We put concrete into shape

HESS Group - Successful for more than 5 decades

HESS AAC Systems B.V. (previously Stork Bouwtechniek) possesses specific knowhow on the building of machines and plants for the autoclaved aerated concrete and sand-lime brick industry. About thirty years ago HESS AAC became active on the AAC market, concentrating mainly on manufacturing, installing and maintaining the production machinery for the world market leaders in AAC. During this relationship HESS built several production lines for key customers in Europe. Today HESS is known worldwide for its excellent craftsmanship, engineering know-how and high quality of the products and services it supplies. The machinery is robust and equipped with first class components, at a very competitive price level.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

HESS
G R O U P
HESS AAC Systems B.V. P.O. Box 321, 7550 AH Hengelo (Ov.), The Netherlands Phone: Fax: E-Mail: Internet: + 31 (0)74 240 70 00 + 31 (0)74 240 70 86 info@hess-aac.com www.hess-aac.com

HESS
AAC SYSTEMS

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

HESS
AAC SYSTEMS

The Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) material was developed in 1924 in Sweden. It has become one of the most used building materials in Europe and is rapidly growing in many other countries around the world. Autoclaved Aerated Concrete, also known as Aircrete, is a lightweight, load-bearing, high-insulating, durable building product, which is produced in a wide range of sizes and strengths. AAC offers incredible opportunities to increase building quality and at the same time reduce costs at the construction site. AAC is produced out of a mix of quartz sand and/or pulverised fly ash (PFA), lime, cement, gypsum/anhydrite, water and aluminium and is hardened by steam-curing in autoclaves. As a result of its excellent properties, AAC is used in many building constructions, for example in residential homes, commercial and industrial buildings, schools, hospitals, hotels and many other applications.

Autoclaved aerated concrete is actually hydrated calcium silicate. The calcium is obtained from quick lime, hydrated lime and cement. The gypsum is used as a katalyst and for optimizing the properties of AAC. The silica is obtained from silica sand, fly ash (PFA), crushed silica rock and/or stone. It is possible to obtain silica as a by-product from other processes, e.g. foundry sand or burgee from glass grinding, provided the levels of alkalis or other impurities, are not too high.

Advantages of AAC
large variety of sizes: AAC can be produced in a large variety of sizes, from standard blocks to large reinforced panels; excellent thermal insulation: AAC has a very low thermal conductivity and therefore a very high thermal energy efficiency is achieved. This results in savings on heating and cooling costs; extremely lightweight: AAC weighs approximately 50% less than other comparable building products; high compressive strength: AAC is a solid product, therefore making it highly load bearing. The entire surface area is used in structural calculations; high dimensional accuracy: As a result of its dimensional accuracy, AAC is extremely easy to install, as no thick set mortar is required; great acoustic insulation: The porous structure of AAC provides a high acoustic insulation; high fire resistance: AAC has an extremely high fire rating of at least 4 hours and more; termite resistance: AAC can not be damaged by termites or insects; high workability: As a result of the excellent size/weight ratio, constructing with AAC is very rapid. Even though AAC is a solid building material, it can be cut, sawn, drilled, nailed and milled like wood, making it an extremely workable product.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

HESS
AAC SYSTEMS
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. ball mill for milling sand slurry tanks silos for lime, cement and gypsum dosing and mixing casting position for reinforcement insertion rising/pre-curing position for extraction of reinforcement holding pins tilting the cake with tilting crane mould oiling vertical cut and profiling 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. horizontal cut cross cut and handgrip milling back-tilting of the cake onto a cooking frame bed waste removal stacking and buffering of green cakes autoclaving buffering and destacking of hardened cakes unloading from cooking frames separating packaging of final product

17

19 21 20 14 16

18

15 13 12 The HESS philosophy is to provide our customers with a pro-duction system designed as a solution for the specific needs of the market in terms of capacity and product range. The HESS Keen-Crete systems can offer this high degree of flexibility in plant design, based on know-how and experience in both tilt-cake and flat-cake systems. Performance is guaranteed through the use of proven standard machine modules and components. Following plant concepts are generally available: KBT-S version: capacity range from 450 - 900 m per day KBT version: capacity range from 900 - 1550 m per day 11 9 5 6 1 2 7 10 4

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

HESS
AAC SYSTEMS

Raw material preparation

A ball mill finely wet-grinds the quartz sand with water to a sand slurry, which is then mixed with lime, cement, gypsum and aluminium powder/paste.

