HPM Srl, acronym of Hydraulic Performance Machines, is an Italian based company leader in the design and manufacturing of high-quality drilling machines used on foundation piling industry.
The rapid growth of this company established in 2012, has been made possible by the high qualified and experienced staff with more than 20 years’ experience in the drilling industry.
Differently from its major competitors, HPM is able to design and manufacture every single machine following the needs of the client.
Over the years, HPM has focused its production in to low headroom machines, able to work on limited access jobsites while maintaining great performances and stability.
HPMs in fact are designed to get the most torque with the smallest base in each rig’s prospective class, this comes useful in states where transportation is a limit. The advantages of these machines are also the reduction of transport and assembly cost, each machine can be equipped with a self-assembly counterweight system so there is no need of auxiliary crane to convert the rig from transport to work configuration in the jobsite.
The HPMs are often used on specific jobs, where competitor’s machines would not be suitable like foundation under powerlines, bridges or inside structures.
The presence of HPM machines in USA is increasing year after year, the use of high-quality Italian and German components and high-strength steel, together with the use of CAT excavator bases have given to the Italian company a great reputation in the foundation drilling industry.
The customized solutions offered by the Italian company has also allowed to establish its presence in the Japanese market. HPM has designed, together with the Japanese dealer and clients, the ideal machine to perform pile extraction. An incredible crowd force, made possible with the use of an hydraulic foot mast and big pull-down cylinders, allows the operator to place casing around the old concrete piles and remove them with a grab-hammer.
The HPM range starts from its smallest HPM80 and follows with the HPM100 HPM125 HPM180 HPM200 HPM250 and HPM300. The names of the models indicate the torque class of the rigs.
Each model can have different configuration. According to the job sites needs the machine can be converted from short mast to standard mast and vice-versa in very short time. The design of the mast and the positioning of the tilting cylinders allow to shorten or to extend the mast without removing the frame linked to the parallelogram system.
Beside the excavator computer which shows the engine parameters, HPM has installed an optional computer enables show the drilling parameters and allows the operator to use advanced automatic functions like: Auto-verticality of the mast, patented speed control, , automatic return to the hole just to name some of the features which help the operator to work and increase his comfort during the drilling.
The minimum height of the HPMs is 4900mm in the HPM180RJ, a rig mounted on a CAT 330 next generation model with 180kN*m of effective torque (216kNm with the optional High Torque rotary), 400kN of crowd force, 1600mm of maximum diameter and 10 meters of depth (25m on standard model).
It has an operating weight of 36 tons, and a transport weight of 28.5 ton when dismounted. It has been designed to work on limited areas with low headroom overhead, the use of the hydraulic foot mast allows a great crowd force of 400kN useful to work with big diameters and casings.
HYDRAULIC ROCK TOOL
Not only drilling machines at HPM, the customer-oriented philosophy of the company and its knowledge in fact has led the company to design a hydraulic tool able to enlarge holes on very tough soil.
The new ET-40 hydraulic rock tool combines efficiency, performance and productivity in rocky soil drilling. It is equipped with the most suitable rock-cutting tools, selected according to the specific geology of the ground in such a way to obtain the best possible advance rates with minimal cutting tools replacements. Starting from a pilot hole, it can enlarge the hole up to the required diameter. The radial thrust of the arms allows to push with high force without using traditional vertical vibration.
The functioning of the rock tool is simple, the roller bits supplied by the Italian company Palmieri, leader on the manufacturing of tools for Tunnel Boring Machines, are fitted on diametrically opposed arms that simultaneously open outwards.
The arms are moved by hydraulic cylinders designed to transmit intensive impact energy, needed by the roller bits for breaking the rock. This innovative system designed to perform large diameters will not only increase productivity, but also offers a more cost-efficient solution by reducing cost and room of compressors and DTH. The ET-40 has been specifically designed to enlarge holes from 1000mm up to 2500mm with two steps, the same principle can be proposed for different diameters.