Akkerman Earth Pressure Balance Machines (EPBM) are designed for soft, wet, or unstable, pressurized ground under the water table. Akkerman EPBM equipment is manufactured to pipe jack prefabricated jacking pipe or install liner plate, rib and board, or steel liner plate.
EPBM systems for large infrastructure projects are custom designed and manufactured.
Features:
- Cutter Heads and Tooling – Our EPBMs are customized with soft ground cutting heads with carbide embedded tooling or mixed‐face designs that incorporate roller disc cutters and soft ground tooling.
- Plenum Mixing Chamber – The Plenum Chamber mixes the spoils and allows the operator to inject conditioning slurry directly behind the cutter head.
- Earth Pressure Sensors – Dual earth pressure sensors on the plenum communicate the chamber pressure to the EPBM operator.
- Sealed Steering System – Active articulation for line and grade control in combination with a sealed steering joint.
- Primary Screw Conveyor – The EPBM uses a variable speed primary screw conveyor to adjust the spoil removal rate from the plenum chamber. The conveyor speed is dependent on the rate of advancement of the EPBM and earth pressure in the plenum chamber.
- Main Bearing and Drive System – Akkerman EPBM systems utilize heavy‐duty tri‐roller TBM bearings with grease purged bearing seals. Our Hydraulic periphery drive system offers variable speed control with high torque output.
- Guidance System – Akkerman EPBM systems can accommodate a variety of guidance systems depending on the application. For pipe jacking, a standard tunnel laser with an active target system is often used. Extended distances, curved tunnels, and ring building systems utilize total station, prism‐based navigation control systems.
- Additional Accessories – A variety of complementary accessories are available for your project requirements.
Earth Pressure Balance Machine (EPBM)
Testimonials
It is great to see a family-owned company in the tunneling industry continue to succeed and progress with their next generation of leadership at the helm. Akkerman continues to put cutting edge technology in the hands of contractors like ourselves that enable our talented people to do what we love to do: put pipe in the ground precisely online and grade! Whether it’s a guided boring system, a custom-built TBM, top notch field technician support on a Microtunnel drive, or the gathering of the industry’s top experts at one of their “Akktoberfests” to educate us all; they are doing things the right way. Akkerman has played a big role in our company’s success in the trenchless industry and we look forward to working with them for years to come.