SWEDEN - A new four-boom drill rig developed by Atlas Copco is proving its worth at a major railway project near Gothenburg. When tunnelling contractor Veidekke won the contract to drive the tunnel, it challenged Atlas Copco to produce the necessary equipment. Veidekke knew it had to be a four-boom drill rig that could drill all of the required pre-grouting holes as well as the blast holes, and that would require only one operator. The fully computerized Boomer XE4 C jumbo is exactly that.
The Boomer XE4 C is fitted with high performance COP 3038 rock drills, the specially developed Auto RHS E automatic rod handling system for drilling of up to 30-metre-long grout holes, and the Atlas Copco rig control system (RCS) enabling it to be handled by just one operator. The rig was built and delivered in mid-2010 and by December all indications showed that it is fully living up to expectations.
Anders Östberg, plant and machine manager at Veidekke, said, "It's early days yet but so far the Boomer XE4 C is achieving all the targets we set out to achieve in this project. We have had no major problems and we are especially pleased with the efficiency of the new Auto RHS E rod handling system. It's working extremely well."
The brochure detailing all the technical specifications is available at http://pol.AtlasCopco.com/SGSite/default_prod.asp?redirpage=products/product_group.asp&redirid=Boomer+XE4+C
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