Casting and rising/pre-curing

The mix is poured into moulds. In the rising area the cake pre-cures for ca. 2 3 hours and is then ready for cutting.

Cutting
The cake in cut by high precision cutting machines. Cutting is done by pneumatically tensioned cutting wires. the pre-cutter and vertical cutter cut the block length and panel width. In this station the profiling (tongue and groove) can be cut into the cake with profiling knives; the horizontal cutter cuts the block and panel thickness; the cross cutter cuts the block height and the panel length. Optionally hand-grips can be milled into the cake in the green stage.

Tilting
The tilting crane tilts the mould by 90. The crane unlocks the mould and removes the mould body, so that the cake remains on one mould side/platform for cutting. This tilting system has proven to be the safest method for tilting the cake into the vertical cutting position, as the cake is tilted onto the same side that it rose on.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

Back-tilting and bed removal
In most tilt cake systems the cake is autoclaved in the vertical position. The HESS KBT-S and KBT systems have combined the advantages of the tilt-cake and flat-cake system. After the cutting is completed, the cake is tilted back by 90 onto a cooking frame. In the HESS system no part of the mould or platform used for cutting go into the autoclaves. After the cake has been tilted back into the horizontal orientation, the bottom/bed waste will be removed before autoclaving. Autoclaving the cake on the cooking frames allows efficient autoclave loading and most importantly, will prevent most of the sticking of the layers, which is a typical disadvantage for the traditional tilt-cake systems. HESS SYSTEMS PRODUCE NO PROCESS RELATED WASTE

HESS
AAC SYSTEMS

Unloading and packaging

After the autoclaving is completed the cakes are destacked and the cakes are unloaded from the cooking frames. Depending on product specification and raw material quality, it might be necessary to separate the layers.

Autoclaving
The cakes on the cooking frames get stacked three high and are then fed into the autoclave, where they are cured for 10-12 hours at a temperature of 190C with saturated steam at a pressure of 12 bar.

The finished products are packed according to the market requirements. Usually this is on wooden pallets and covered in foil.

Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC)

Development Design Fabrication
HESS machinery is designed on modern 3-D CAD systems. In the production only materials and components of the highest standards are used. Continuous in-house control ensures this high quality standard. Machine components are made out of certified steel types and manufactured with the help of CNC controlled welding-, milling- and drilling machinery. This results in machinery and systems with accurate dimensions and a high quality standard.

HESS
AAC SYSTEMS

HESS can offer you a financially and technically attractive solution to upgrade your existing Hebel-type cutting machine.
In order to increase the quality of the product as well as the reliability of the plant, without investing in a complete new cutting machine, the modification of the Hebel technology based cutting machine is possible. new cutting table with moving bridges new set of needles with rectangular design replacement of the cross cutting shafts vertical wire tensioning system top crust removal system horizontal cutting system for lintel cutting counter pusher with pusher package bottom and top profiling system new control system new hydraulic system Highlights short installation time proven technology the existing logistics and production do not require major changes due to these modifications

Even after the installation and commissioning of your plant, HESS customers benefit from the first-class know how of our engineers. Experienced and trained service engineers can assist in resolving problems by access to the machinery via remote diagnosis. Also regular service inspections on site can be offered to ensure that the productivity and product quality remain at a constantly high level. Storage facilities worldwide with original spare and wearing parts guarantee availability and ensure continuous production of your systems.