight of water used in adjusting mixes with Air Entrainment Typically if an adjustment of 1 2 gallon per inch of slump is needed enter the weight of 1 2 gallon In U S measure enter 4173 In the case of Metric if 2 5 Liters per 25 mm of slump is desired enter 100 l O OPTION This parameter displays the type of Junction Box 0 1 2 Used on Custom Spectrums 3 Used for Spectrums with 36 x 30 J Box 4 Used for Spectrums with 24 x 24 J Box and LCH1 displays 5 Use
142. ive Weights on Batch Report Print Original Mix Weights SSD from Batch Setup Print Only Target Weights on Batch Report Print Batch Summary Block Print Tolerance Column Print Tolerance OK or NOT OK Print Tolerance Locked or Unlocked Print Moisture Column for All Aggregates Print Water Cement Ratio Print Actual Water in All Materials Column Print Water in Truck Print Water To Add Exclude Water to Add in Wat Cem Ratio Calculation Print Manual Trim Occurred or No Manual Trim Print the Day Month and Year in DD MM YY format Print Temper Water single mixer only Print Mixing Time single mixer only Print Target Mixing Time Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF Bright ON Page 140 SECTION 7 SETUP SYSTEM The options selected in the options editor above are shown on the batch report ticket shown below MATERIAL REQD BATD TOL AC WT MST JIM SMITH CONSTRUCTION 3 4 COMM 7052 7100 0 7 6 3 SAND R 5629 5600 0 5 27 7 PORT II 2280 2280 0 0 0 0 WATER 65 65 0 04 65 0 AEA 17 17 0 0 0 0 WRA 75 75 0 0 0 0 TEMPER WATER 0 TOL OK TOL LOCKED WAT TO ADD WAT CEM NO MANUAL TRIM WAT IN TRK SIMULATED TICKET Page 141 0 75 7 15 DATE amp TIME 2 26 97 9 17 PLANT NUMBER 1 BATCH NUM 101666 DROPS 1 TRUCK 123 DRIVER JOE QUAN 5 00 MIX 001 RTD 1 00 MIX 001 SLUMP 7 0 HOT WATER 0 WAT ADJUST 1 0 AGG ST 0 AGG ET 0 CEM ST 0 CEM ET 0 N HI ST ADX ONE SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP PRIN
143. ize coast On small loads the required amount of chemical can sometimes be less than the normal preact amount When this occurs the computer will see that the amount requested is less than the preact and not feed at all This could hinder small load accuracy Page 66 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING CHEMICAL PREACTS The computer will recalculate and adjust the Normal Preact following each batch Typically the preacts are about three to four times the volume per pulse There are no jogging routines for chemicals Therefore the computer simply subtracts the calculated preact from the final target volume and then performs a tolerance check following the Admix Settle Time found in Plant Configuration If the preact becomes unusually high due to some batching irregularity it may become necessary to enter the Ingredient Table and reset the preact value 2 9 DISCHARGE METHODS OF DISCHARGE Almost every parameter affecting the scale discharge has been brought to one of the screen displays This permits the tailoring of the discharge sequences to virtually any configuration However most discharges can be grouped into either inching or choke feeding and in some cases a combination of both methods CHOKE FEEDING This implies that the materials are released from the weigh batchers with no intent to control the rate of flow The only form of limiting the flow into the trucks is by the rate of a pre mixer or the holding hopper to release the materials
144. kon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 25 15 06 24 Scale Serial Raw x Span Grad Offset Actual Auto Number Word Factor size Aggregate 1 0000 20 000 40 000 0 Cement 1 0000 5 000 10 000 0 Water SCL 1 0000 0 000 0 000 0 Moisture 1 0000 1 000 2 000 448 ADX 1 0000 1 000 000 0 ADX 1 0000 1 000 000 0 ADX 1 0000 1 000 000 0 ADX 1 0000 1 000 000 0 ADX 1 0000 1 000 000 0 ADX 1 0000 1 000 000 0 No Adx 7 1 0000 000 000 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 g 8 1 0000 000 000 Water MTR 1 0000 1 000 000 Tempe 1 0000 000 000 No 1 0000 000 000 No 1 0000 000 000 No 1 0000 000 000 No 1 0000 000 000 No 1 0000 000 000 No 1 0000 000 000 Input Range 0 Scl Scl Scl Scl Scl Scl Counters 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 6 7 8 9 0 EOG Q D ct ct ct ct ct ct m D R oS Z Page 178 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 10 WVOTEST 10 I O TEST 10 I O TEST This is a diagnostics screen which is used to test the inputs and outputs connected to the Spectrum INPUT OUTPUT TE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 25 15 06 33 SCALES Aggregate Cement Water Moisture Meter 2 2 0 442 We
145. l pop up with the headings Cylinder and Head On the front of some computers is a DISK DATA label that may have pairs of numbers written on it In the box below enter the first number of each pair under the word Cylinder and the second number under Head When finished hit the Esc key If there isn t a label or it says No Errors just hit the Esc key Cylinder Head 0 Page 197 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION This screen will then display Checking XXXXX blocks XX This test will take about eight to ten minutes The Spectrum will then ask for diskettes as needed GENERAL BACKUP GENERAL BACKUP If you have a Utilities DFS or Ticket Editor disk you need to use this backup to copy those disks to your hard disk To do this press 3 and you will be prompted to place a disk in Drive 1 Press e to continue When each disk is done being copied the Hard Disk Setup menu will again appear Repeat this step for each optional disk Do not re copy Data Disk Fbackup Disk 2 or Fbackup Disk 3 The installation is now complete Remove any disk from Drive 1 and re boot the system This can be done by cycling the power off for a few seconds and then back on or by pressing and holding down b a and j and pressing c The system should now boot from hard disk COMPU KEY SPECTRUM KEY SPECTRUM UPDATE SOFTWARE INSTALLATION HARD DISK SYSTEM VERSION 4 33C AND UP Ref 882C Effective March 25 1992 The
146. l Port Baud Rate Sort Feed Mix Design Entr 0 Air Mix Slump Adj LINK 20 PORT OPTIONS EDITOR Disable Link 20 Port Use Com 1 mdm Serial Port 1 on Computer Use Com 2 term1 Serial Port 2 on Computer Use Com 3 term2 or term6 Serial Port at 3E8H Set Baud Rate at 300 7 Data bits 2 Stop bits EvenParity Set Baud Rate at 1200 8 Data bits 1 Stop bits No Parity Set Baud Rate at 2400 8 Data bits 1 Stop bits No Parity Set Baud Rate at 4800 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 9600 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity Set Baud Rate at 19200 8 Data bits 1 Stop bit No Parity xi liting i ight Pirnter Port 0O 1 pt Ser 8 0 Truck mins Demand On enable 1 disable 0 O Printer Poll Time micro secs e Press F10 to Disable Flag Editor Page 147 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP MULTIDROP NUMBER LINK 20 CNTRL 0 disable On systems using Link 20 this parameter controls how the Link will be set up and used This parameters consists of a number 0 to 15 which represents the multidrop address of the system plus any other highlighted features A value of 0 will allow the Link to work without any special control The Link 20 Control Editor appears as shown below when the cursor is placed on this parameter SYSTEM PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 11 14 32 18 Color by Material on Graphics Inspect On enable 1 disable 0 Max Allowable Jog Time mSec Defau
147. ld be used with caution since they will vary with gate sizes opening times cylinder strokes air pressure etc However they are sufficient as a starting point To start select the TEST Screen in the System Setup menu With the scales empty observe the values opposite the F owshown at the top of the screen These should remain fairly constant fluctuating one to five digits If they are fluctuating more than this adjust the Flow Smoothing Factor Once this has been relatively stabilized turn on the aggregate discharge conveyor The F owvalue should still be stable If it is not look for sources of vibration such as the scale cable pulleys mounted to the side of the conveyor With the conveyor running the values should not much vary more than when it is not running It is best to start with manual batches discharging at a rate suitable for a slow truck Typical values for Flowmay range as follows Aggregates 300 to 600 Cements 75 to 150 This indicates that the average Normal Flow Rate for aggregates is 150 Lbs sec with a Variation in Flowof 2096 Similarly the average Slow Flow Rate for cement is 35 Lbs sec with a Variation in Flowof 20 The danger here is trying to set the variation in flow value too small thinking you will get more consistent flow Actually just the opposite occurs The computer tries to maintain this tight tolerance by constantly adjusting the position of the gates since the calculated flow is non l
148. lecting Credit Codes will pop up the Credit Code Table CREDIT CODES OK CREDIT IS GOOD COD CASH ON DELIVERY HOLD NO CREDIT A A USER DEFINED NAMES Page 14 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY There are five fields in the Order Entry screen that can be set up for anything the user needs that does not already exist Each name can be up to 8 characters long These fields are defined in the User Defined Names Table Selecting User Defined Names pops up this table EDIT USER DEFINED ITEM NAMES USER ONE USER TWO USER THR USER FOU Some examples of these may be Temp Chutes Time etc IMPORT EXPORT SETUP This is for future use Page 15 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY 15 FORMATTING THE TICKET The Ticket Format screen is accessed from the Order Entry Setup Menu located in the System Setup Menu By selecting Ticket Format from the Order Entry Setup Menu the Ticket Format screen appears as shown below LINK 20 REC FORMAT Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Nov 6 9 02 53 FIELD COL FIELD ROW COL FIELD ROW COL TICKET SIZE 80 C O D 0 0 TAX CHARGE 16 71 DATE 10 CREDIT CODE 30 PREV TOTAL 18 71 TIME 1 20 TAX CODE 8 40 SUB TOTAL 14 71 CUSTOMER CODE 0 PROJECT CODE 8 50 DISCOUNT 15 ACCOUNT 60 BATCH COSTEXT 9 71 NEW TOTAL 17 CUSTOMER NAME FORMULA 10 GRAND TOTA L9 CUST ADDRESS 1 DESCRIPTION 20 PERCENT DISC 0 CUST ADDRESS 2 LOAD SIZE 3 CALCIUM 19 CITY DEL ADD LINE1 0 MEMO 23 STATE PRICE PER UNIT 64 2 24 ZIP ORDERED 50 TRUCK LEFT PLAN 0
149. llies the event within these time periods Each time the flow rate is sensed as being high a count of one is added to an internal counter Each time the flow rate is low a count of one is subtracted If the count is positive at the end the Spectrum will issue a corrective pulse to close the gates If the count is negative a pulse to open the gates will be given Typical values are 1000 mSec TIME TO ISSUE CEM CRIT PULSES During the discharge cycle the flow of the cement may stop or fall far below the desired flow rate This is referred to as the CRITICAL FLOW VALUE Since vibration of the load cells affect the calculation of the flow rate erroneous readings can occur To filter these bad readings this value is provided so that corrective action is taken only when necessary Each time the Spectrum notes a reading below the critical value one is added to the counter Similarly each time the flow is above the critical value one is subtracted The net result determines the corrective action This value should be lower than the Time to Issue Cem Open Pulse above since critical readings also count as low readings and the Normal Cement Open Pulse takes precedence over the Cmnt Full Open P If Flow Critical pulse Typical value is 1500 mSec AGG VIB PULSE IF FLOW LOW This controls the length of time the aggregate vibrator is energized during low flows to re establish the material flow The time specified is in milliseconds and a typical value is
