This exciting development in Trenchless Technology has the potential to improve the current state of underground infrastructure and maintaining basic health standards for developing countries.
Mr Harrison turned to a career in microtunnelling, after a downturn in the directional drilling industry in 2000. However, the pilot tube machines that dominated the market at the time struggled with precision on-grade work when drilling gravity sewers. He imported a pilot tube machine to test its capabilities.
“I got the machine over here, and [the manufacturers] told me it could do all number of things. Pretty quickly, I realised that it really struggled to do those things. On top of that, when I had problems, the answers to my problems as far as support from the manufacturer, were nowhere to be found. I was on my own.”
Mr Harrison had seen that there was a demand in the market for microtunnelling work, and made a decision to discover a better way of delivering his services. He conducted research online on the methods currently available, and concluded that developing a vacuum-based system was the best option. After unsuccessfully experimenting with adapting vacuum methods to existing pilot tube machines, Mr Harrison designed and built a new machine.
Mr Harrison had trouble finding an engineer that shared his vision. “When you start talking about dirty boring, underground drilling, mud and everything, you quickly learnt that they really weren’t that interested.”
However, he met Andis Salins of Rex Industrial, who took on the project in late 2002. By 2006, the joint venture had developed a prototype. “We set out about making the system to compete with open cut on productivity,” Mr Harrison says.
The new boring system is laser-guided, and provides pinpoint accuracy in the trenchless installation of 10 to 14 inch pipe for on-grade water and sewer projects. It has the ability to install up to 350 feet of steel, clay and high density polyethylene or PVC pipe in one bore.
Mr Harrison soon realised that the drilling system was generating a high level of international interest.
Mr Harrison travelled to the United States to identify potential buyers, and visited the Colorado School of Mines to assess the latest technologies against his own invention. He targeted several manufacturers, including Vermeer Corporation, whose headquarters is located in Pella, Iowa. In the end, Mr Harrison said Vermeer was the right manufacturer for the job.
In August 2006, Mr Harrison and Mr Salins signed a Heads of Agreement with Vermeer Corporation, and Vermeer agreed to acquire the patents and to further develop the system to compete with open cut techniques.
“We wanted to go with a credible manufacturer, one that had great principles.
“Vermeer stood out as the company when it came to principles, it really appeared that they could do something with this machine that no-one else could do.”
Launching the new machine
The Vermeer AXIS guided boring system was launched at the International No-Dig Conference in Toronto in March 2009, where it went on to win the Innovative New Product of the Year Award in the New Construction category.
Mr Harrison is currently consulting with Vermeer as they company works to introduce the AXIS guided boring system to the market.
“They’re seeing the same picture that I was looking at a long time ago. A lot of the world still doesn’t have adequate sewers, that at some point need to be installed. But there’s already a lot of infrastructure and buildings in place. So trenchless needed to be the method, and it was just a matter of how we were going to deliver a machine that could compete with open cut, and then fulfil all those needs.
When asked what it was like to do business with Vermeer, Mr Harrison says
“I would recommend them in any way possible to anyone who’s considering doing business with Vermeer Corporation. I would encourage them to do so. Vermeer was very good, very understanding and did a great job.”
Mr Harrison predicts the development of the drilling system will launch a number of new products that may further shape the future of the microtunnelling industry. Andre Hoondert from the Vermeer office located in Goes, the Netherlands and Dr Samuel Ariaratnam from Arizona State University will present a paper at the Trenchless Australasia 09 Conference showcasing how Trenchless Technology can compete against open cut techniques in terms of superior drilling precision, high levels of productivity and usability at a greater cost benefit.
A tunnelling future
“[Vermeer] chose not to call their system a microtunnelling machine, because microtunnelling machines have the potential to be expensive and slow. But on specification, it has the accuracy and all the prerequisites to fall under the microtunnelling category.”
Virtually any type of pipe can be installed using the new machine, with only a little bit more difficulty attributed to ribbed pipe products. However, Mr Harrison believes the technique’s usability is a great innovation.
“We took someone who had no experience running the machine, and on the first day he drilled with the machine, he drilled approximately 300 feet and the bore was plus or minus, 10 mm accuracy.
“Most of the other machines that are in the marketplace, it’d take you a day to set them up. We’re consistently drilling an average of 150 feet a day, and on our best days, we’re seeing in excess of 300 feet. But that’s a complete process of setting the machine up, drilling, pulling back, packing it up. Other machines can sometimes take as long as a week to do something like that. We’re able to do that in a day.”
Mr Harrison attributes his success to his experiences working in an Australian rural setting, and a willingness to take a chance on a big idea.
“For me, it’s just one of those fairy tales, in a way. We just had a belief that we could do it better, and that there had to be a better way of doing it. We weren’t a very big company and we were willing to take some chances and really try and discover ourselves, where the answers are, rather than other people telling us what the answers were.
“One of the real strengths that I had right from the outset was that I’ve been hands on with the technology. Through all of that, we’ve come up with something that is different to all the other products out there on the international market.”
Mr Harrison believes there is plenty of room for innovation in the Trenchless Technology market, and encourages his colleagues to take their innovations to the world stage.
“It doesn’t matter where you’re from or how small the country you’re from or what the budget you’re working with, trenchless is an industry where you can still make a huge difference. There’s lots of guys in Australia doing some pretty cool stuff, and maybe they need to chance their arm and do a little travel and see how what they’re doing stacks up against what else is out there, because they’re probably doing something that the rest of the world can’t do.
“Now it looks like the world is ready to take this technology on and it’ll be interesting to see where it is ten years from now.”
