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Team Dec1409

Asphalt Transfer Vehicle/Paver Speed Synchronization and Position Control Project

Weiler Products manufactures asphalt pavers as well as other road construction equipment. Their transfer vehicles act as a sort of buffer to the paver to receive and store loads of asphalt from dump trucks before remixing and elevating the asphalt to the paver. This makes non-stop, non-contact paving possible to achieve a smoothly paved surface. Currently, the transfer vehicle is controlled manually by an operator. Human error can lead to asphalt spillage or paver stoppage. Weiler seeks to automate the control to maintain a fixed position between the conveyor output of the transfer vehicle and the paver hopper. Our team is researching sensors and developing a control system to achieve this.