As the world?s sixth largest economy in 2012, Brazil is flourishing beyond its mega cities of Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. Many other parts of the country are also developing fast such as Sao Borja, the oldest municipality in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, close to the border with Argentina.
To provide energy to people in new areas, Sirtec Sistemas Eléctricos has adopted a new way of installing utility power poles. Recently, the company conducted a four-day test with Atlas Copco Secoroc?s Power Pole Drill 120, a truck mounted drilling system that can drill sockets in solid rock which is faster and more efficient than both augering and blasting methods.
Sirtec initiated a thorough audition, beginning with a dry run of air compressors, support module and pole drill and combining these with its own equipment.
A first test hole was completed east of Sao Borja at a site belonging to Castilho Construction Quarry, near Bossoroca, Santiago. Drilling was completed after 46 minutes, stopping three times to check pullback and cleaning of the hole. The test resulted in a hole 600 mm in diameter and 2 m deep (22 x 80 in) using an 8 rpm rotation at 689 Kpa (100 psi).
Top marks for performance
On day two, a new test hole was drilled to a depth of 2 m in just 31 minutes. Darci Schneid, Director of Sirtec, joined the team having returned from holiday, and was told by his personnel that it would have taken ?all day? to create an equivalent hole using existing methods.
Apart from allowing rapid creation of multiple utility pole holes, a safety cable and a drill control box were reportedly beneficial during the test. The Sirtec operators, Terto and Junior, also gave the equipment top marks for safety.
The Utility Power Pole Drill 120 is capable of drilling 8?100?3?005 mm holes (32?120 in). The drill is compact, light weight and combines multiple DTH hammers in a single canister.
Epiroc operated under the trademark “Atlas Copco” prior to January 1, 2018.
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