New Machine Award: Hawle Water Technology
Publicerad: 8 mars, 2019
Hawle NoDig System has been recognised with the ISTT New Machine Award for 2018. Photo Hawle NoDig System.
The introduction of the Hawle NoDig System – the first entirely trenchless solution for establishing water house connections – has been recognised with the ISTT New Machine Award for 2018. The new system stemmed from the ‘No-Dig Challenge’ issued by a Norwegian municipality in 2014, encouraging market players to develop techniques to connect houses with water main networks using trenchless technology.
Striving to meet the ambitious No-Dig Challenge issued by the Oslo Municipal Agency for Water and Sewerage Works (VAV), Hawle Water Technology Norge AS was determined to use its drive for innovation to meet the need for a system to form trenchless house connections.
By 2017, the company was announced as the winner of the challenge for development of the Hawle NoDig System, which gained further recognition as a top five finalist for the Norwegian Tech Awards in 2017.
Development
For the development of the system – which comprises a number of components – a majority of the research and development were outsourced to Norwegian product development company Techni, while Hawle remains the sole owner of the technology and the IP.
After 45,000 hours of research and development, the capabilities of the system were successfully demonstrated on site in 2017 and a number of patent families were filed.
The system is able to locate the main water pipe, drill to it from a building’s basement and establish the connection, using remote-controlled robot technology without any digging required.
Components
A gyro-based pipe logger is used to precisely determine the position and location of the water main pipe.
A drill string features a retractable drill head, an integrated flushing system, a propulsion and directional steering unit and pull back module. The drill head is driven by a compact purpose-built hydraulic motor and an integrated sensor system allows precision drilling, while a braided sleeve minimises friction.
The system also comprises a multitool that, among other things, can remove obstacles and aid in drilling a pilot hole to the main water pipe. This facilitates the positioning of the pipe robot from within the main water pipe.
A pipe robot is used to locate and enlarge the pilot hole before it mounts a special fitting into the main pipe in one operation. A connection tool is used to join the house connection pipe from inside the sleeve pipe onto the fitting established by the pipe robot. It also has the ability to compensate any alignment deviations.
In addition to the above components, the system also uses other related equipment, including a small jacking frame, pneumatic system, suction unit, control software modules and more.