150. lt Serial Port Baud Rate Sort Feeds by Mix Design Entry Air Mix Slump Adjust Time Between Min Flow Check 1 Option LINK 20 CONTROL Clear LINK 20 Control Flags Enter Re Enter Multi Drop Number 1 15 Disable LINK 20 CRC Check Enable LINK 20 Kopics Communications Error Enable LINK 20 Communication Test Display Enable LINK 20 Diagnostics Log File rgb data link20 scr Enter Re Enter Cntrl Character Set 0 Alkon or 1 DBD Enable Mix Design Transfer 441 Format Printer Options 778189 Pirnter Port 02 1pt Ser 8 0 Truck Washdown Time mins Demand On enable 1 disable 0 O Printer Poll Time micro secs Press F10 to Disable Flag Editor CTS DELAY mSec When using Link 20 this parameter forces the Spectrum to delay after raising the Request To Send line which allows the modem carrier to be established A typical value is 100 to 500 milliseconds DATE FORMAT IN TICKET RECORD This controls whether the date is stored in DD MM YY or MM DD YY in the ticket record file ticket dat A value of 0 will us the MM DD YY format and a value of 1 uses Page 148 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP DD MM YY DEL TCKT AFTER BATCH enable 1 When using Link 20 and central dispatch setting this value to 1 causes the order to be deleted from the Job Index after it has been batched Normal setting of this value is zero NO OPERATOR EDIT enable 1 When using Link 20 and central dispatch setting
151. ly used in the case of a remote printer The last printed ticket can also be printed again from this window Page 123 SECTION 7 SETUP 7 0 SYSTEM SETUP SYSTEM This table of multiple screens contains information used by the Spectrum to process the batch control the discharge calibrate the scales and meters and perform diagnostic testing By selecting System Setup from the Main Menu the System Setup Menu will appear as shown below MAIN MENU Auto Batching Order Entry Mix Designs Customers Pro View Adjust Backup Restor Ingredient Tabl Reports System Setup SO 241 Sep 11 13 44 07 SYSTEM SETUP MENU Enter Date Time Change Passwords Plant Configuration System Parameters Discharge Parameters Adj Mixer amp Misc Parameters Truck Discharge J Box IO Assignments Modify Scale Calibration IO Test Order Entry Setup Batching Simulator Remap Demandas to Mix Designs F Bin Filling System Parms i Inter Plan Inicati A description of all the screens accessed from this menu follows Page 124 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 4 DATE AND TIME To correct the date and time of the machine select Enter Date Time from the System Setup Menu This menu option also sets winter and summer dates used for special extra products Order Entry only SET DATE amp TIME Alkon Corporation Version 4 4 21 5 34 SET DATE MMM DD Y JUN 21 96 SET TIME HH MM S 13 35 33 START SUMMER DATE MMM DD MAY
152. manual To load an order into the Auto Batch Setup Screen position the cursor on the order using the w and y arrow keys Press the q key or pull up the Select Menu by pressing the n key and select Load Job A blank Auto Batch Setup Screen can be accessed by pressing the m key from the Job Index Screen or by pulling up the Select Menu and choosing Batch Setup 2 1 2 BATCHING WITHOUT THE JOB STACK On systems without the Order Entry Software a blank Auto Batch Setup Screen appears after selecting Auto Batching from the Main Menu A description of this Screen and the processes performed from this screen follows Page 36 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 2 AUTO BATCH SETUP SCREEN The Auto Batch Setup Screen will appear before an automatic batch is started On systems with Order Entry some of the fields will be carried over from the original order loaded This screen is shown below AUTO BATCH SETUP Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Mar 23 16 42 50 CUSTOMER LEFT SET BATCH NUMBER FORMULA NAME LOAD SIZE RETURN AMOUNT TRK NUM RATE RETURN MIX HOT WATER DRIVER ID SLUMP SLAG WAT IN TRK WAT ADJUST FLYASH MIXING TIME INGREDIENTS AMT UNIT TARG MIXER NUMBER QUANTITY DESCRIPTION BATCH CODE Y HARSHNESS 1 0 AIR EFF 1 0 Esc Exit F1 Help F10 Equivalents Editor To completely describe the Auto Batch Setup Screen we will split it into four sections The first section to be described is the top half of the screen and will b
153. mber when Clearing Inventory Save New Mix Usage as Requested Amount Minus Returned Amount xit Inse liting MANUAL STATION PORT 0 1 2 Page 144 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP If the Spectrum has an I O Option of five this parameter shows which COM port is connected to the Manual Station 1 2 COM 1 mdm 2 COM 2 term1 COM 2 term1 should be used if available FEDERAL TAX RATE x 100 000 This parameter was added for Canadian tax calculations The existing tax fields in Order Entry are to be used for Provincial taxes The federal tax rate entered in x 1000 will tax the ticket sub total regardless of products flagged as non taxable If the Federal tax is subject to Provincial tax add 100 000 to the calculated Federal Tax Rate Example 8 federal tax should be entered as 8 000 If the federal tax is subject to provincial tax enter 108 000 in this field DISK 1 TYPE 1 2 3 4 Use the following figures to determine the proper value to set the floppy disk drive type Num Disk Siz Capacity Typical CP 1 5 1 4 360K Wyse Zenith IBM 2 3 1 2 720 Unisys 3 5 1 4 1 2M 4 3 1 2 1 44M DFI Compaq Page 145 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP BATCHING DISPLAY OPTION The Text Based Batching display gives a choice of which optional items are to be displayed on the screen Two areas can be user defined The first area is next to the target weights of the materials Two of the following three fields can be displayed Bat
154. me Type Cylinder Cylinder Cylinders Blocks 1 1 1 qnx 7 245 974 730 62050 2wdos 1 0 244 245 20808 345 232 Aes E evo S E C Use up down arrows to select partition Type the letter to change add a partition Type the letter 5 to save your changes the letter q to quit 1 1 QNX is os type 7 8 or 9 DOS is os type 1 or 4 Unused is os type 0 1 1 First cylinder is X Last cylinder is XXX Disk is bytes H X T XXX N XX Page 195 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION If this screen already has information in the OS Name column such as qnx and dos If the screen is blank proceed with the following steps The numbers in the Start and End Cylinder columns are for a 40 Meg 42 432 000 bytes with h 5 n 17 t 975 NOTE The numbers in Start and End Cylinder Columns are for example only They may be different to match an individual hard drive Setup the hard disk partitions as follows a Press c to change the first partition type The cursor will move to the OS Type column on line and will blank this column b Press 7 and then e This will select the OS Name qnx and the cursor will move to the Start Cylinder column C Press 245 and then e The cursor will move to the End Cylinder column NOTE The rule of thumb recommended by Alkon is to partition the hard disk using about 30 meg for the QNX operating sys
155. mes Side Red Blue Green Yellow Bare A amp D Eng Red White Green Blue Yell Page 221 ge OW OW OW OW OW ge OW e lt OW OW OW SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION See NOTES on following page Page 222 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION NOTES Color code complies with ISA S37 8 1975 Specifications for Tests for strain gauge force transducers also per Western Regional Strain Gauge Committee Standard Ts Unidirectional load cells Tension only or Compression only Positive output in the direction of rated load 2 Bi directional load cells Universal Tension and Compression Positive output in the direction of compression loading Negative output in the direction of tension loading Direction of Standardization Calibration In the case of bi directional load cells the rated output shall apply in the direction of compression loading To correct an instrument that displays a weight in the wrong direction interchange the Output and Output connections EXAMPLE Ifthe load on the scale is increasing and the instrument display is decreasing reverse the Output connections Do not reverse the Excitation connections The readout should now display increasing readings with increasing load THIS DOCUMENT REPRINTED WITH THE PERMISSION OF TOTALCOMP 3 09 Saddle River Road Fair Lawn NJ 07410 Page 223
156. miliar with The computer will do the conversion for you 2 2 3 EXTRA PRODUCT SECTION This is the lower right side of the Auto Batch Setup Screen Any extra products that will be printed on the delivery ticket will show up here This section is of no use for systems without Order Entry QUANTITY DESCRIPTION HIGH EARLY FIBER MESH 10 FT REBAR EXPANSION JOINTS 5 GALLON BUCKET OF SEALER The extra products cannot be edited here They show up only to remind the operator that these items should be included in this delivery Page 43 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 2 4 THE FUNCTION SECTION The last two lines on the Auto Batch Setup Screen show certain values to batching parameters and the function key used to perform certain operations BATCH CODE Y HARSHNESS 1 0 AIR EFF 1 0 Esc Exit F1 Help F10 Equivalents Editor The first line shows the status of 3 parameters which are described below BATCH CODE The Batch Code allows for printing tickets without batching or batching without printing batch weights The q key moves the cursor into this field The m browse key will show the choices for this field The default value is set in the Order Entry Defaults as described in Section 1 4 N Don t Batch Don t Print Target Batch Weights P Don t Batch Print Target Batch Weights B Batch Don t Print Any Batch Weights Y Batch And Print Batch Weights Up Dn Esc Enter HARSHNESS AIR EFFECTIVENESS They are shown here bec
157. n Water Charge When three stage water is being setup this value should be set to 1 otherwise set the value to When this is set to a 1 the Main Water Charge will begin according to the Agg To Start Main Water Chg and Cem To Start Main Water Charge as described above The Start Water Material Control Option Editor appears as shown below when the cursor is placed on this parameter START WATER MATERIAL CONTROL Start Main Water by Weight of Aggregate and or Cement Determine End of Initial Water Charge by Holding Tank Zero Probe Do Not Wait Until Initial Water Finished to Start Agg Discharge Do Not Wait Until Initial Water Finished to Start Cem Discharge Wait for Admixes to Empty Before Starting Washdown Water Wait for Conveyor to Purge Before Starting Washdown Water Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF Bright ON Page 156 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP TIME TO ISSUE AGG CLOSE PULSE TIME TO ISSUE AGG OPEN PULSE TIME TO ISSUE CEM CLOSE PULSE TIME TO ISSUE CEM OPEN PULSE Vibration can cause erroneous scale readings during the discharge cycle and thus affect flow rate calculations These four values control the Spectrum s response to discharge flows outside the range allowed by the Agg Variation and Cem Variation In Flow Values The longer the time value specified here the slower the response will be in issuing corrective pulses Each time the Spectrum sees a flow value outside the allowable variation it ta
