The Bauma Innovation Award is a "Reflection of the innovative strength of the German and international construction, building material and mining machinery industry" and shows not only what is technically possible, but also opens up a view to the future, said the Bavarian Economics Minister Ilse Aigner in praise of the prize winners and all participating companies.
One of the 6 prize winners this year is the Technical University of Dresden, Chair for Construction Machinery and Conveying Technology, Dresden (Research category), which received the Innovation award for the current research project on feasibility studies on continuous and shuttering-free construction methods through 3D forming of fresh concrete.
The previous endeavours to make the method ready for use focussed on making custom concrete parts in the production facilities and according to customer requirements. The scientists from Dresden, on the other hand, not only wanted to bring 3D printing onto the job site itself, they also wanted to use existing machines as a basis for their new technology. The idea is to produce entire structures using robot technology and a printhead that is able to apply quick-hardening concrete in layers. This could revolutionise not only the construction process, but also the structural shapes.
Thanks to its decades of experience and leadership in the development and production of technically complex concrete pumps, Putzmeister is the associated industrial partner on this project.
For this project, Putzmeister is contributing its know-how to identify the technical requirements and verify the suitability of existing concrete pumps with placing booms, and defining the requirements for future concrete pumps.
Putzmeister is conducting the test series required for this purpose in the new test centre in Aichtal near Stuttgart.