Gomaco’s concrete slipform pavers now feature the new Navigator software and optional ground level touchscreen display. The Gomaco Navigator is software for pavers that brings all of the G+ paver accessories together for easy control and monitoring on an optional touchscreen display.
The touchscreen display can be mounted on the paver at ground level and allows ground personnel to make fine-tune adjustments to the paver’s performance and also configure settings for the GSI, side bar inserters, tie bar inserters, and power transition adjusters. Ground personnel can monitor elevation and steering deviations for the paver and make as-needed adjustments to control sensitivities. The deviations meters are customisable and can be displayed in a G+ bar graph, circular, or oscilloscope/histogram mode.
The Navigator makes it possible to retrofit new G+ accessories to older Gomaco pavers still operating with the G21/G22 control systems. The magic of G+, along with the Navigator software, is advancing Gomaco paver controls and capabilities on a daily basis.
Ground personnel can easily monitor the pave-time operation of the paver’s bar insertion systems and power transition adjusters (PTA) with the Gomaco Navigator. It supports up to four PTAs with simple-to-operate touchscreen control. To make a transition, the ground person simply enters the new target height values for each PTA, then enters the transition distance, and presses start transition.
A coloured, graphical display shows the height of each PTA, as well as the new target height. The Navigator can support four tie bar inserters and two side bar inserters. The display illustrates the moving machine position including transverse joint spacing and when the paver passes an insertion point, fire lamps for each tie bar or side bar inserter are illuminated.
The Navigator, combined with the GSI (Gomaco Smoothness Indicator), creates the ultimate system for monitoring pavement smoothness on-the-go. A GSI screen within the Navigator allows the paving smoothness of up to four GSI traces to be monitored using either a real-time localised roughness graph or a simulated California profilograph. It logs the paver’s speed and travel information, along with paver start and stop events which allows contractors to correlate machine speed with pavement smoothness in relationship to the profile being slipformed for ultimate rideability.
The hardware for the mould-mounted GSI has been upgraded along with the software. New CAN-based slope and sonic sensors read the smoothness data anywhere on the slab’s surface, including the wheel tracks. The information gathered by the sensors in each trace are used to establish the measurement of the slab.
New lightweight aluminium GSI mounts make handling and assembling the GSI units easier and require less maintenance. The new mounting system is low profile so a work bridge can be mounted directly above the GSI, while spacing the units evenly across the back of the paver for the most accurate measuring possible. Each of the GSI units now has its own digital LCD screen on its tracer bar for digital diagnostics right at the sensor location.
The mould-mounted GSI and Navigator system aboard a slipform paver offer quality control tools that are quick and easy to install and offer immediate feedback to produce a quality pavement in today’s paving market with stringent rideability specifications.