158. nal screens will affect the total water batched for that load Page 95 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS RAW MATERIAL COST display only A direct sum of cumulative costs for all ingredients in the mix Ingredient costs for each material are stored in the Ingredient Table and are cost per 1000 scale units INGREDIENTS and AMOUNTS Each ingredient of a mix is entered here The order in which the agg and cement materials are listed defines which material will weigh first Ingredients from different classes i e Agg Cement Water Admix are weighed simul taneously Refer to Section 3 1 for information on Special Ingredient Names When entering a mix always design the mix using one cubic unit yard or meter Saturated Surface Dry SSD weights To fully use the features of the Spectrum do not include moisture compensated weights in the mix Sand moisture and other compensations are performed at batch time Sometimes it may be desirable to substitute one type of material for another without designing a different mix To do so enter that material in the mix with a zero AMOUNT Prior to batching a weight may be entered in place of the zero and the substituted materials weight zeroed out Doing this substitution creates a one time change to this mix for this batch Substitution can also take place for singular ingredients as in the case of Calcium ENTERING THE INGREDIENTS AND THE AMOUNTS The next step involves the entering of ingredient nam
159. nd black connector is on the Probe end the rectangular metal connector is on the Display end Clamp the cable in place so that it is protected from moving equipment or abrasion Leave some slack in the cable at the Moisture Probe so that you can remove the Probe and set it on the floor or walkway Enclose the cable in conduit if it will be subjected to physical abuse or if required by local codes Maximum voltage 15 VDC Plug the black connector into the mating connector attached to the Moisture Probe The connectors are keyed so they will only go together one way Screw the connector ring tight Plug the other end into the Moisture connector at the rear of the Manual Station Do not tighten the two hold down screws at this time If you have the LCH style display the cable doesn t plug into the Manual Station Instead plug it into the Moisture connector on the analog module Page 204 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE VI Manual Station Setup VI Manual Station Setup Set up an unused Manual Station display section as type 5 20 00 full scale and grad size of 01 Refer to the Spectrum III Manual Station Display Operator s Guide if you are unsure of how to do this VII Calibration Calibration The Moisture Probe and related components have been tested and adjusted at the factory to work under normal conditions Some calibration will be necessary though to compensate for your unique sand characteristics Calibra
160. nly on plants that are using the Spectrum s Select Material by Mixer Number feature If the aforementioned feature is enabled this parameter selects which mixer holding hopper or dry lane this particular material will be discharged into ALTERNATE SCALE NUMBER This represents the number for a second scale that may be used in the case of separate cement and flyash scales Using a separate scale allows the Spectrum to simultaneously batch this material with the normal Aggregate and Cement scales ABSOLUTE PREACT Freefall This is the untouched Preact value from the last batch i e the raw value of suspended weight from the last batch Page 87 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS ABSOLUTE PREACT SCALE READING The reading the scale was at when the Absolute Preact above was taken LAST ACTUAL FEED RATE PER SEC During the fast feed cycle material reaches a fairly consistent flow Once this flow is established the Spectrum finds the Feed Rate per Second and stores the value here MATERIAL FEED CONTROL This is known as a bit wise multi purpose parameter and its value is governed by the pop up described below the sum of all parameters highlighted ON Parameter Parameter Meaning 1 Lock Preact Adjustment Does not adjust the Normal Preact after a feed cycle 2 Use Last Feed Rate for Super Jog After Main Feed Uses the Last Actual Feed Rate Sec instead of Feed Rate Sec for Super Jog calculations after main feed 4 Stor
161. ns Refer to Section 7 5 for explanations An explanation of the unique parameters in this screen follows WATER TANK WEIGHED 0 FLOAT 1 If the holding hopper has a weighed water scale enter a value of 0 in this parameter If the holding hopper has a water tank with a float switch to signal when it is empty enter a value of 1 in this parameter Page 168 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP SELECT CONTROL FOR HOLD HOPPER This parameter tells the system when to turn on the Select Output for the holding hopper and is set using an Options Editor See Section 7 15 The Select Output can be used to energize diverters or other plant outputs as required HOLDING HOPPER SELECT CONTROL Select Output ON when Holding Hopper is READY Select Output ON when Holding Hopper is Empty Select Output ON when Holding Hopper is Requested Select Output ON when Holding Hopper is Selected by Quick Edit Suppress Select Output Switching until Next is Ready Leave Select Output ON Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF Bright ON AGGREGATE SCALE NUMBER CEMENT SCALE NUMBER WEIGHED WATER SCALE NUMBER These parameters set which scale number from the Modify Scale Calibration Screens read the holding hopper s load cell USER SCALE EDITOR The User Scale Editor is used to assign an additional batcher other than AGG CEM or WATER to the Batching Display The scale editor is invoked by pressing the q key in the Adj Mixer and Misc Parameters Screen
162. ntains the learned tilting rates of the mixer To backup this file to floppy diskette select the Robo Tilt Data File selection from the Backup Restore Menu Page 116 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE 5 5 FORMAT COPY MAKE SYSTEM DISKS By selecting this option from the Backup Restore Menu the Select Menu will appear Select Format QNX Disk Copy QNX Disk Make System Disks DOS Format Disk 5 5 1 FORMATTING A QNX DISK A QNX formatted disk is needed for operations such as backing up batch weights making copies of QNX disks and making a Data Disk To format a QNX disk select the first option on the Select Menu that appears by selecting the Format Copy Make System Disks option in the Backup Restore Menu After this is selected the following message appears Select Disk Size 1 44M 3 1 2 720k 3 1 2 800k 3 1 2 Select the proper disk size and the message below appears Place disk to be formatted in drive 1 Press Enter when ready Place the disk into the computer and press the ekey A message similar to the following will appear Formatting 1 44M Disk Press the band keys to stop After a few moments the message below will appear Page 117 SECTION 5 BACKUP AND RESTORE Disk is Formatted Initializing disk Press Enter to Continue Press the e key and the Main Menu will reappear The disk in the computer is now ready to be used for a QNX operation 5 5 2 COPYING QNX DISKS
163. nts and their one yard dry SSD weights appear here after a Mix Name is entered in the Batch Information Section of this screen INGREDIENTS AMT UNIT T GRAVEL 3020 LB y CEMENT 1 423 LB y CEMENT 2 0 LB y WATER 25 0 GL y SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING AEA 0 75 OZ y 0 0 Page 42 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING A change may be made to the mix here however this change will only take effect for the current load If a permanent change to the mix is required it must be changed in Mix Designs refer to Section 3 A will appear next to any ingredient that has been changed in the Auto Batch Setup Screen This sign will also appear on the batch weight printout The units beside the ingredients are optional and are set up in the ingredient table refer to Section 3 2 The target beside each ingredient is a very close proximally of the actual target that the current batch will use The targets reflect moisture water correction slump water trim and water in truck They do not however reflect Air effectiveness Harshness Returned concrete or Flyash Slag substitution The moistures with the automatic probe are only as good as the last batches recorded value If you have the Switchable US Metric option and are batching a mix in units you are not familiar with i e Metric if you always batch U S when editing an ingredient amount pressing the u key will invoke a size convertor so that the weight may be entered in units you are fa
164. of the sand bin in contact with the sand 2 A display on the Manual Station which constantly displays the sand moisture value whether sand is flowing or not 3 A 6 conductor shielded cable which connects the Probe to the Manual Station 4 Unique Alkon software which monitors the moisture and performs the moisture calculations 5 A precalibrator pot assembly used during initial Probe calibration and 6 A Probe mounting sleeve and other miscellaneous components to complete the installation Page 201 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE INSTALLATION Installation of the Moisture Probe consists of the following steps l Determine optimum location for the Probe assembly Il Cut hole in bin wall or gate and attach mounting sleeve Ill Bolt Probe in place IV A Adjust Probe penetration and face angle V Connect Probe to Manual Station via the moisture gauge cable VI Set up Manual Station to display moisture VI Calibrate moisture display to match actual sand moisture VII Enable automatic moisture compensation with the Spectrum program The installation steps are described in detail below You will need the following equipment cutting torch welder small spirit level 9 16 wrench or adjustable wrench scale hot plate and pan Page 202 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE l Probe Location l Probe Location The Moisture Probe must be mounted through the bin wall within the direct flow of sand and a
165. on the far right side of the browse indicating whether it is a U S Mix or a Metric Mix The type of order i e U S or Metric is determined by the mix design ORDERED This is ordered amount in volume cubic yards meters LD SIZE This is the load size to be delivered per load The load size will change to the balance between ordered and delivered should the load size throw the delivered amount higher than the ordered amount LD DATE This is the date the order is to be delivered Page 22 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY LD TIME This is the time the order is to be batched NOTE All times are entered in military time The order will be sorted on the Job Index by this time if Time Based sorting is enabled LD INTVL This is the time interval between batching trucks for this order After the load is batched the order will re sort on the Job Index to the next load time Batch Time Interval Next Batch Time SLUMP This is the desired slump for this order Refer to Section 2 2 1 for how the slump affects a batch FLYASH If using percent substitution of flyash for cement this is the percentage used Refer to Section 3 1 for specifics when using this parameter CALCIUM If using Calcium this is the percentage to use Refer to Section 3 1 for specifics when using this parameter HOT WATER If blending hot and cold water using the Spectrum s capability this is the percentage of the hot water to batch Refer to Section 3 1 for s
