Invented and engineered in the Netherlands
The Giant Roller is a self-propelled machine, weighing up to 525 ton designed to compact and tamp surfaces for motorways, sport grounds, residential areas, airports and land reclamations.
Why choose the Giant Roller?
Compaction of soil made easy
Traditional soil compaction methods are often time-consuming, elaborate and expensive. The Giant Roller's unique design and construction gives it an edge over conventional compaction methods. The machine is easy to assemble and disassemble and easy to ship due to its individual components. It compacts the soil straight away, uniformly and almost silently.
Uniform dynamic compaction
Dynamic compaction is a method of soil compaction in which a heavy weight is repeatedly lifted and dropped from a considerable height. This is a time-consuming method that will take several weeks and multiple blows. The Giant Roller eliminates this process and compacts the soil uniformly in less time.
No vibration
There are virtually no vibrations caused by driving the Giant Roller. This is in contrast to the vibrations that occur when hammering during classic forms of dynamic compaction.
Low noise
The rolling of the Giant Roller hardly makes any sound in contrast to the classic forms of dynamic compaction. You only hear the water pumps do their job.
Features
Compaction of different soils
Most of the times an area to be compacted consists of a number of layers of different types of soil. Each of which has its own structure, weight, saturation and porosity. By properly investigating the soil (by means of probing and/or drilling), the decision will be made as to how and when to use the Giant Roller.
Nowadays, to speed up the compaction process, vertical drains are utilised to facilitate water extraction. In these very cases, the Giant Roller can be deployed.
Areas of application
Compaction by the Giant Roller
The Giant Roller will not and cannot perform compaction in one single step! Depending on the soil structure, it will take three or even more passes for an optimal outcome. As the ground becomes firmer, the force per square metres increases automatically. This process is so subtle that it prevents the layers from floating and hence avoids damage to the surrounding areas.
Motorways, sport grounds, residential areas, airports and land reclamation
The applications of the Giant Roller are extensive. Growing economies all over the world need more transportation and hence more roads. Cities are built on limited stable soil. Therefore, the continued expansion needed for new residential areas must be on unstable grounds demanding enormous investments. For instance, the concept of relocating Schiphol airport in the sea on reclaimed land could very well become reality. The use of the Giant Roller can substantially reduce these costs.
The fifth runway at Schiphol airport needed 22,000 truckloads of sand! For land reclamation such as the second ‘Maasvlakte’ in the Netherlands and the Palm Island in Dubai, the new land required compaction before there could be built on.
The Concept
The principal of self-propelling
The Giant Roller body is made up of twelve watertight compartments around a central axis. Depending on the required weight, a number of the compartments are filled with water. The flow of water into and from each compartment is controlled by a computer. The software measures the content of each compartment and decides which one needs to be filled to change the centre of gravity and force the roller to move. This continuous process can move the roller forward and backwards up to 800 metres in 24 hours.
The Giant Roller is a complex machine
The Giant Roller is a complex machine. It has a water system with pumps and valves, an electrical system with a generator, a compressed air system and solenoids, an air compensating system, a computer and a communication network on board. The machine has no external connections. The power generator and the air compressor are mounted onto a revolving cage. The Giant Roller is self-propelled; it follows the programmed path and can operate continuously.
Benefits of the Giant Roller when the soil structure is fit for compaction
SAVE PREPARATION TIME
Reduce the soil preparation time from months to weeks.
LESS ROADWORK
No bypass roads for local traffic.
SAVE CONSTRUCTION RESOURCES
No special roads for sand trucks.
SAVE TRANSPORTS TO AND FROM
Save thousands of sand loads to and from the construction area.
SAVE ENERGY
Low energy consumption and environment saving.
STRAIGHTFORWARD SHIPMENT
Straightforward shipment; empty compartments are shipped individually.
Specifications and Technical Details
Specifications of the Ø10 metres model.
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The outer diameter of the roller is 9.66 metres
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Each compartment is 2.52 metres wide, 3.60 metres high, 8 metres long
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The inner diameter is 2.46 metres
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There are 12 compartments
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1 Empty compartment weighs 10,000 kg
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1 full compartment contains 45 m3 of water
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The total weight of the roller with 9 water filled compartments is: (12 * 10,000) + (9 * 45,000) = 525,000 kg
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1 Compartment when full contains 45 m3 of water
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A 200 m3/h pump is mounted on each side of the roller
Variations of the Giant Roller
In addition to the standard Giant Roller, the patent includes possible variations of this design in order to carry out alternative compaction tasks.
Three variants: the standard, flat and cylindrical Giant Roller.
Sometimes, when a constant force is not sufficient, adding vibration can amplify the force to obtain the desired power and consequently generate the necessary effect. The Giant Roller with its flat surface parts can generate a vibration when rolling to the next position.
The separated cylindrical compartments will produce a long-lasting vibration after the roller rotates to the next position. Depending on the required effect, other models and shapes can be designed.
The Giant Roller consists of a 2-pump system and optimization software that fills 3 to 9 components of the machine.
Giant Roller – Ø4 metres
The smaller version of the Giant Roller has a diameter of 4 metres and is 3 metres wide. With the 2-pump system you can fill 38 segments in an hour. The distance that the small machine can cover in 24 hours is 1000 metres.
Giant Roller – Ø10 metres
The Giant Roller has a diameter of 10 metres and is 8 metres wide. With the 2-pump system you can fill 12 segments in an hour. The distance that the machine can cover in 24 hours is 800 meters.
Assembly and transport
Each compartment is a ‘part of the circle’ and therefore can be transported separately. After arrival on site, the compartments are mounted onto each other, and one or more of which must be filled from the local water supply. The inner circle of the roller is open and although the outer diameter is 9.66 metres, the total height of one segment is just 3.60 metres. Thus, it is low enough for normal transport on a loader. The base of one segment is 2.52 metres wide. Thus, a segment is small enough for normal transport. A single compartment weighs 10,000 kg. Neither is this an issue for normal transport.
The steel compartments of the roller can be built locally. The control units and the software are produced by us in the Netherlands. The Giant Roller is a patented machine.
Contact us
Please contact us for the patent details or any other questions about the Giant Roller.
The sale of the Giant Roller patent includes:
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Patent in 20 countries, among them USA and BRIC
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Working prototype of The Giant Roller – 4 metres high model
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Control software
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All construction CAD files of the 4 and 10 metres model
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Website and web-adress
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Corporate identity – logo
If you are interested, please e-mail to Peter Buijsman by filling in the form.
Address Giant Roller B.V.
Delfweg 48
2211VN Noordwijkerhout
The Netherlands