The total package

The current development trends in tunnel drilling call for equipment to be as versatile as possible. A single drill rig should preferably be capable of face drilling and bolt hole drilling as well as longhole drilling jobs. Another key requirement is the ability to collect data while drilling, analyze it onboard or in the office and utilize it for applications such as quality control purposes, 3D profiling and water loss measurements.

Sandvik DT1132i is a new large tunnelling jumbo, nearly four metres (13 feet) tall and up to 20.56 metres (67 feet) long, that caters effectively for these multiuse and connectivity requirements.

“We designed Sandvik DT1132i to offer high productivity without compromising drilling accuracy and drilling automation, which have always been the strengths of our tunnelling jumbos,” says Tommi Salo, product manager, underground tunnelling drills at Sandvik Mining and Rock Technology. “The use of common platform components was also one of the project targets to ensure good spare parts availability.”

Sandvik DT1132i lends itself flexibly to a wide range of tunnelling jobs and other underground applications, including fast face drilling, mechanized longhole drilling and bolting. In Nordic markets, nearly half of all the drilling in a tunnelling project can consist of longholes for high-pressure grouting to prevent water leaks caused by groundwater or bodies of water above the tunnel. Sandvik DT1132i offers much-needed agility for these tasks.

Dozens of features and details have been completely redesigned or improved for higher productivity, better usability and improved safety, Salo says.

“One example is the new drilling system which includes new booms, new rock drill and drilling tools,” he says. “Also, on the carrier side we have updated the powerpacks and flushing systems to support high-power drilling while managing to keep a good efficiency rate to save energy.”

Combined with improved flushing and efficient cooling, RD535 offers uninterrupted high-speed drilling.

The rock drills and tools are supported by the new feed system, TF535i, and the equally new boom, SB160i. The boom combines the excellent positioning accuracy (+/–5 centimetres/1 31⁄32 inches) of Sandvik’s stiff square shape boom with a patented front ‘wrist’ for increased coverage and flexibility of movements. The optimized hose and cable routing and reel structure, individually adjustable hose support structure, automatic greasing of joints as well as easily adjustable and changeable slide pieces provide excellent maintainability.

The carrier vehicle also features several flexibility and productivity improvements. The power plant, a Cummins B6.7, 168kW diesel engine (stage 5), can be operated at up to 5,000 metres (16,400 feet) above sea level without any modifications, while cutting NOx emissions by up to 90 percent and particulate matter emissions by more than 90 percent, compared with stage 3 engines. A multi-voltage electrical system (400 to 1,000 V) helps Sandvik DT1132i to adapt to many types of worksite infrastructures and, along with the new 90-kW IE3-compliant electric motors, improves energy efficiency.

Like all Sandvik i-series drill rigs, Sandvik DT1132i offers excellent data acquisition and connectivity capabilities with two automation levels, the standard Gold package for operator-controlled boom positioning and the optional Platinum package for full face drilling automatics. Both options feature powerful control and measurement systems for torque-based drilling, drilling depth and angle, drill bit location, drill plan visualization as well as rig navigation – in other words, more accurate drilling.

“Drilling accuracy is something that we have always focused on, because quality drilling means savings pretty much across the board: tunnel reinforcing, rock loading, haulage and so on,” Salo says.

The automation and connectivity features team up with iSURE – the intelligent Sandvik Underground Rock Excavation software – which produces all the data needed for an optimized drilling and blasting cycle. This offers a highly networked and automated workflow where drilling plans are uploaded by wireless data transfer, while the fast and adaptive drilling control capabilities boost productivity in varying rock conditions and the as-drilled data can be used to support fact-based decision making. Furthermore, My Sandvik can add monitoring and fleet management capabilities to utilize the data for optimized and cost-efficient maintenance operations.

Salo is confident of the significant value that Sandvik DT1132i can offer. “We have proven in field tests that Sandvik DT1132i brought 15 percent more production in the same time interval compared to the old models,” he says. “Also, the new user interface is simpler and easier to use, and boom kinematics are better and faster to do boom positioning.”