Wirtgen GmbH offers a broad range of products in the slipform paver division, including versatile special machinery for offset applications and the paving of concrete slabs. The innovative product portfolio comprises ten flexible concrete paver models in all performance classes and for all fields of application. Standard working widths range from 1 m to up to 16 m. The slipform pavers impress not only with their wide range of applications, however, but also with state-of-the-art technology and highly innovative single components. In over twenty years of experience in slipform paver applications technology, and combined with the high machine population worldwide, the Wirtgen dowel bar inserter is one of the technical highlights in this product division which has consistently been developed and improved. The dowel bar inserter of an SP 500 will be exhibited at bauma 2010 as a separate unit to present Wirtgen’s core expertise in this field in greater detail.

New modular design for base plates and vibrating frames

Dowel bar inserters are designed for maximum precision and flexibility: the dowel bar inserter accurately places the dowel bars into the concrete in longitudinal direction by means of electric high-frequency vibrators and in a hydraulically controlled vertical movement. The process ensures that the dowel bars are inserted in their correct final position across the entire working width.

The dowel bar inserters are either designed to standard dimensions or are built to the customer’s specification. Owing to its highly flexible modular design, the dowel bar inserter from Wirtgen offers solutions for both of these field requirements. The standard model enables dowel bar lengths ranging from 450 mm to 600 mm and dowel bar diameters from 25 mm to 40 mm (depending on the actual dowel bar size and any required additional coating of the dowel bars).

A novelty in the ongoing development of the dowel bar inserters is that the base plates with their maintenance-free, newly designed feeding design are fully movable, including the vibrating frame and vibrating needles. This feature enables flexible conversion of the dowel bar inserter in case of varying dowel bar spacings, which enhances the overall productivity of the slipform paver. When altering the dowel bar spacing, for example, from 250 mm in a motorway project to 300 mm required for an airport application, users can set the new dowel bar spacing quite easily thanks to the new, movable base plates and flexibly adjustable vibrating needles.

Wirtgen GmbH offers the dowel bar inserter and finishing beam in a unique equipment package to ensure that the freshly paved concrete slab will be perfectly smoothed after insertion of the dowel bars. This eliminates the requirement of a second mould to smooth the concrete surface.

source: www.wirtgen-group.com