All equipment for soil and water testing under one roof

With an extensive product portfolio and far-reaching synergy between the various divisions, Royal Eijkelkamp offers a versatile program of solutions for performing soil and water research. The Product Managers of the various divisions give a preview of what is to come in 2023. Because the family business has big ambitions.

Geotech

Royal Eijkelkamp not only specializes in sonic drilling equipment, sounding solutions (CPT) and water monitoring systems, but also has a complete range of geotechnical measuring instruments, such as vibrating wire piezometers, inclinometers, tiltmeters and extensometers. "In doing so, we combine as much as possible with our IoT platforms," says Tom Basten, Geotech Product Manager. "The data are automatically recorded and sent to our server where we provide real-time insight into everything. Furthermore, next year we will expand our geotechnical product group even further with the load cell, strain gauge and crackmeter. We have already supplied instrumentation such as piezometers and inclinometers to monitor the land reclamation project of the new international airport in Manila, Philippines."

Sonic

Combining product(groups) is a major focus of Royal Eijkelkamp for the coming year, says Sjoerd Sprenkelder, Product Manager Sonic and conventional rigs. "With this we provide the market with turnkey solutions instead of separate equipment. In addition, in the coming years we will focus even more on the versatility and multi-deployability of our machines, but ergonomics is also an important spearhead. For example, we already use remote control for both the drilling process itself and the handling of drill pipes and casings. This ensures that the operator always has a good view of the work and the drilling assistant no longer has to manually move heavy tubes. We also continue to continuously develop new drilling bits based on feedback and experience from our customers. In addition, in 2023 we will launch the MWD (Monitoring While Drilling) monitoring system: via sensors on the rig, important drilling parameters are recorded, such as water flow, water pressure, drilling torque, weight-on-bit, true sonic frequency and the RMS G-Force, as well as machine parameters such as engine hours, sonic hours, fuel consumption, etc. All this data can be read from a modern design touchscreen display that can even be used with gloves on. This data can also be viewed in real time via our IoT platform. Our sonic drilling equipment is deployed worldwide on a wide variety of projects, including the high-profile The Line for NEOM city, a 170-kilometer city project in Saudi Arabia. Sonic sampling is faster, more efficient and with less water demand. Perfect for desert conditions."

Water

For water research, Royal Eijkelkamp has introduced a new line of Multiprobe water quality probes under the brand name Scuba in 2022. "They can be used for measuring and monitoring ground and surface water," clarifies Rob Stolsz, Product Manager Water. "The Scuba probes are available in various standard configurations, but can also be fully customized to meet our customers' requirements. Of course, the Scuba's can also be connected to a telemetry unit for real-time monitoring of data, allowing the user to take appropriate actions in a timely manner. We also have so-called 'solar powered buoys' or floating mini buoys for measuring, registering algae growth (e.g. harmful blue-green algae) in surface water and wirelessly transmitting the measured data." 

CPT

In terms of CPT techniques, 2022 was a fantastic year for Royal Eijkelkamp, notes William Bond, CPT & Geotechnical Account Manager. The omens for 2023 are also positive. "We aim to become the global market leader in this discipline and are still 'tapping into' new markets. Australia, for example, is on the planning for next year. As colleague Sjoerd also pointed out, our machines excel in versatility and multi-deployability.      

With our Drill O' CPT technology, for example, we make the combination between CPT and drilling in one machine, allowing drilling companies to carefully make the move to CPT. With this combination of CPT and drilling, we are unique in the market. In addition, we continue to invest in the further development of CPT technology and are working on a wireless CPT system for more ergonomic and efficient operations. The thermal conductivity cone (under development) will mainly be used for burying cables such as those on wind farms. During 2023, we expect to put this system into production. Furthermore, we are also taking a closer look at propulsion with a focus on further electrification. Finally, we are launching a cloudbased version of our software at the end of this year, so that the data will be immediately available after the probing is done."

Data

Everything is about data these days, says Gustavo Hamu, Product Manager Mining and IoT. Most hydrological and geotechnical monitoring projects are on telemetry. So we have many projects for the water boards and municipalities here in the Netherlands, but also abroad. For example, in 2022 we delivered a project for the Sri Lankan Ministry of Irrigation and Water Resources Management, for which a monitoring network was telemetric. "In addition, from 2023 we will roll out our 'data as a service' and 'software as a service' concepts. Because in disciplines such as Sonic Drilling and CPT, a lot of data is also collected. We are going to bundle that into a comprehensive Eijkelkamp IoT platform. From February 2023 we will launch the basic functionalities of the IoT platform for both water monitoring and sonic drilling monitoring. The CPT and geotechnical sensors product groups will probably be connected to the platform by the end of 2023, further down our roadmap. Our customers can use the platform to view all operational parameters in real time and download the carbon footprint directly. So the data of all the different products of Royal Eijkelkamp will be collected in one place.