Published 2024-02-28

HA Bygg is literally laying the foundation for a new maternity hospital at Östra Sjukhuset in Gothenburg. A yellow smart concrete computer helps supervisor Fredrik Daun and his crew keep track of when castings have reached the right strength, saving a lot of valuable time.

The construction of the Eastern Hospital started after summer 2023 and is expected to last until 2028. A new maternity and neonatal building will be completed opposite Queen Silvia’s Children’s Hospital. As many as 12,500 deliveries per year will be possible in the new building.

The building will have a total of 11 floors. Nine floors above ground are dedicated to reception, maternity, neonatal and traditional care, as well as emergency rooms, overnight accommodation and administration.

4 000 cubic meters of concrete
There will be two levels of underground culverts. These culverts and the base plate of the house are cast by HA Bygg. It is an extensive job, to say the least. A total of 4,000 cubic meters of concrete is expected to be used to cast the 120-meter-long and 30-meter-wide base plate, walls and vaults. Some 40 people from HA Bygg will be employed until the end of this year.

To be able to see the status of castings at any time remotely, HA Bygg uses the Celsicom TC603 concrete computer. It is a compact and robust, connected and battery-powered concrete computer that uses two embedded thermocouple wires to continuously measure the concrete temperature. An internal sensor in the measuring box also records the ambient air temperature.

Celsiview calculates strength
All measurements are automatically stored in the Celsiview cloud service. It also includes the concrete recipe used by HA Bygg. Using all this information, Celsiview can show the progress of the concrete’s curing and its current strength. In other words, supervisor Fredrik Daun and his colleagues do not need to make control measurements or calculate the concrete strength. All Fredrik has to do is log on to his mobile phone to instantly see the strength of the concrete at each measurement point.

Seeing concrete status in real time
– The Celsicom box is easy to use. Both in terms of entering recipes and keeping track of the concrete, says Fredrik Daun and elaborates:

– In the past, we have had to take intermediate measurements and make our own calculations based on experience of how the concrete develops under certain temperature conditions. Using this Celsicom box, we can see in real time how the concrete has behaved in terms of temperature and durability. And I can get an automatic email when the strength has reached 70 percent, so we can start demolishing the column and loading the concrete with the next floor.

Constant logistical challenges
The castings themselves are not very difficult to carry out. However, the logistics are difficult. Timing of deliveries is a constant challenge. Mainly because of the lack of space to lay materials before they are used in construction.

Therefore, it is nice for Fredrik and his colleagues to not have to worry about and keep an eye on the strength of the concrete. This is simply done for them by Celsicom TC603 and the Celsiview cloud service.

– This saves us a lot of time. In the long run, it probably means that we can save a lot of money as well,” concludes Fredrik Daun.

Watch the demo video of the Celsicom TC603

Published 2022-08-09

Simply and safely without interference. This is how Ida Alexandersson and Staffan Johansson review the yellow loggers from the Celsicom Easy Connect measurement system used to remotely monitor the casting of an underground train station.

During work on Stage Centralen, an underground section of the West Link in central Gothenburg, we had a chat with the project team on site. On behalf of the Swedish Transport Administration, NCC was responsible for the construction of an underground station called Station Centralen. 35 Celsicom TC603 loggers were placed at various locations in the huge concrete shell, continuously delivering valuable data from the casting of concrete slabs, outer and inner walls and roofs.

Monitoring cooling and concrete status
The yellow concrete loggers enable efficient and safe remote measurement. This is what Staffan Johansson and Ida Alexandersson, supervisor and deputy supervisor respectively at NCC, said when they reflected on the work on the concrete shell for the 700 meter long and 50 meter wide train station. During the pour, 1,700 cubic meters of concrete were used to pour a 940 square meter concrete slab. Some of the data loggers monitored the temperature of the water cooling the concrete, to ensure the correct curing process.

Two other concrete computers recorded the temperature evolution of the concrete during the curing process through two measuring wires each embedded in the concrete.

– Everything has worked very well. There were no disturbances at all and the concrete computers logged every ten minutes, which meant we got very reliable strength curves,” says Ida.

The measurement system has been easy to use from the very beginning, she says.

– The day we got them here, we could start using them right away. Just peel off a small sticker and they were connected directly to the login(in the Celsiview cloud service) that we have – and started measuring immediately. It was very smooth, no problems at all.

