Hydraulic compressors in underwater demolition: how they save your equipment

tecnoter — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 15:12:25 +0000

Air compressors are popular equipment for anyone with construction experience. The particular hydraulic air compressors, less known but far safer and more useful, are designed for work in severe conditions, such as those under water.

Operations under "normal" conditions

To carry out excavation and demolition of buildings or other structures, demolition hammers are used.
The demolition hammer for excavators is essentially a hydraulic motor in which a large and heavy metal cylinder (called striking mass) is set in alternating rectilinear motion in order to repeatedly hit the tool (called tip) of the hammer itself.
During the contact between the impacting mass and the tool, the large amount of energy produced by the demolition hammer is transferred from the impacting mass to the tip (tool) and, from it, to the material to be demolished.
In order for this to happen, a compensation chamber, saturated with air, must always be present between the striking mass and the tip.
This does not involve any problems in use in “normal” conditions, or in the presence of air for the equipment.

Operations in submerged conditions

The situation is different for the construction and maintenance operations of ports and cliffs, where the excavator operator often needs to use hydraulic breakers in submerged conditions, i.e. underwater. In this condition, in fact, the compensation chamber tends to fill with water which, being incompressible, blocks the motion of the striking mass, preventing the correct transfer of energy to the tip.
This condition, in addition to preventing the hammer from functioning, causes serious damage to it.

Compressors and their contraindications

To avoid the inevitable damage to the demolition hammer, it is necessary to connect an air compressor to the hammer in order to create a sort of air bell in the compensation chamber.
Generally, classic compressors are used which, however, have several contraindications:
– they are separated from the excavator, so every movement of the excavator itself becomes difficult and leads to the waste of many hours of work
– they are bulky and noisy
– they are expensive both in terms of purchase and maintenance
Last but not least, they are also dangerous for the hammer itself because, if the motor compressor in operation were to shut down due to a fault or if a hose were to break (for example due to a sudden movement of the excavator), the hammer would strike without air with the only consequence of being damaged, even irreparably.

Hydraulic air compressors save your equipment

Hydraulic air compressors compensate for all the contraindications of classic compressors.
Installing a hydraulic air compressor on board the machine, in fact, not only allows you to solve problems of size and costs, but also allows you to immediately and automatically stop the operation of the hammer should any anomaly in the air flow occur. Thus combining greater safety and greater productivity (reducing costs).

Tecnoter hydraulic air compressors

Tecnoter wants to help you avoid all problems that can slow down your work or endanger you and your operators.

It wants to help you in choosing the right air compressor with hydraulic motor, because it designs versions that are compatible with different needs and applications.

Highly safe and stable, they are designed according to the most advanced technologies. Contact us here to find out more