166. ot enabled one total will be displayed for the active system of measure i e Total Yards or Total Meters not both Page 104 SECTION 4 INVENTORY By pressing the key from either screen the usage totals for the day are displayed for Major and Chemical ingredients respectively DAILY USAGE Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Sep 15 9 38 09 LAST CLEARED SEP 14 1995 13 45 49 US 50 00 Y Y M 85 32 Y Metric 27 00 M M Y 65 23 M IN MANUAL REQUIRED BATCHED VARIANCE 0 0 0 LB 0 0 0 LB 0 0 0 LB 0 INGREDIENT 0 0 LB 0 0 0 LB 0 B 1 4 2 6 3 5 5 9 Oooooooo PORTLAND 0 0 SLAG 10 11 FLYASH 12 COLD 17 HOT 18 ooooo F1 Help F2 Revise Usage F7 Print amp Clear PgDn Up Next Page All usage columns reflect what has been run out of the plant since last being cleared The top of the table shows the date the table was last cleared The Manual column shows all materials that have manually run through the plant provided your system is configured with the Manual Material Monitor feature Required shows the accumulated amount of material called for by the Spectrum during batching Batched shows how much was actually put into the scale via the Spectrum Variance is the difference between the Required and Batched showing how much more or less was batched The Tol shows the variance as a percentage Page 105 SECTION 4 INVENTORY To clear the daily usage of material simply press
167. ows the bin numbers of each aggregate The second column is the name of the aggregate These columns cannot be edited in the Moisture Editor If a change is required for these it must be made in the Ingredient Table refer to Section 3 The third column is the status of the automatic probes with a Y stating that the probe is on line and an N for a probe that is turned off line The last column shows the current moisture entered for each material The percentages can be changed by placing the cursor on the value to be changed typing the desired change and pressing the ekey After the desired changes are made the key saves the changes and leaves the Moisture Editor F12 END OF DAY TRUCK WASHOUT The End Of Day Truck Washout Screen appears as shown below TRUCK WASHOUT Quantity Requested 250 See DISCHARGE PARAMETERS to change quantity Press F12 to start Esc to abort Page 34 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY This screen allows water to be automatically weighed or metered for truck washout The amount of water to be weighed or metered is set in the second page of the Discharge Parameters Screen refer to Section 7 5 This value can be changed in this screen After the Truck Washout Screen appears pressing F12 will start the water If the key is pressed the water will stop running and the Truck Washout Screen will disappear This will not affect or print a batch report Insert NEW JOB Enters a blank Order Entry screen
168. pecifics when using this parameter Page 23 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY BATCH CODE browsable field This allows for printing tickets without batching or batching without printing batch weights The default value is set in the Order Entry Defaults as described in Section 1 4 N Don t Batch Don t Print Target Batch Weights P Don t Batch Print Target Batch Weights B Batch Don t Print Any Batch Weights Y Batch And Print Batch Weights Up Dn Esc Enter USER DEFINED 1 5 These can be used for special fields not located elsewhere on this screen The labels for these fields are set in the Order Entry Setup Refer to Section 1 7 NUM LOADS This shows how many loads have been delivered for this order THIS IS NOT HOW MANY LOADS TO DELIVER For a new order a value of zero in this field is correct EXTRA PRODUCTS AND PRICING Now the top half of the order screen is filled out The rest of the screen shows the products to be delivered and the associated charges for these products These products are divided into six rows The first row will show the concrete The next five are used to enter the extra products as entered in the Product file described in Section 2 3 The first column in this matrix is the product code This column has a browse feature using the mkey The second and third columns are the ordered and delivered amounts of each product The next column is the product description The fifth column is the quantity to deliver on ea
169. pectrum will use when averaging If an average goes beyond the window the last valid average is used instead When the system feeds a material that is to be moisture compensated a gracious target is calculated first The target used is one that reflects worst case moisture i e Maximum Moisture The probe then averages data during the feed cycle and recalculates a new target based on the real moisture average The Maximum Moisture Change per Batch can be used to lessen this jump in targeting by setting it to a fairly low value i e 2 Now when the first target is calculated the value used will be the last valid average plus 296 This will decrease the Page 86 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS jump in targets when the new average has been found mSec TO START READING PROBE The probe averages data during the entire feed cycle of a material that is to be moisture compensated A minimum of 2 seconds worth of valid data must be present to generate a new average When the gate first opens sta e material may sit and the bottom of the bin By putting a value in this parameter i e 500 mSec the stale material may be disregarded This will also allow for a good flow to be established before averaging begins DON T ADJUST FOR NEGATIVE MOISTURE 1 tells the system not to adjust the target of this material if negative moisture is read O says to adjust the target thereby subtracting material from the target MATERIAL MIXER NUMBER Used o
170. r and has a slump of zero or has not been specified in the transfer Once in the Mix Screen you may override the default by specifying a different slump Enter the desired slump value multiplied by 10 for this field For example use 30 for a 3 0 inch slump or 1270 for 127mm slump JOG SETTLE TIME mSec This value represents how long the Spectrum waits between jogs A typical value is 1000 mSec one second SCALE SETTLE TIME mSec This value represents how long the Spectrum waits after the feed of a material for the scale to settle A typical value is 2000 mSec two seconds ADMIX SETTLE TIME mSec This value represents the time between shutting off the admix feeds and checking for tolerances A typical value is 2000 mSec two seconds DEFAULT SLAG DEFAULT FLY From these values the specified percentage of Cement on each batch is substituted with an equal percentage of either slag or flyash These values can also be changed in Order Entry or Batch Setup When not required this value should be set back to zero Page 130 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP DEFAULT HOT WATER If hot and cold water are to be mixed by percentage enter the percentage here The Spectrum will dispense the percentage of hot water first and the balance using cold water If the percentage of hot water is altered on the Batch Setup Screen the change will be remembered for future loads This value does not appear on the Order Entry Screen DEFAULT H
171. r is to use the Remove One Job selection from the Job Index Menu An automatic removal of an order after batching can be enabled by setting the Del Tckt After Batch flag in the System Parameters screen Refer to Section 7 4 This is usually done when another system is dispatching tickets to the Spectrum software using the Link 20 Communications Package FUNCTION KEYS A description of the function keys available follows Esc LEAVE PRESENT WINDOW By pressing the key the current screen will be exited F1 HELP Brings up the Help Screen F2 BATCH SETUP Allows access to the Auto Batch Setup screen without an order being entered F3 MENU SELECT Menu Select will bring up the Job Index Menu shown below Select Load Job New Job Modify Copy Job Batch Setup Clear Jobs By Date Remove One Job Graphic A short description and related function key of the Job Index Menu selections follows You can bypass the menu by selecting the listed Function Key described on next page Page 32 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY F4 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 LOAD JOB F6 Loads the selected job into the Auto Batch Setup screen NEW JOB Insert Brings up blank Order Entry screen to enter a new order MODIFY COPY JOB F8 Pulls selected job into Order Entry screen BATCH SETUP F2 Brings up a blank Auto Batch Setup screen which allows for batching without an order CLEAR JOBS BY DATE NO
172. re used on systems with the Robo Tilt option and control the way in which the controller works ERIE MIXER TILT CUSHION TIME This is the time to energize the tilt cushion valve of an Erie Strayer Mixer after receiving a tilt limit signal ENABLE BATCHER START FROM I O This uses I O locations to allow the start of individual batchers These I O locations are found on the third page of the J Box I O Assignments and are labeled OK Start Agg OK Start Cem OK Start Wat OK Start Adx To enable these to work add together the values as specified below and enter the sum 1 Aggregate 2 Cement 4 Water 5 Admix Consult the Alkon Service Department at 1 614 792 0677 before changing this value Page 165 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP AVAILABLE SECOND PROCESS CONTROLS This parameter tells the system that there is a mixer or mixers holding hopper or both This parameter is set using an Options Editor The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the ukey See Section 7 15 AVAILABLE 2nd PROCESS CONTROLLERS 2nd Process Controllers Available Mixer 1 Available Mixer 2 Available Automatic Discharging Holding Hopper Available Use First Available 2nd Process Controller Only used in enable Esc Exit Insert Start Editing Dim OFF Bright ON SELECT CONTROL FOR MIXER 1 This parameter tells the system when to turn on the Select Output for the mixer The Select Output can be used to energize diverters or
173. removed or is no longer to be displayed the information for that display may be blanked by entering a 000 graduation size Press and release the Set button when all displays are configured This will store the setup data in memory To resume normal operation make sure the Set button is released and turn the control power toggle switch OFF and back ON again NOTE Itis important to remember to press the Select button after the last decimal point is chosen If this is not done and the Set button is released the decimal point choices for that display will advance very rapidly If this happens press Set again choose the correct decimal point press Select and then press Set Page 215 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL STATION IMPORTANT Once you have finished setting and checking the display configuration move the J1 jumper so that it s in the L position Next test the setup locking by pressing the Set button again This time the displays should not blank but continue displaying scale weights Press and release the Set button Following these steps will prevent accidental changes to the display configuration The following procedure shows how to make labels for the Spectrum Manual Station Verify that all the necessary diskettes are available 20438 Boot disk 20499 PANEL disk INSTALLING THE PANEL PROGRAMTHE PANEL PROGRAM 1 From the Main Menu hold down ba and press i This will display a menu
