All processes related to drilling itself are becoming increasingly digital. This includes, for example, the planning, monitoring and documentation of the drilling process. TRACTO’s HDD rigs have long been equipped with the option of data acquisition and already store a lot of data in the cloud, including the location of the machine, but also status and maintenance messages that are important for the maintenance of the machine and can ultimately be used by the contractor.
Michael Stinn, Head of Digital Business at TRACTO says: “When I joined the company, TRACTO was already much further along in many areas of digitisation than many other companies in the engineering sector. Nevertheless, a complete restructuring of the digital area is now necessary, which connects all departments like an umbrella organisation and can bundle the constantly growing data packages that are available everywhere and make them available to everyone involved. Ultimately, all departments are involved in the path to the drilling technology of the future, and the company is keen to involve its customers in this process.
‘Trenchless platform’ to bundle digital products for customers
The Digital Business unit’s next major goal is to create a ‘trenchless platform’ that will manage and monitor all the customer’s machines (of all brands) in about 3-5 years’ time. We want to know and understand the customer’s daily challenges and technical problems so that we can find the right digital solutions,” explains Stinn. To this end, many discussions were held with customers during the TRACTO Hands On Days in April, many of whom were very motivated to go digital together with the German manufacturer.
Working with users on digital development
There are already several digital products available from TRACTO for trenchless construction that have been developed in-house. Here too, TRACTO’s focus is on offering solutions that really make life and work easier for No-Dig users. The ‘Future Community’, through which users are actively involved in the development processes, plays a key role here. Members of this interactive network can contribute ideas for future products or test the functionality and practicality of digital development statuses.
“When I joined the company, TRACTO was already much further along in many areas of digitisation than many other companies in the engineering sector. Nevertheless, a complete restructuring of the digital area is now necessary, which connects all departments like an umbrella organisation.”
Digital solutions already simplify processes for contractors
The digital ‘Quick Planner3D’ is an easy-to-use tool for rapid planning and three-dimensional visualisation of even the most complex drilling routes. The manufacturer-independent application guides the user through each step and automatically queries the relevant factors. It recognises the location, evaluates the topology, considers known obstacles and calculates the optimum drilling path from the start pit to the target pit. The planned route can be adopted or modified at short notice to suit the conditions on site. A digital wizard allows even inexperienced users to professionally plan and check the feasibility of drilling routes.
With the ‘Commander’, TRACTO offers a self-developed app for the management of GRUNDODRILL drill rig fleets, with the help of which contractors can monitor the location of their machines at any time, which makes an active contribution to theft protection. Key figures such as operating status, operating hours, performance parameters and historical machine data for each drilling rig can also be recorded. The contractor can use this data to better plan the deployment of its HDD fleet, identify optimisation potential and increase productivity.
Each individual drilling operation must also be documented for the client: The ‘Boredata’ app is used to store all the detailed drilling data shown on the rig display for drilling data documentation in accordance with DVGW GW 321. The Boredata app is integrated into the control system of all TRACTO HDD rigs. The data being collected automatically also makes this task much easier for the contractor.
Finally, for surveying NODIG sites with a smartphone, there is the externally developed ‘Vaira’ app. Survey data is captured with the smartphone’s camera, a data set is created and transferred in real time to GIS systems or as a digital construction file to the client. The VAIRA app is particularly suitable for measuring sites with NODIG systems that do not have digital recording systems on board.
The future of drilling technology
Elmar Koch, head of TRACTO’s R&D division, explains that the aim of increasingly autonomous drilling is to achieve more safety, higher efficiency, greater freedom for contractors, more sustainability and complete documentation through maximum automation. The path to autonomous drilling involves a number of intermediate stages, ranging from assisted drilling, which is currently in use, to semi-autonomous and partially autonomous drilling, and finally to fully autonomous drilling. According to Koch, this process is very similar to the development path to autonomous driving that the automotive industry has been following for years with various assistance systems.
TRACTO’s HDD drilling rigs already use a variety of support systems such as cameras, GPS and sensors. Comprehensive data is also analysed and evaluated to support the operator during the drilling process. The ORFEUS system, which is still under development, will soon make it possible to detect unexpected obstacles in the drilling process using radar antennas in the drill head. This drill head radar will make the HDD process even safer and is an important step towards autonomous drilling.
