As one of the ten landmark projects of Zhejiang Province's major corridor development, the construction of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway carries everyone's expectations for a "smart expressway." The project attracts attention not only because it is the second major corridor between Hangzhou and Ningbo, but also because it is a pioneering demonstration project for advancing the intelligent and digital development of Zhejiang's transportation industry.
In this major landmark project, 21 Sunward rotary drilling rigs are involved in pile foundation construction on the Hangzhou-Shaoxing section of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway, accounting for over 60% of all rotary drilling equipment on the entire line. How does "smart expressway" construction impose different requirements on equipment? And what "secret weapons" do Sunward's rotary drilling rigs possess that enable them to shoulder the construction burden?

△The Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway links three major industrial special zones around Hangzhou Bay.

01. To participate in a "smart expressway," you need real capabilities!

As a smart expressway demonstration project, what higher requirements does the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway place on participating equipment compared with conventional expressways? According to the project manager on site, "During the construction of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway, because there are many bridges and tunnels and the road conditions are complex, there are very high requirements in three areas: qualifications, equipment stability and precision, and manufacturer service."

△Sunward rotary drilling rigs working on site at the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway.

Specifically, the main line of the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway is mainly elevated bridges, with bridges and tunnels accounting for as much as 99%, resulting in a large pile foundation workload. Therefore, efficient and precise pile foundation construction is the most basic guarantee for the smooth progress of the project. This also places greater demands on equipment stability and precision. In addition, the project will pass through multi-level interchange structures such as elevated roads, expressways, high-speed railways, high-voltage lines, subways, and navigation channels. During construction, equipment is further required to operate safely and in an environmentally friendly manner. In addition to the engineering difficulty, the project also faces the challenge of a tight schedule. To complete and open to traffic before the opening of the 2022 Asian Games, many pieces of equipment across the entire line are operating 24 hours a day, which also imposes requirements for timely equipment maintenance and repair support.

02. More than half of the products participating in construction: what makes Sunward rotary drilling rigs "outstanding"?

On this smart expressway undertaken by Zhejiang Communications Construction Group, in addition to the 2 Sunward rotary drilling rigs tendered and purchased by Zhejiang Communications Construction Group, construction parties in 10 other sections also chose Sunward rotary drilling rigs. Sunward rotary drilling rig products account for as much as 68% of all similar products participating in construction.

The reason construction parties unanimously chose Sunward equipment for participation in construction is actually rooted in the overall high-quality performance of Sunward equipment.

Recently, Sunward received a letter of thanks from Zhejiang Communications Construction Group, which stated: "Due to construction needs, after investigation and comparison through multiple channels, our company purchased 2 units of your company's SWDM450 and SWDM400E rotary drilling rigs in December 2020. The tasks performed by Sunward rotary drilling rigs on the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Smart Expressway were: pile foundations with a 2.8-meter pile diameter and 85-meter depth, with complex geology and relatively deep silty sand layers. The high-quality equipment and 'butler-style' after-sales service provided by your company laid a good foundation for our company's successful completion of its first Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo project for Zhejiang Communications Construction bridge specialization."

△A Sunward SWDM450 rotary drilling rig participating in construction at the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway.

This is the genuine feedback written by the project contractor, also the project construction party, after using Sunward rotary drilling equipment. And the equipment performance reported from the project frontline also helps us understand exactly why Sunward stands out. "The Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway is located in the coastal plain area of Zhejiang Province, and most of the construction sites are in soil layers. Sunward rotary drilling rigs, equipped with friction kelly bars for construction, ensured that the tasks were carried out safely and efficiently," according to on-site construction personnel. It is precisely because they valued advantages such as high construction efficiency, good stability, and timely after-sales service of Sunward equipment that project construction parties unanimously chose Sunward equipment, including 3 new Sunward customers.

03. A leading enterprise in the underground engineering field: where does its strength lie?

The most direct manifestation of an enterprise's strength is the performance of its products.

In fact, Sunward has deep accumulation in the field of underground engineering equipment. In the underground engineering segment, Sunward drives equipment development through engineering and supports engineering implementation through equipment. In terms of construction equipment, processes, and methods in the underground engineering field, it has creatively developed more than 20 types and nearly 100 models of underground engineering equipment, providing comprehensive solutions for solving key technical and equipment issues in underground engineering construction. Its overall technical level and product series completeness are in a world-leading position.

△Sunward rotary drilling rigs performing pile foundation construction.

Take the 4 Sunward SWDM550 rotary drilling rigs participating in the Hangzhou-Shaoxing-Ningbo Expressway as an example. This super pile equipment adopts a self-loading and self-unloading rotary drilling dedicated chassis, solving the industry problems of overweight, overwidth, and overheight transport for super-large rotary drilling rigs, while also balancing construction stability and convenience of relocation and transport. At the same time, to solve industry problems such as machine shaking and low construction quality under ultra-large torque and complex stratum construction scenarios, Sunward applied its patent for a slewing braking device and control technology to the SWDM550 rotary drilling rig. In addition, further improved construction efficiency and rock penetration capability are also among the outstanding highlights of this super equipment.

After more than ten years of development, Sunward's rotary drilling rig model range has covered models from SWDM40 to SWDM600, capable of meeting various working conditions such as unweathered rock stratum construction, low-headroom construction, high-latitude and severe cold region construction, and offshore construction. The outstanding performance of its products has also earned Sunward an industry reputation for strong rock penetration capability and high stability.

As the difficulty and scale of domestic infrastructure projects continue to increase, and projects with ultra-deep piles and ultra-large pile diameters increase, the industry is placing higher demands on rotary drilling equipment. Next, Sunward will also conduct research and development in the field of larger equipment and carry out more detailed development, including intelligent features, for each model range to meet the construction needs of new infrastructure projects.

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Sunward Official Website