174. ro 2000 mSec Time to Purge Incl Conv 7000 mSec Water Holdback 96 20 96 Minimum Water Holdback 20 Gal Time to Close Gates at End 2000 mSec Page 70 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING SETTINGS FOR CHOKE FEEDING Typical settings are shown below to choke feed the materials from the weigh batchers These parameters are found in the Discharge Parameters Screens These may need to be re defined to suit your particular plant and are given only for reference PARAMETER SETTING UNITS Agg Slow Flow Rate 100 Lbs sec Agg Normal Flow Rate 150 Lbs sec Agg Fast Flow Rate 175 Lbs sec Agg Very Fast Flow Rate 200 Lbs sec Cem Slow Flow Rate 20 Lbs sec Cem Normal Flow Rate 30 Lbs sec Cem Fast Flow Rate 40 Lbs sec Cem Very Fast Flow Rate 50 Lbs sec Agg Variation in Flow 20 Cem Variation in Flow 20 Time to Switch Open and Close 100 mSec Agg Full Open Pulse at Strt 1500 mSec Agg Normal Close Pulse At Strt 250 mSec Agg Pulse if Flow Low 50 mSec A99 Close Pulse if Flow High 25 mSec Pulse Number for Agg Vib 25 Normal Cement Open Pulse Strt 700 mSec Cmnt Close Pulse if Flow High 50 mSec Cmnt Open Pulse if Flow Low 30 mSec Critical Cement Flow 0 Lbs sec Cmnt Full Open P if Flow Crit 3000 mSec Cmnt Close P if Flow Critical 100 mSec Hold Agg Gates Open 0 Hold Cem Gates Open 0 Agg Full Open Weight 500 Lbs Cement Full Open Weight 100 Lbs Agg Vib on Weight 500 Lbs eight to Turn on Cem Vibrator 100 PARAMETER SETTINGS FOR INCHING CONTROL Inching con
175. rt Name Printer Port 1 1 SERIAL PRINTER 1 mdm SERIAL PRINTER 2 term1 SERIAL PRINTER 3 term2 Bright SELECTED Dim OFF Esc to Save amp Exit Insert to Select F4 Reprint Last Ticket From the Printer Port Selector Screen the port the Spectrum uses to print ticket can be changed This is useful if the Spectrum is being used to print ticket at different locations Also from this screen the last ticket can be reprinted by pressing the okey This is helpful if the printer jammed or ran out of paper while printing the ticket The Printer Port Selector is also accessed by pressing the a and P keys simultaneously F7 Clear Screen r will clear the current order off the screen and bring up a blank Order Entry screen This will delete any information that was not saved to the current order F8 Copy This Job The s key will copy all the information from the current order to a new order This is useful for jobs which repeat except for minor changes F10 Exploded Pricing Display This field will pull up the Exploded Pricing Display screen as shown on the following page Page 26 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY EXPLODED PRICING DISPLAY Disc 0 00000 GST 0 05000 PST 0 01000 Code Qty Price Exten Disc GST PST Total 3500 PSI 1 00 37 50 37 50 0 00 1 88 0 38 39 76 Taxable Totals 37 50 37 50 Press Esc to Exit 37 50 0 00 1 88 0 38 39 76 This will show all the taxes discounts and prices
176. rucks To enter a truck into the table type the number to the left of the next available slot and press e In the table above this would be a 50 This will bring up the Truck Entry Screen as shown on the next page Page 175 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP TRUCK ENTRY ENTRY Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Feb 21 14 17 00 TRUCK 9 127 CAPACITY 12 00 Yards 3 RATE DRIVE TRUCK X Enter the truck number in this field The and keys may be used to scroll through all the truck entry slots CAPACITY This represents the amount in Yards or Meters that this particular truck can haul as a maximum This is used in the Pre Batch Screen when a batch is run for a particular truck If the load size exceeds that of this capacity the operator is warned RATE The rate field is a numeric field for the charging rate of the truck for dry batch plants The number entered corresponds to the discharge rates in the Discharge Parameters Screen as specified below 1 SLOW 2 NORMAL 3 FAST 4 VERY FAST DRIVER The driver entered should be the normal driver of the truck The name entered here will be pulled into the Batch Setup Screen when this truck number is entered It may be changed at batch time if a different driver is using this truck Page 176 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 78 I O ASSIGNMENTS This table is used to identify the input and output designations for various plant devices Each device is
177. s Because of this it only stands to reason that on smaller loads there exists a greater void air between the gate and the scale Conversely on larger loads a smaller void exists By determining the smallest scale weight used by your plant and the void at that weight and the largest weight used and void at that weight all loads in between can be extrapolated to determine a more exact preact value Feed Rate When a bin is full material flows from the gate reaching a velocity Lbs Sec or Kg Sec and remains fairly constant As the bin is emptied the downward force on the material decreases causing the Feed Rate to vary If we know the flow rate we can determine how much material we should get for a specified amount of time Using this concept we can correct for varying feed rates by calculating the amount we are supposed to get and comparing to what we actually got If we do this calculation once a second we can determine better cutoff accuracy SMALL WEIGHT SCALE VALUE This represents the smallest weight your plant uses and will self adjust as smaller loads are used The Spectrum uses this value as the low setpoint when determining cutoffs that deal with the mounding portion of the target weight SMALL WEIGHT CUTOFF This represents the suspended weight after the gates close when the scale is sitting at the Small Weight Scale Value The Spectrum uses this value in conjunction with the above parameter to act as a starting point for th
178. s materials when making the calculation See example below Example Basis Feed Discharge Type 0 or other even number The mix design contains the following quantities Cement 420 Lbs Flyash 60 Lbs Air 0 94 Oz The load size is 8 00 yards The total weight of cementitious type materials in this mix is 480 pounds The admix target would be Total cementitious weight 480 Lbs 100 Lbs 4 80 Admix target 4 80 0 94 Oz 4 51 ounces per yard 4 51 ounces per yard x 8 00 yards 36 00 ounces for this load Page 92 SECTION 3 DESIGNS The second method assumes that the mix design contains the amount of admix desired per yard The Spectrum simply multiplies the amount in the mix by the batch size to get the target MIX Example Basis Feed Discharge Type 1 or other odd number The mix design contains the following quantities Cement 420 Lbs Flyash 60 Lbs Air 4 25 Ozs The mix design calls for 4 25 ounces of air entrainment per yard The load size is 8 yards so the required amount is 4 25 ounces per yard x 8 00 yards 34 00 ounces for this load WATER CORRECTION FACTOR The Water Correction Factor is the amount of water subtracted for this material from the total water target during a batch Used for high volume admixes with large water contents and should be entered in ounces or milliliters This value represents how many parts of the Small To Large value exist for this admix as determined by th
179. s added for systems with a shrink mixer CHARGE EARLY 1 DISCH DELAY If Charge Early is selected in Mixer Options this is the time to wait after the mixer has left the tilt limit before initiating the discharge of the scales MIXER SIZE x 10 The value entered here is the cubic volume capacity of the mixer x 10 MIXER SMALL LOAD SIZE x 10 SM LOAD MIXER DISCH TIME S MIXER MEDIUM LOAD SIZE x 10 MD LOAD MIXER DISCH TIME S These parameters allow for different load sizes to have different mixer discharge times from the default Any load size equal to or smaller than the Mixer Small Load Size will use the Sm Load Mixer Disch Time A load ranging between the small load size and the medium load size will use the Md Load Mixer Disch Time Both sizes are entered as cubic yardage meter x 10 and the times are entered in seconds ROBO TILT CONTROLLER BD ADDRESS On systems equipped with Alkon s automatic learned tilting of the mixer Robo Tilt this parameter shows where to address the CRAB Analog Board A 1 B 2 C 3 etc Page 164 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP ENABLE PLC TASK 0 Disables the PLC task 1 Enables the PLC task 2 Enables Skip Control DO NOT USE 4 Enables Mixer Probe Troubleshooting DO NOT USE Do not change this parameter without consulting the Alkon Service Department at 1 614 792 0677 ROBO TILT MIXER RETURN SETTING ROBO TILT RATE MODIFIER ROBO TILT TABLE INIT TILT RATE These parameters a
180. s close as possible to the feed gate opening If you locate the Probe in an area of stagnant material then the moisture reading will not be representative of the moisture in the sand being batched For optimum Probe accuracy drain the bin of all material to determine the flow of the material The worn or shiny area is where the Probe needs to be mounted For best results mount the Probe with the contour or slope of the bin wall Refer to Detail 3 This along with the 30 degree face angle creates a kind of complex angle when you are finished The Probe must always be mounted perpendicular to the gate opening The Probe can also be located on the side of the gate box itself This requires at least 31 2 inches of vertical clearance between the outer lip of the feed gate full open position and the gate mounting flange If gate mounting is not possible install the Probe on the bin wall It should be positioned as low as possible in the bin and centered over the feed gate Il Sleeve Mounting Sleeve Mounting To mount the Probe on the gate box you will have to cut a 372 inch diameter hole and weld the mounting sleeve in place This can usually be accomplished without draining sand from the bin Use the sleeve to trace a circle around it with a scribe or soapstone and use that circle as a cutting guide The process is a bit more tricky for bin wall mounting Since the Probe must be installed horizontally and since the bin wall is on an
181. s for discharge Page 65 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING CHEMICAL FLOW MONITORING During the measurement of each chemical the flow of each chemical is monitored to determine a no flow condition The feed solenoids are energized for the chemical to start metering and once the Time to Start Flowhas elapsed the computer will check to see if the flow has been established If it has not an alarm message sounds if Minimum Flow is non zero and turns off the feed output Setting the Minimum Flowto a value of zero is not recommended on an admixture Should the chemical metering device become defective and not provide contact closures the bottle could fill to the high level probes since the computer will keep the valve open trying to establish the required target CHEMICAL VOLUME MEASUREMENT Each chemical dispensing system must be equipped with a volume measure ment meter capable of adequately measuring the chemical to the smallest unit of volume without exceeding a contact closure pulse rate of 15 per second During the chemical measurement process the computer converts each pulse to the specified volume and adds this reading to the previous readings until it reaches the final target value minus the normal preact amount The preact value in a chemical refers to meter coast PHYSICAL LOCATION OF FLOW METERS Physical placement of the flow meters is crucial It should be placed as close as possible to the valve which controls the chemical to minim
182. s reprogrammed by the user The display is only operational when the control power toggle switch on the junction box is turned on After power is applied the display will remain blank for approximately 15 seconds and then display all dashes It will remain in this condition until the operator presses the Display Test button which serves as a visual check to insure all segments are working When the Test button is released scale and counter information will be displayed During normal operation of the display non setup mode pressing the Grad button will display the scale s or counter s total capacity When the button is released the graduation size is displayed for approximately 15 seconds A daily check before batching is recommended to insure all data is correct There are two jumper options on the printed circuit board located behind the LED displays The first labeled J1 allows the user to configure the displays if the jumper is from the middle pin to the pin labeled UL unlocked When the jumper is from the middle pin to the pin labeled L locked no change in configuration will be allowed The second jumper option J2 sets the total number of displays in the Manual Station This jumper must correspond with the actual number of displays six or ten in the Manual Station whether all are used or not To enter or change the setup information for the display move the jumper J1 to UL depress the Manual Power and
