1. Introduction
Prefabricated housing represents a new, environmentally friendly construction method that has gained significant support from national and regional governments. On February 6, 2016, the “Several Opinions of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council on Further Strengthening Urban Planning and Construction Management” emphasized the vigorous promotion of prefabricated buildings. The goal is to have prefabricated buildings account for 30% of new construction within approximately 10 years. This indicates that in the next 10 to 20 years—and likely beyond—the industrialization of green housing will become China’s largest investment market, leading to the emergence and growth of related equipment industries.
The prefabricated concrete component production line (referred to as the “PC line”) serves as the core equipment for residential industrialization. Although this technology has developed in recent years with many domestic manufacturers producing similar equipment, it still faces challenges. These include high investment costs, complex equipment structures, difficult maintenance and operation, high heat loss rates, low efficiency, and elevated production costs. Such issues have limited the widespread adoption and advancement of prefabricated housing.
2. Technical Introduction
This patented technology introduces a comprehensive, advanced, and energy-efficient precast concrete component production solution known as the E-PC system. Over 98% of the equipment in this system is newly designed, featuring an optimized process layout that combines practicality with ease of implementation. Compared to traditional methods, this system offers multiple benefits, including reduced factory space requirements, energy conservation, environmental friendliness, higher production efficiency, simplified operation, a high degree of automation, and lower manufacturing costs, as detailed below:
1. When calculated based on equivalent production capacity, the manufacturing cost of the entire E-PC equipment set is lower than that of traditional production equipment.
2. The E-PC production system boasts a scientifically optimized process layout, enabling flexible conversion between multiple production methods and strong compatibility. Its production capacity is twice that of conventional PC line industrialization. Large components such as stairs and balconies can be fabricated on the assembly line without the need for fixed formwork workshops. Additionally, for the same production capacity, the required factory area is only half that of traditional PC lines.
3. The system includes a newly designed maintenance setup with significantly reduced heat loss and steam consumption. Traditional PC line maintenance kilns experience heat loss rates around 30%, whereas the new maintenance system keeps heat loss below 10%. Coupled with an innovative curing method, steam consumption is roughly halved compared to conventional processes. This energy-efficient approach lowers costs and allows large components like stairs and balconies to be cured within the kiln.
4. The E-PC system features a redesigned mold table and drive mechanism that ensures smooth travel, easy control, and simple installation. The mold table height is only 35 cm above ground, facilitating convenient production operations.
5. The feeding and fabric feeding system has been innovatively combined, enabling both tasks in a single step. This simplified equipment operates without hydraulic systems, enhancing ease of use, precision in fabric feeding, efficiency, maintainability, and automation.
6. The vibration device is newly designed with a simple structure, one-click start/stop or automatic operation, easy installation, and no hydraulic components.
7. A brand-new leveling mechanism efficiently performs spreading, vibrating, and lifting of concrete, meeting smoothing process requirements without manual intervention.
8. The system integrates new equipment such as line drawing and oil spraying machines, cleaning and wiping machines, and dual-station shuttle cars, eliminating the complexity of traditional palletizing equipment.
9. The E-PC system can be adapted into a mobile precast concrete component production line (M-PC), addressing challenges faced by fixed PC lines.
Current PC production lines are limited to fixed factory installations, while residential construction sites are often dispersed and located tens or hundreds of kilometers away. Large, oversized, or heavy components require specialized transport vehicles, leading to logistical difficulties and high transportation costs. Furthermore, construction companies usually rely on PC factories to produce components, introducing additional costs due to factory profits. These factors contribute significantly to the high cost of prefabricated housing, hindering its broader adoption.
By enabling construction companies to produce components directly on-site, transportation expenses and intermediary profits can be reduced, resulting in lower overall construction costs. To address this, the patented E-PC technology has been developed into a mobile PC production line (M-PC), allowing rapid assembly, operation, and disassembly at project locations. After project completion, the equipment can be relocated to the next site. Depending on project size and production needs, two plans are available:
Plan A: Covers 3,000 square meters and produces 150 cubic meters of PC components daily.
Plan B: Covers 5,000 square meters and produces 250 cubic meters of PC components daily.
The M-PC production line stands out for its easy, fast installation and removal, compact footprint, and low environmental requirements, making it highly suitable for construction enterprises.
10. The E-PC production system is also well-suited for manufacturing components of urban underground comprehensive pipe galleries.
3. Conclusion
This invention fundamentally transforms the traditional production methods for PC components. By implementing the advanced E-PC prefabricated component production system, it will replace existing equipment with superior performance and broad advantages. This will reshape the market landscape of PC component equipment, stimulate the growth of China’s PC equipment industry, accelerate the industrialization of residential construction, and generate substantial economic and social benefits.
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