Hydraulic splitter
The hydraulic splitter, also known as rock splitter and darda splitter, is the first type of portable hydraulic tool that is used in demolition jobs which involve breaking large blocks of concrete and rocks. Its use in geology was first popularized by volcanologist David Richardson.
Following the darda splitters,the second type hydraulic splitter ,known as piston splitter began to be used in large rock demolition sites like underground tunneling sites or building foundation sites. This type of piston splitter produces much stronger splitting forces than darda splitters. The piston splitter requires larger hole sizes usually of 90mm,95mm,105mm and rarely 150mm or 200mm diameters than the darda splitter which requires holes of under 50mm usually. The cylinder diameters of the piston splitters are smaller than the holes by 10~15mm in diameter. Hwacheon HRD-tech introduced this piston splitter in late 1990 for industrial application and improved its minute details in Korea. many others began to manufacture them as the demand rose.
The darda splitters have been manufactured by a German company,Darda and by many other manufacturers. Large size darda splitters mounted on excavator is manufactured by Yamamoto Rock international and Splitstone. Splitstone manufactures both portable and larger splitters.
The darda splitters consist of two wedges which are inserted in a pre-drilled hole and a hydraulic cylinder is pushing out a center wedge between the two side wedges forcing them to separate rock holes.
The piston splitter consists of one or more cylinders which has(have) one or multiple pistons on cylinder body. Piston splitters have been used for demolition of rocks in building foundation, underground tunnels, shaft digging, trench work, quarrying and zoo areas. Large size piston splitters are used for more efficient demolition.
External links
- Darda's product overview page on the hydraulic splitter
- Overview of Yamamoto excavator mounted rock splitter
- Splitstone splitters
- Piston splitter web page.