183. set daily or allowed to roll over after 999 999 METERED WATER 0 NO 1 YES 2 HT Set one of the following values for either weighed or metered water plants Weighed 0 Metered 1 Metered with Holding Tank 2 With metered water and a holding tank value of 2 the Spectrum will feed initial water into the holding tank at the start of a batch After water is okayed to discharge the holding tank will discharge until empty and then close At this point the wash down water will immediately feed into the holding tank but will not discharge until all scales have been emptied MANUAL BATCH PRINT ENABLE This parameter governs whether or not the Spectrum will force a ticket to print after a manual operation Items which are turned on will force the ticket before another batch may be started The Manual Material Monitor Options Editor will appear when placing the cursor on this parameter The Options Editor can be turned on and off by pressing the u key See Section 7 15 MANUAL MATERIAL MONITOR OPTIONS EDITOR Disable Manual Print Ticket Print Manual Ticket For Aggregates Print Manual Ticket For Cements Print Manual Ticket For Water Print Manual Ticket For Admix 1 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 2 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 3 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 4 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 5 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 6 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 7 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 8 Print Manual Ticket For Admix 9 Print Manual Ticket
184. sture probe s to be turned on and off line The first column shows the bin numbers of each aggregate The second column is the name of the aggregate These columns cannot be edited in the Moisture Editor If a change is required for these it must be made in the Ingredient Table refer to Section 3 The third column is the status of the automatic probe s with stating that the probe is on line and an N for a probe that is turned off line The last column shows the current moisture entered for each material The percentages can be changed by placing the cursor on the value to be changed typing the desired change and pressing the ekey After the desired changes are made the key saves the changes and leaves the Moisture Editor Page 49 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING F12 END OF DAY TRUCK WASHOUT By pressing the F12 key the End Of Day Truck Washout Screen appears as shown below TRUCK WASHOUT Quantity Requested 200 New Target 200 See DISCHARGE PARAMETERS for default target Press F12 to Start Washout Esc to Abort This screen allows water to be automatically weighed or metered for truck washout The amount of water to be weighed or metered is set in the second page of the Discharge Parameters Screen refer to Section 7 5 This value can be changed in this screen After the Truck Washout Screen appears pressing the F12 key will start to run the water If the key is pressed the water will stop running and
185. system A field is an area in which you can add or change information Most of these fields can be changed To change a field the cursor must first be placed on that field The cursor is represented as a blue box that highlights the field where it is currently located The arrow keys are used to move the cursor Some screens have a quick cursor movement feature This feature utilizes the g d and keys to jump the cursor to different sections of the screen Once a change to a field is made e must be pressed for the system to accept the change INTRODUCTION USING THE BROWSE FEATURE The browse function is associated with all fields that have square brackets around them when the cursor is placed on them Once the cursor is placed on a field that has the square brackets around it m may be pressed This will pop up a blue box i e browse window showing the allowed entries for this field The cursor will be located on the first selection of the browse window The w y g and d keys are used to move the cursor within the browse window The browse window is a scrolling window that will display a limited amount of data at one time A short cut on using this browse function is available Before pressing m to pop up the browse window type in the first few numbers letters of the code into the field Then press m and the browse window will use the typed in values as a starting point versus starting at the top of the list of codes SECTION
186. t OFF Y N To disable the simulator type a Y and e When the word SIMULATOR disappears from the bottom left corner of the Main Menu Screen the Spectrum is in the normal operating mode Page 180 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 13 REMAP DEMANDS TO FORMULAS This table is useful only on those systems that are using demands mostly products plants To access this table select Remap Demands to Formulas from the System Setup Menu EMAND SI Alkon Corporation Version 4 XX Reb 21 14 21 57 FORMULA MACH PRODUCT NAME 12 The Formula is the number of the mix in the Mix Design Browse that will be batched given the corresponding demand The Mach and Product Name are used to identify the plant s production This table is useful for multiple mixes that run on the same demand input F BIN FILLING SYSTEM PARMS These screens are for the Bin Filling software refer to the Bin Filling Manual for details G INTER PLANT COMMUNICATIONS Future Use Page 181 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 14 SPECTRUM QUICK EDIT The Quick Edit Screen allows quick changes between two sets of specific parameters and is accessed by pressings in the Auto Batch Setup Screen The following appears AUTO BATCH SETUP READY Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx Feb 25 1333623 CUSTOMER RIGHT BATCH NUMBER 77 FORMULA NAME LOAD SIZE ETURN AMOUNT TRK NUM RATE ETURN FORMULA HO DRIVER ID SPECTRUM QUICK EDIT h u
187. tage of the batch The next two lines show the options available using the corresponding function keys The right side of this section gives information about the batch This information includes the mix design being batched the amount batched for this load and the number of batches the load will require The slump of the current batch is shown at the top right side of the screen 25 BATCHING FUNCTIONS The functions available to the operator during a batch include holding the batch aborting the batch starting the discharge and trimming an ingredient in the batch Most of these functions are performed with the function keys on the keyboard 2 5 1 HOLDING A BATCHER Any batcher can be held during the weighing or discharging stage by the use of some special keys on the keyboard By pressing one of these keys once the batcher is put in a hold stage By pressing the key again the batcher is taken out of hold These keys are described in the table below BATCHER KEY USED TO PUT IN HOLD AGG h CEM WAT or m ADMIX Page 56 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 5 2 HOLDING THE ENTIRE BATCH DURING WEIGH UP Pressing the t key will terminate the weighing and liquid metering and give all the appropriate out of tolerance messages Each out of tolerance message must be accepted by pressing the nkey After these tolerance errors have been accepted the following message will appear WEIGH COMPLETE I DISCHARGE n CONTINUE o MANUAL TRIM Pressin
188. tart Editing Dim OFF Bright ON Page 134 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP HOLD IF BATCHER OUT OF TOLERANCE If this value is set to 1 and an out of tolerance condition occurs during weigh up the Spectrum will stop and allow the operator to override before continuing A value of 0 forces the Spectrum to continue automatically when an out of tolerance condition occurs Alkon strongly recommends this value always be set to 1 If you set it to 0 you assume responsibility for any out of tolerance batch weights regardless of their cause HOLD IF SCALE UNDER ZERO If this value is set to 1 the Spectrum will not start an automatic batch if any weighed scale is under zero and a message will display The operator must override the error to continue 1 enable 0 disable default WAIT FOR END TARES If this value is set to 1 the Spectrum will not finish the ticket until all scales are empty and the tares are recorded 1 enable default 0 disable OF TOTAL WATER IN FIRST BATCH Plants that multi batch use this parameter to add extra water into the truck on the first batch For example using a value of 80 puts 80 less holdback of the water in the front of the truck on the first batch The remaining 2096 will be added in the subsequent batches If the water is to be split evenly between all batches enter A typical value is 80 On systems with a Moisture Probe it may be necessary to make this number
189. tem and the remainder for the DOS operating system d Now enter the End Cylinder number xxx 974 for our example and press e The computer will fill in the Number of Cylinders and Number of Blocks columns e Press b to make the qnx partition the one that will Boot on power up This will make an appear in the Boot column in row one f Press lt n gt to go to the next partition The pointer gt at the left of the screen should move down to row two g Press lt c gt to change the second partition type The cursor will move to the Type column on line two and will blank this column h Press 1 and then e This will select the OS Name dos and the cursor will move to the Start Cylinder column li Press 0 and then e The cursor will move to the End Cylinder column Page 196 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION Now enter lt 244 gt press Press lt s gt to save this partition setup and then press lt q gt to quit or exit this screen NOTE When you press s if a message appears asking if you want to write the qnx boot loader to the hard disk answer y for yes Then press q to quit The following message will appear If you created or changed a partition DO NOT forget to remount the disk specifying the pa option Failure to do so may overwrite other areas of the disk Hard Disk Has Been Remounted A window wil
190. the Select Materials by Mixer Number feature only for plants that have two Second Process Controllers i e mixers holding hoppers or wet and dry sides with reserved batchers for each TIME BETWEEN MINIMUM FLOW CHECK mSec This value determines how often the Spectrum checks for material flow during batching A typical value is 2000 milliseconds two seconds INDEX DISPLAY DEF COLOR 1 15 This parameter sets the Job Index display s color for the first three columns Enter the number of the desired color from the table below COLOR NUMBER CYAN Lt blue RED MAGENTA purple BROWN WHITE GRAY LT BLUE LT GREEN LT CYAN PINK LT MAGENTA YELLOW HI WHITE Page 138 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP JOG SENSITIVITY AGG JOG SENSITIVITY CEM JOG SENSITIVITY WAT This factor controls the increments by which the jog times are adjusted Higher values make the Spectrum more responsive to fluctuations in the jog weight however too large a value will cause the jog size to be erratic A typical value is 5 AGG CEM COMPLETE PULSE mSec The length of the discharge start and end pulses is controlled by this value ranging from 0 20 000 0 20 Sec A typical value is 1000 mSec 1 second FLOW SMOOTHING FACTOR X 100 The Spectrum constantly averages the flow rate from the scale during the discharge cycle and achieves this by adding a percentage of the previous flow with a percentage of the current flow This
