Here’s an interesting project that Hi-Spec is working on (see featured picture and below). It’s a vacuum tanker that’s not destined for an Irish farm; instead, its new home will be Tara Mines – near Navan in Co. Meath.
The tanker is actually a dust suppression unit; its mounted on a low-slung, articulated mining truck skid unit. The vehicle is all the more unusual in that it can be controlled remotely – from outside the cab.
Of course, it’s not the first tanker destined for dust suppression duties that Hi-Spec has built; the company has supplied umpteen tankers into construction sites for this purpose – but not mounted on a vehicle like this and not in an underground mine.
According to Hi-Spec’s Jim Nolan, the finished vehicle is being supplied to Tara Mines by Sandvik Ireland. Sandvik approached Hi-Spec for the design, fabrication and fitting of a suitable tanker, pump and rain-gun apparatus.
The build time for the tanker was approximately three weeks; a further week-and-a-half was needed to complete the project. According to Nolan, this particular project amounts to a single machine – but there may be a need for other units over the years to come.
A little side project we’ve being involved in. A remote controlled underground dust suppression system.#hispec #sandvik #mining #bigboystoys pic.twitter.com/zqbIcxOAi0
— HiSpecEng (@HiSpecEng) October 20, 2017
In other Hi-Spec Engineering news, earlier this year the company added the option of weigh cells and an application rate monitoring system for its Xcel 1250 manure (muck) spreader.
The company says that this will “enable users to follow best practice and advice when spreading solid manure”.
Unlike other rear-discharge spreaders, the Xcel 1250 is unique in that it uses a rotary chain and flail system (instead of vertical or horizontal rotary beaters) to achieve a “good break up of material”, which is then spread using a pair of spinning discs. The spreader has a ‘solids’ capacity of 12t, with a loading height of 2.5m.
The Xcel 1250 can now be fitted with the ISOBUS-compatible RDS iSOCAN Apollo spreader control system. This, says the company, ensures that “an accurate application rate can be set and maintained”.
Established in 1988, Hi-Spec Engineering is a family-owned and run company based in Co. Carlow. Its core activity is centred on the design and manufacture of machinery – primarily for use throughout the agricultural industry.
Its products include slurry equipment (tankers, trailing shoes, dribble bars, injectors, side spreaders, rear-discharge spreaders and pumps/agitators), feeding equipment (vertical-auger tub feeders, paddle feeders and bale strippers) and industrial equipment (primarily tanker-based dust suppression units).
https://www.facebook.com/BurkeEngineeringServices/videos/2031518687078165/
The company is no stranger to unusually large or one-off builds. Some of these are for industrial users. Others are for agricultural applications.
https://www.facebook.com/ValtraUKandIreland/videos/1951962545073318/
The company exports well beyond the shore of Ireland, with customers as far away as Russia, Iceland, South Africa and even New Zealand.
