The world’s largest hydraulic breaker – Atlas Copco’s HB 10000 – will prove its prowess at EPCC’s quarry in Saudi Arabia.

Dammam-based Eastern Province Cement Company (EPCC) became the first company in the Middle East to benefit from the world’s largest commercially available hydraulic breaker when it recently commissioned Atlas Copco’s

HB 10000.

Weighing an impressive 10 tonnes and with a single impact blow energy of 16,000 Joules, which can be released at a rate of up to 380 blows a minute (bpm), the HB 10000 packs a substantial punch, according to a spokesman for Atlas Copco. 

The unit is mounted on a Komatsu PC 1250 excavator.

“To put that in perspective, 16,000 Joules equals a weight force of 760 tonnes, more than the landing pressure of an Airbus A380 airplane, repeated 380 times a minute,” he explains.

Fiaz Ghani, regional business line manager, Atlas Copco Construction Tools, comments: “The HB 10000 provides an ideal solution for EPCC’s primary quarrying application. The combination of extreme power and efficiency provided by the breaker gives real operational savings, making it an unrivalled cost-effective production machine for primary rock breaking.” 

The HB 10000 breaker will be used for primary breaking applications in the hard limestone deposits which are arranged in a dam formation in the quarry. The site not only presents harsh conditions but extreme temperatures too, with ambient temperatures reaching up to 51 deg C. 

Established in 1982, EPCC is one of the leading cement companies in Saudi Arabia producing clinker and cement for both the local and global markets.

Citing the reason for choosing the HB 10000, Shafeek Ahmed, mine superintendent at EPCC, says: “We are facing very hard rock, which lowers the productivity of traditional dozers compared with a hydraulic breaker in this type of deposit, and achieved a lower cost per tonne.”

Atlas Copco and EPCC teams ... at the handover of the HB 10000.

The high power-to-weight ratio and the in-built EnergyRecovery feature provided by the HB 10000 makes it an excellent cost-effective option, the spokesman explains. 

Its lower weight and higher efficiency means less hydraulic input power is required from the carrier, while maintaining maximum impact performance. This allows smaller carriers to be used, resulting in significant savings in investment costs. 

“In fact, the HB 10000 can run on carriers between 85- to 140-tonne weight classes. With less input demanded from the hydraulic system, less fuel is needed by the carrier, which results in further lowering operating costs,” the spokesman adds.

Powered by a combination of oil and gas, the HB 10000 becomes less dependent on the carrier’s hydraulic oil supply. “This results in 70 per cent of the impact energy being regenerated by the gas in the piston accumulator and only 30 per cent by the hydraulic oil supply of the carrier. In effect, the internal control valve is able to convert the hydraulic input into a greater hydraulic output,” he emphasises.

In addition to EnergyRecovery, the HB 10000 includes other in-built features standard to the HB class such as StartSelect (manual start mode), AutoControl (automatic stroke length switching), DustProtector II (dust protection system), PowerAdapt (overload protection), ContiLube II (auto-greasing system), VibroSilenced Plus (least vibrations and lowest noise), double-tool retainer bars, Hardox reinforced breaker box, and vibration damping tie rods with Helicoil thread inserts that help in uniform load distribution and longer life of the tie rods.

Atlas Copco Construction Tools is a division of Atlas Copco. It develops, manufactures and markets hydraulic, pneumatic, and petrol-driven equipment for demolition, recycling, compaction, rock drilling and concrete applications. 

Products are marketed and sold under several brands through a worldwide sales and service organisation. The division is headquartered in Essen, Germany, and has production units in Europe, India and Asia.

Atlas Copco is a world-leading provider of sustainable productivity solutions, offering customers innovative compressors, vacuum solutions and air treatment systems, construction and mining equipment, power tools and assembly systems. 

The company was founded in 1873, is based in Stockholm, Sweden, and has a global reach spanning more than 180 countries.