191. the Truck Washout Screen will disappear This will not affect or print a batch report Move Cursor to Mix Code Name Field Move Cursor to First Ingredient Amount Field Move Cursor to Last Ingredient Amount Field Several fields on the Auto Batch Setup Screen have keystrokes for quick cursor movement associated with them These keystrokes allow the cursor to jump to that location Page 50 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING PgDn This moves the cursor into the Batch Code Field The Batch Code allows for printing tickets without batching or batching without printing batch weights The m browse key will show the choices for this field The default value is set in the Order Entry Defaults as described in Section 1 4 N Don t Batch Don t Print Target Batch Weights P Don t Batch Print Target Batch Weights B Batch Don t Print Any Batch Weights Y Batch And Print Batch Weights Up Dn Esc Enter Alt P PRINTER PORT SELECTOR REPRINT LAST TICKET This pulls up the Printer Port Selector Screen as shown below PRINTER PORT SELECTOR Port Number Printer Location Description Port Name Printer Port 1 lpt SERIAL PRINTER 2 term1 0 8 SERIAL PRINTER 1 mdm 9 10 SERIAL PRINTER 3 term2 Bright SELECTED Dim OFF Esc to Save amp Exit Insert to Select F4 Reprint Last Ticket From the Printer Port Selector Screen the port the Spectrum uses to print ticket can be changed This is useful if the Spectrum is
192. this value to 1 prevents the Spectrum operator from making any changes to the order This prevents any pricing changes and also guarantees the load shipped is the correct quantity Normal setting of this value is zero TRUCK WASHDOWN TIME mins This value is added to the batch time printed on the ticket and stored as TRUCK LEFT PLANT in the ticket file PRINTER POLL TIME micro secs This sets the time interval used to poll the printer 250 2000 A number entered below 250 will default to using 1000 This parameter should be set properly for the processor and printer being used A proper value for a DFI 386 33 computer and an Okidata 320 printer is 850 a 486 50 computer and an Okidata 320 printer is 600 and a P5 90 with a Okidata 320 printer is 700 Page 149 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP 7 5 DISCHARGE PARAMETERS DISCHARGE PARAMETERS Alkon Corporation Version 4 4xx 13 37 48 Agg Slow Flow Rate 65 Pulse Number for Agg Vibrator Agg Normal Flow Rate Time Agg Gate Open After Zero Agg Fast Flow Rate Normal Cement Open Pulse Strt Agg Very Fast Flow Rate Cmnt Close Pulse if Flow High Cem Slow Flow Rate Cmnt Open Pulse if Flow Low Cem Normal Flow Rate Critical Cement Flow Cem Fast Flow Rate Cmnt Full Open P if Flow Crit Cem Very Fast Flow Rate Cmnt Close P if Flow Critical Agg Variation in Flow 96 Weight to Turn On Cem Vibrator Cem Variation in Flow 96 Cem Full Open Weight Time to Switch Open amp Close Time Cement Open After 0 Tol
193. ting the Moisture Display is a matter of making the readout match the actual moisture content of the sand This is done by adjusting the 10 turn potentiometer on the Moisture PC board located inside the Manual Station The potentiometer pot is marked ZERO and can be reached on the outside of the Manual Station where the cable plugs into it a The ZERO pot adjusts all moisture readings up or down by the same amount Turning the adjustment screw CLOCKWISE DECREASES the reading counterclockwise increases it b The SPAN pot requires no adjustment It has been preset at the factory The moisture Precalibrator assembly which plugs into the Manual Station or Analog Module allows you to simulate any desired moisture reading This is an impor tant part of the following calibration procedure and may be useful for simulating or testing the moisture system at a later date Plug the Precalibrator cable into the Moisture board only It will not work if plugged into a load cell input connector Calibration Procedure 1 Open the hinged lid of the Manual Station On LCH systems open or Page 205 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE remove the cover of the Analog Module Turn on power to the display if it s not already on Make sure the display has been ON and the Probe connected for at least ten minutes before proceeding past Step 4 2 Turn the Moisture External Zero adjustment clockwise four complete turns or until it clicks Turn the
194. tion in a very clear manner You should have no troubles This will take approximately 15 20 minutes If you were prompted at the end of the install to insert the MS DOS diskettes and have installed DOS put the Boot disk back in the drive and reboot the computer by turning it off and then back on Follow the instructions on the screen Page 187 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION NEW SOFTWARE INSTALL PROCEDURE For Versions 4 37 and greater Spectrum Update Preparatory Actions A You will need the following 1 QNX B Boot Disk 2 2 Data D disk 2 3 Fbackup Disks 1 amp 2 B Put B Boot disk in drive and turn the computer on Il The Update A When you see a blue screen that says Please Enter Time and Date or Please put Data disk in drive take the Boot disk out and put the NEW Data disk in the drive Press e when you have done this B The software will guide you through the update in a very clear manner You should have no troubles This will take approx 10 15 minutes depending on your pc Page 188 SECTION 8 SOFTWARE INSTALLATION SPECTRUM SOFTWARE INSTALLATION PROCEDURE VERSION 4 33C THROUGH 4 364 33C THROUGH 4 36 INDEX PREPARING FOR INSTALLATION 2 2 8 3 INSTALLATION OF SOFTWARE ON HARD DISK 8 5 UPDATE PROCEDURE duet 8 13 Page 189 SECTION 8 SOFTWAR
195. trol provides some distinct advantages by allowing trucks to be Classified according to their ability to be loaded on the Truck Discharge Schedule From the batch setup information the computer identifies the truck being loaded and determines from the truck discharge schedule the correct flow rates to use Page 71 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING THEORY OF INCHING CONTROL Initially the computer energizes the discharge gate open for the Open Pulse at Start time to the full open position to establish initial flow After the Time to Switch Open amp Close has timed out it will energize the gate close for the Close Pulse at Start time to close the gate to approximately the position for a Slow Flow Rate The time determined by the Time Between Flow Calc s controls how often the computer will recalculate the flow using the Flow Smoothing Factor which provides averaging of the flow by factoring a portion of the previous calculation with the present reading The computer uses the calculated flow rate to determine if the flow is within the allowable Variation in Flow percentage Each time the computer sees a flow value outside the boundaries of the variation in flow allowance the computer tallies these readings by adding one count when the flow is above the limit and subtracting one count when the flow is below the limit At the completion of the Time to Issue Agg Cem Wat Close or Open Pulse in Discharge Parameters the computer will determine if there is
196. um Solution Concentration Calcium Solution Weight and Air Effectiveness may be changed in the Plant Configuration Screen To obtain these values for your application see your admix company Sample Calculations WATER BATCH WEIGHT 216 Lbs CALCIUM SOLUTION CONCENTRATION 35 DOSAGE RATE 2 TOTAL CEMENTITIOUS WEIGHT 400 Lbs CALCIUM SOLUTION WEIGHT 10 8 Lbs Gallon WEIGHT DOSAGE X CEMENTITIOUS WT SOLUTION CONCENTRATION 2 X 400 Lbs 22 85 Lbs 35 WT OF WATER IN SOLN 100 35 x 22 85 Lbs 14 85 Lbs 100 WATER REDUCTION 216 Lbs 14 85 Lbs 201 15 Lbs Page 98 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS ON METERED WATER PLANTS Sample Calculation WATER VOLUME FOR BATCH 27 Gallons CALCIUM SOLUTION CONCENTRATION 35 DOSAGE RATE 2 TOTAL CEMENTITIOUS WEIGHT 400 Lbs CALCIUM SOLUTION WEIGHT 11 3 Lbs Gallon WEIGHT SOLUTION CONCENTRATION 2 X 400Lbs 22 85 Lbs 35 VOLUME DOSAGE X CEMENTITIOUS WT X 1 SOLUTION CONCENTRATION CALC SOLN WT 2 X 400 X _1 2 0 GALS 35 11 3 WATER IN SOLUTION 100 35 X WEIGHT 100 100 35 X 22 85 Lbs 14 8 100 VOL OF WATER IN SOLN WT OF WATER IN SOLN WT OF WATER PER VOL 14 8 1 77 Gallons 8 345 ADJUSTED WATER TARGET WAT VOL FOR BATCH WAT IN SOLN 27 GALS 1 77 GALS 25 20 GALS Page 99 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS HOW CALCIUM IS CALCULATED Example CALCIUM CONCENTRATION 35 DOSAGE RATE 2 BATCH SIZE 4YARDS TOTAL CEMENTITIOUS WEIGHT YARD 4
197. usting but can be locked with the Material Feed Control parameter See below SMALL WEIGHT Lbs Kg etc When making a small load the Normal Preact value described above may not shut the gate early enough due to erraticness of the plant causing material to overweigh This normally happens in a range of 1 4 to 1 3 scale capacity depending on the size of the feed gates Any time a load is made the Spectrum checks to see if the weight of THIS material in THIS batch is less than the Small Weight value If so the Spectrum uses Super Jogs explained next to feed the material to target Page 81 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS FAST FEED CUTOFF Lbs etc This parameter is used only if two aggregate bins share the EXACT same INGREDIENT NAME with an independent bin number The Spectrum will automatically open both feed gates simultaneously during weigh up to decrease the weigh up time for that material When getting close to the target however it would be better to have only one gate open for better cutoff accuracy This parameter will shut one gate down at the Fast Feed Cutoff and finish up with the other bin This parameter should be set in the higher bin number SLOW FEED CUTOFF Lbs Kg etc This parameter is used to compensate for erratic scale behavior It is used in conjunction with the Normal Preact parameter described previously The Spectrum will Fast Feed any target weight if above the Small Weight It does this by opening
198. value determines the percentage of current flow used with the balance from the previous flow Typical values range between 80 and 100 TIME BETWEEN FLOW CALCS mSec During the inching control of the discharge gates this parameter determines how often the Spectrum recalculates the averaged flow rate A typical value is 1000 mSec 1 second TIME TO EXCEED TARGET AGG mSec TIME TO EXCEED TARGET CEM mSec TIME TO EXCEED TARGET WAT mSec On some installations particularly when load cells are installed in the steelyard cables the response of the scale leads i e is ahead of the amount of material that has actually been fed Typically O zero To compensate for this effect the Spectrum can be instructed to close the feed gate some time after the scale reaches the target weight Call the Alkon Service Department 1 614 792 0677 before changing this parameter Page 139 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP CRAB BUS PORT 0 df 1 378 2 278 This parameter selects which parallel port the CRAB BUS will use This parameter should only be changed when testing is needed A warning message will appear when the cursor is placed on this parameter PRINTER OPTIONS This parameter tells the Spectrum which items to print on the ticket The Batch Report Printer Options Editor as shown below appears when placing the cursor on this parameter BATCH REPORT PRINTER OPTIONS Printer Disabled Print Net Weights on Batch Report Print Cumulat
