51
january-february 2014
international
construction
>
New technology and new
applications are pushing
the boundaries in the
drilling sector.
Helen
Wright
reports.
Unconventional drilling
T
echnology is a major theme in the drilling equipment
market – from pipe laying to foundations construction
to blast hole drilling in quarries, manufacturers are
concentrating on improving the versatility, efficiency and accuracy
of their products.
Remote performance management devices are becoming more
and more common in the industry, for instance, while innovative
water-powered drilling techniques are also making waves.
Another major trend has seen producers strive to fit more and
more power into ever more compact machines for operation in
tight and hard-to-reach areas.
Wassara DTH water-powered drills and
Grindex dewatering pumps are being
used across the Citybanan project in
Stockholm, Sweden.
Ditch Witch’s new Tier 4 Interim-compliant JT60 and all-
terrain counterpart (pictured) are horizontal directional drills
boasting 60,000 lbs (27.2 tonnes) of pullback.
For example, Montabert has launched new drilling attachments
in North America with versatility in mind.
It argues that these drilling attachments require less initial
investment than their conventional dedicated drill rigs, as well as
offering the versatility of being easily transportable between sites
and quickly exchanged for other attachments.
The smaller models, the Micro CPA H22/H25 and Micro CPA
R25/R32 drills, are designed for use on a variety of carriers in the
5 to 10 tonne range — including compact excavators, backhoe
loaders and skid-steer loaders.
The larger CPA 225E drilling attachment is designed for carriers
in the 15 to 25 tonne range. All the new models boast radio
remote control capabilities, and a dust collector is an option on
the smaller Micro tools but comes as standard on the CPA 225E.
The larger drill has a radio remote controlled performance
management system which automatically analyses drilling
conditions and adjusts factors such as feed pressure, feed speed,
anti-jamming controls and percussion pressure.
DRILLING
Unconventional drilling