Staffan agrees. The yellow temperature loggers have made the job much easier, he says.

– We have had full control over the temperature of the concrete. All such updated information is available at all times on your computer or mobile phone. This meant that we could, for example, go in and immediately say: Okay, now we have the right strength for the structure – let’s demolish the mold.

For NCC, the Celsicom loggers provide security during work on the underground station, the train tunnel and other parts of Stage Central.

– I think the most important thing is that you can quickly check if there is an interruption. Nowadays you spend more time inside than outside. Then it feels good to be able to easily go to our site and see if all measuring points are running,” says Staffan Johansson.

Ida Alexandersson adds:

– You can more easily keep track of what is happening. If a test lead is pulled out, you will see exactly what time this happened.

Safe concrete pours
The 35 existing data loggers will be in operation until NCC finishes the concrete work for this stage of the West Link.

Published 2022-08-09

Bengt Johansson and his colleagues at Sateba, a manufacturer of concrete grinders for railroad tracks, have been using two Celsicom TC603s for a year to monitor the strength of castings. Bengt’s verdict on these yellow “concrete computers”: a very affordable and simple measurement solution with impressive battery life and unbeatable reliability.

– Our previous system for measuring strength worked in much the same way, but was much more cumbersome. With Celsicom Easy Connect, everything is much easier and we save a lot of time on administration,” says Bengt Johansson.

European concrete grinder manufacturer Sateba has two production units in Sweden. One in Långviksmon just north of Örnsköldsvik and the other in Kungsör west of Eskilstuna. The total annual production for Långviksmon and Kungsör is around 240,000 concrete sleepers. Two main types of sleepers are produced: 2.5 meter long and 257 kg heavy line sleepers for railway rails around the country and sleepers for metro and tramways. The size of these sleepers varies between 2.10-2.75 meters and 150-190 kilograms.

-There is a constant need for concrete grinders to continuously maintain train tracks across the country. Most often, this involves replacing wood grinders that are approaching the end of their 20-year lifespan. However, occasionally older concrete sleepers need to be replaced (the technical lifetime of these sleepers is about 50 years).

Bengt Johansson is Factory Quality & Environmental Manager for the production units in Långviksmon and Kungsör. It is at the Långsviksmon site that Celsicom Easy Connect is used in the daily production of 432 sleepers. These are made in molds with space for casting 24 2.5 meter long sleepers that are cast together in 10 meter lengths.

The molds are filled with a proprietary recipe of self-compacting concrete that is left overnight before Bengt and his colleagues check the curing process in the morning. The concrete needs 16-18 hours to reach the right strength, after which the sleepers can be removed from the molds and cut into the right lengths.

– The way our previous system worked was that we had to carry heavy measurement boxes into the office every week, plug them into the computer and transfer the measurements. At the end of each week, we also had to bring the boxes in and charge them over the weekend because the batteries had run out.

There was a lot that was unnecessarily heavy and difficult to work on. And it felt anything but a modern way of working, says Bengt. It is different with Celsicom Easy Connect. The measurement solution really lives up to its name.

– The Celsicom system is very simple. As it is cloud-based, everything is gathered there. I don’t have to haul measuring boxes to the office every week, and instead can easily log on to the computer and see the concrete status directly. Every Friday I then download the week’s castings and save all the measurements on a server,” says Bengt.

The cost aspect is of course not unimportant. In fact, the previous meter boxes cost several times more than current yellow concrete computers. Another clear advantage is that more people can have access to the same information in an easy way.

– All the guys on the floor who want to have a login to Celsicom Easy Connect. When they start at five o’clock in the morning, they can go into the system and check how it looks, whether the concrete is ready or not.

What else do you like about Celsicom Easy Connect?
– Battery life! I recently changed the batteries for the first time in one of the boxes. Two small AA batteries have given the box the energy to measure every five minutes and transmit around the clock – for over ten months. I think that’s really impressive.

– Operational reliability is also outstanding. The boxes have not clicked once. It has worked perfectly,” adds Bengt.

– Concrete sounds very boring. However, there are constant developments in both the concrete itself and the surrounding regulations. It is important to constantly improve and find new solutions to meet the requirements of both clients and authorities. For example, to be an approved supplier, we are required not to exceed a certain CO2 level per sleeper. One of our major challenges going forward is to find ways to further reduce carbon emissions. It is such challenges that make the job interesting and exciting.