199. weigh up the Spectrum will NOT automatically discharge the load and the operator will have to authorize discharge Cont Run forces the Spectrum to make the same load repeatedly until the operator leaves the Batch Graphic display ARTP automatically forces the Spectrum to leave the Batch Graphic display when discharge starts INITIAL WATER CHARGE Enter the amount of water in terms of percent to be put into the truck at the start of the batch If this value is less than 100 minus holdback percentage the Spectrum begins a three stage water discharge The difference in these values is referred to as the main water charge If a three stage water discharge is desired refer to the Agg to Start Main Water Chg and the Cem to Start Main Water Chg in the Discharge Parameters Section WATER HOLDBACK This value specifies the percentage of water to be held back and then subsequently released after the aggregate and cement are completely discharged A typical value is 25 MINIMUM WATER HOLDBACK On small loads 25 of the water may not be sufficient to wash down therefore this parameter overrides the Water Holdback Percentage and ensures an adequate washdown amount A typical value is 20 to 30 Page 184 SECTION 7 SYSTEM SETUP TIME TO START WATER mSec TIME TO START CEMENT mSec TIME TO START AGG mSec These parameters refer to the time the Spectrum will wait before starting the corresponding discharge cycl
200. wipe out the hard disk type N for New install Page 199 SECTION 8 INSTALLATION For this procedure choose U for update The Spectrum will then ask for the other disks as needed When complete remove the disks and re boot the Spectrum The update is now complete Page 200 SOFTWARE SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE ALKON MODEL 7102 MOISTURE SYSTEM USER S MANUAL Alkon Corporation 5168 Blazer Parkway Dublin Ohio 43017 614 792 0677 REVISED November 11 1993 July 8 1988 September 20 1989 October 12 1992 November 10 1993 August 18 1995 October 17 1997 Copyright c 1988 1997 Alkon Corporation All rights reserved Calibrate Moisture Setting Display Page 200 SECTION 9 THE MOISTURE PROBE OVERVIEW The Alkon Model 7102 Moisture System uses the principle of microwave absorption to measure the moisture content of aggregate materials such as sand Since water absorbs approximately 20 times more microwave energy than the same amount of sand the microwave Probe is sensitive to sand moisture while ignoring the sand itself When the Spectrum Batching System is feeding sand it samples the moisture reading approximately ten times per second It then averages the readings and uses the result to calculate new sand and water target weights The Moisture System consists of the following components 1 A Moisture Probe mounted through the bin wall
201. with a few choices The only choice to be concerned with is Copy to Hard By selecting this option the system will prompt you for a diskette Place the PANEL disk PN 20499 into the drive and press e This will copy the panel program to the hard drive for future use Once this is done proceed to Using the Panel Program for instruction on how to print labels USING THE PANEL PROGRAM THE PANEL PROGRAM 1 From the Main Menu hold down ba and press i This will display a menu with a few choices Page 216 SECTION 10 THE MANUAL 2 STATION The only choice to be concerned with is Panel f By selecting this option the system will bring up the panel screen for user input CHANGING THE PUSHBUTTON NAMESTHE PUSHBUTTON NAMES 1 The screen now shows a rough layout of where the Manual Station labels are located Choose which label needs changing and hit the appropriate Function key Note some locations require the Shift key in addition to the Function key While editing the labels the cursor keys will move the cursor to any word that needs changed Note that you must press e to enter any change made If you move the cursor out of an area that was changed without pressing e the old data will remain Press to return to the screen showing the layout of the Manual Station When all the labels have the correct wording press j and t to select the type of printer Use the following table to select the correct printer type
202. wn below for defining the functionality of all port devices i e remote terminals modems etc DEVICES EDITOR User Description Terminal Type Port Desc nd Line 1 Note char is replaced by Port Desc Baud D S P nd Line 2 Note as 1st char appends line 2 to 1 TTY Number n Console User qnx con 0 ote Terminal 1 User qnx l tty comm c rgb screen t D 19200 8 1 0 1 ote Terminal 2 User qnxt tty con2 qterm m term2 19200 8 10 5 Remote Terminal 3 User wyse60_693 19200 8 1 0 1 Link 20 Communications User qnxs null Change using the Link 20 Port parameter in System Parameters1200 8 1 0 1 Default Serial Port Options func paged apcr edit echo tigate oflow iflow edel etab ters Page 1 F6 Re Start Commands The Terminal Type field represents the type of terminal that the system will be communicating with i e Wyse60 VT100 The Baud Rate and Port Desc fields replace the Remote Terminal Port parameter that used to be in System Parameters Screen The D S and P fields stand for Data Stop and Parity bits respectively A There are browse windows for Terminal Type and Port Desc that can be accessed by pressing m B This program checks for port conflicts automatically when entering the editor as well as at boot up time If a port conflict occurs with any setup parameters or within the User Device Editor the Port Desc for the
203. wo percent tolerance allowed on a material doesn t give a reasonable amount of tolerance Enter the maximum allowable weight in pounds gallons kilograms etc that this material can vary from the target before being deemed out of tolerance Page 80 SECTION 3 MIX DESIGNS TIME TO START FLOW mSec During the weigh up process if a bin runs empty the Spectrum can be programmed to automatically go on to the next material without waiting for the rest of this material This parameter tells the Spectrum how long to wait before checking to see if a bin is empty or no flow A typical value is 2000 mSec or two seconds If the Minimum Flow value defined next is zero this number has no affect MINIMUM FLOW This value works in conjunction with the above number If this value is greater than zero the Spectrum will continuously monitor the flow of material out of the feed gate into the weigh scale If the material flow should fall below this number for the above time the gate will close and go on to the next material The normal setting for this parameter is zero which disables any material flow checking It is suggested that all cements enable this feature NORMAL PREACT Freefall This value represents how much material resides in the air after the gates are closed or feed shut off and is used to prevent overweighing The Normal Preact is subtracted from the target weight to determine when to shut the feed off This parameter is self adj
204. xed it will be measured out before the cold water On weighed water plants all of the batch water will be weighed into the scale On metered water plants only the initial charge of water is metered either in the holding tank or directly in the truck For plants that meter the water directly into the truck the system can be set up to hold the water until the operator presses the mkey This allows a batch to start weighing before the truck is spotted under the plant At the same time as the water is being measured the liquid chemicals are also being measured into the bottles depending on how they are set up They can also be directly metered into the truck Whether metered directly or bottled the admix can be configured to go in with the wash down water Page 60 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 2 8 1 MAJOR INGREDIENT WEIGHING The major ingredients consist of the aggregates cements and waters Weighing for these materials is divided into four phases FAST FEED SLOW FEED SUPER JOG FEED SMALL JOG FEED During all four phases a primary feed mechanism is used and will be referred to as the slow feed device An auxiliary feed device is sometimes used and referred to as the fast feed device On cements this may be two feed devices on each silo i e gate and aerator or with aggregates the use of two bins containing the same material MATERIAL FLOW MONITORING During the weighing of the ingredients the flow of the material is monitored
205. ximum Num of Loads parameter of the plant configuration table is not exceeded OR continued on next page Page 59 SECTION 2 AUTO BATCHING 1 The Load Size exceeds the Mixer Size and the Split Load By Mixer Size is set toa 1 and 2 If the Maximum Num of Loads parameter of the plant configuration table is not exceeded Normally the weighing procedure is identical to that of a single batch except that jogging will occur only on the last of the partial batches for a load Underage or overage amounts in the weighment of the partial batches are carried forward to the next partial or final batch for the load This is configurable The system can force all batches to jog up to target if desirable This is accomplished by using the Jog Every Batch parameter in the Plant Configuration Screen Refer to Section 7 3 for details 28 WEIGHING AND METERING Simultaneous weighing and measuring occurs for each of the ingredient types Weighing of the aggregates begins with the first aggregate name in the mix design Cementitious materials can weigh one of two ways If Sort Feed by Mix Design Entry is 1 the computer weighs up the cementitious materials the same as the aggregates if it is 0 it weighs cements in order of bin number with the lower being first Water can either be weighed metered or metered to a holding tank and will start its measurement when desired Refer to Section 7 5 on Discharge Parameters If hot water is being mi
206. y be useful to enter all fields as a reference source CREDIT CODE browsable field This field is used for the customer s credit status information such as COD ON HOLD or CREDIT OK These codes are set up in the Order Entry Setup Menu found in the System Setup Menu It may be wise to skip to the Order Entry Setup Section of this chapter Section 1 4 before continuing with the customer entry DISCOUNT CODE browsable field This field is used for the discount code associated with a percentage discount that this particular customer is to receive Refer to Section 1 4 for a more descriptive explanation of this field TAX CODE browsable field This field is used for a tax code associated with the tax rate that this particular customer is to be charged Refer to Section 1 4 for a more descriptive explanation of this field Page 3 SECTION 1 ORDER ENTRY CREDIT LIMIT CURRENT BALANCE The customer s credit balance is kept in the Current Balance field If a number greater than 0 is entered for the Customer Credit Limit and the Current Balance exceeds that limit a message is given to the operator before batching a load for that customer SAVING CUSTOMER INFORMATION After all the customer information is entered it must be saved in the customer file To save this information pull up the Customer File Menu by pressing the nkey select the Save option and press the ekey After the customer is saved the Customer File screen will be bl

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