Liebherr demonstrates drilling technology at first Drill Day

More than 100 construction professionals were welcomed to the Houston, Texas, facility of Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co. in December 2010 for the company’s first Drill Day.

The event was held on 9 December to introduce customers from across the Americas to Liebherr’s range of rotary drilling rigs. Presentations included demonstrations of drilling and of Liebherr’s proprietary software for deep foundation machinery.

Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co. was founded in Houston in 1997 as the US sales and service subsidiary of Liebherr Nenzing of Austria. The company’s lift and duty cycle crawler cranes have since become well established on the market in North America and its foundation machines are similarly developing a growing population, with customers including Malcolm Drilling Co., Nicholson Construction Co., Menard, Keller/Hayward Baker.

Drill Day has already added to the customer base, with FENIX Construcciones of Columbia purchasing a Liebherr LB 36 rotary drilling rig with casing oscillator and complete drilling equipment at the show.

In the past four years the Liebherr Nenzing Crane Co. sales force and service teams have tripled in number. This year sees a new facility added in Miami, Florida, with a purpose-built regional depot and offices to further expand customer support.

The full Liebherr range of deep foundation machinery comprises:
· rotary drilling rigs (LB)
· piling and drilling rigs (LRB)
· piling rigs with fixed and swinging leader (LRH)
· duty cycle crawler cranes (HS).

Exhibited at Drill Day were three rotary drilling rigs:
· Liebherr LB 20
· Liebherr LB 24
· Liebherr LB 28.

Visitors to Drill Day were given a presentation by Liebherr Nenzing Crane sales manager Scott Moreland, who explained the Liebherr deep foundation machinery range, focusing on the features of the LB rotary drilling rigs on show. The LB series is designed for the heaviest demands that are placed on modern rotary drilling rigs. They are designed for Kelly drilling, continuous flight auger drilling, double rotary drilling and soil mixing applications.

As the Liebherr rigs use the same hydraulics, electronics and major components as the company’s large installed base of crawler cranes, there is a full inventory of spare parts on hand for customers.

LB 28
The LB 28 rotary drilling rig demonstrated was equipped with Kelly drilling equipment and remote control for the casing driver, which promotes safety and speed by eliminating the need for personel to connect/disconnect the casings. The leader was dropped and folded over the machine with rotator and kelly attached to demonstrate how easily the machine can travel on site under low obstructions. Thanks to the rig's compact design, and the fast assembly/diassembly leader system the machine can be transported with low component weights. This allows for quick and easy transportation of the rig and thus flexibility in jobsite assignment. The time-saving quick assembly system of the LB 28 represents a significant advantage of the Liebherr rotary drilling rigs.

LB 24
The LB 24 was shown with continuous flight auger. The automated parallel operation of main crowd winch and Kelly winch allow for a very high pull force which is of great advantage for drilling with large diameters or for double rotary drilling. The auger is emptied easily and safely by a cleaner driven by the on-board hydraulics. The LB 24 was equipped with the Liebherr telematics data transmission and positioning system LiDAT. Based on state-of-the-art data transmission technology, LiDAT enables owners and users to monitor the machine’s position, operating conditions, fuel level, service intervals and other data useful for machine management. It also transmits the PDE system data to the LiDAT web portal.
The concreting process carried out by the LB 24 was also displayed on both a PC and a large screen inside Liebherr Nenzing Crane’s offices. The Liebherr PDE process data recording system allows constant recording of the relevant process data during the working process. All process data are recorded on a memory card and can be imported to the process data reporting software SCULI PDR. This software allows data to be managed, displayed in tables or graphs, and analysed. Alternatively the data can be imported remotely via the LiDAT telematics system.

LB 20
The LB 20 rotary drilling rig shown at Drill Day was fitted with a tapered auger to drill through concrete. The LB 20 is designed for drilling diameters of up to 1.5m and drilling depths of up to 53m. The rope crowd system offers 20t pull force and guarantees high performance even with the most difficult soils. The kinematics of the LB 20 is 60cm wide and extremely stable. Though powered by a mighty 270kW/362hp Liebherr engine, the efficiency of the drive system ensures lower fuel consumption than comparable machines in this class. The BA 200 rotary drive with 20mt torque guarantees that the installed power of the LB 20 is ideally converted into high productivity. The standard Kelly shock absorber with springs and hydraulic dampers prevents damage to the material and reduces noise emission. Exchangeable drive adapters provide compatibility with other Kelly bar dimensions.

Such was the success of the event, Liebherr Nenzing Crane is now planning future product demonstration events.