Portuguese quarrying and aggregates company Britafiel S.A. is based in Penafiel, a city located in the hills of the north of the country, some 35km from the Atlantic coast. Established in 2006, the company's quarrying business is focused on the production of aggregates, ornamental blocks and decorative stone products extracted from the granite mineral deposits found in the region. Based around the Pedreira de Vilar and located in Duas Igrejas parish, the granite deposits found in Penafiel have a reputation for being of excellent quality, ideal for the construction and decorative stone products industries.
Using the local mineral deposits to their full potential, it is Britafiel's intention to be recognised in Portugal and internationally as a major supplier of high-quality aggregates and ornamental decorative stone products. To this end, the company now supplies (following extracting and processing) a wide range of aggregates, sand and gravel, railway ballast and other construction industry products. Also, the quarry supplies yellow and blue granite blocks and decorative stone for landscaping, including its own granite based products using 'STOCO- Natural Creative Granite Technology'.
To maximise the opportunities provided by the granite deposits found at the quarry and to satisfy ever-growing customer requirements, Britafiel has invested heavily in modern equipment solutions. "All production equipment must be able to deliver high levels of productivity, even in the most demanding situations, with proven reliability and durability, technologically modern and adapted to the highest quality standards and the requirements of current European legislation," explained Britafiel's general manager, Eng. Francisco Guimarães. "Britafiel has the most modern crushing equipment, enabling products with high-quality indexes to be obtained, which is one of the areas with major importance in this type of industry and fundamental to the success of any organisation."
Before crushing and screening, however, much work has to be done to extract the granite. Hence Britafiel underwent an intensive process in acquiring a new hydraulic excavator mounted hammer. This led to the company choosing a Rammer Performance Line R45P hammer with RD3. "We have used other hammer brands, which were also competing for the supply of a new unit, but we chose the Rammer R45P due to Rammer's reputation in quarrying and its RD3 monitoring system," explained Guimarães. "Because of this system, the customer can see online information about the hammer, such as location, working hours, maintenance intervals, and periods of use." Francisco further noted that working from his office, he can view the performance of the R45P hammer operating on one of the quarry benches without having to leave his office.
The Rammer R45P is part of the new Rammer Performance Line of hammers developed to provide solutions for a wide range of breaking tasks. Designed with proven Rammer features, the Rammer Performance Line hammers offer more than just excellent power-to-weight ratios as they also bring the quality reassurance that Rammer hammers are renowned for. The R45P and the other Performance Line hammers deliver quality and peace of mind, emphasising operator comfort through a vibration dampened and sound suppressed heavy-duty housing that minimises energy transfer to the carrier. Other standard features include Rammer's own Ramlube II greasing system, RD3/MyFleet as an option, and a fast change tool system for easy servicing and an extended product life span.
The R45P is designed to undertake a wide range of breaking duties, being suitable for carriers between 32-53 tonnes, with the 2.95-tonne hammer incorporating the latest developments in long proven breaking technology. These features include an Idle Blow Protector (IBP), ensuring the hammer cannot work until pressure is placed on the tool. This eliminates tie rod stress, reduces oil overheating and protects against premature failures. A nitrogen piston accumulator ensures that there is the ideal impact power for any application and a membrane-type accumulator dampens pressure peaks protecting carrier hydraulics.
A hammer's tool is subject to extreme wear that requires proper lubrication and care to achieve long, trouble-free life. Rammer Tool grease used with the R45P has been developed to assist the hammer in withstanding high temperatures and pressure being specially formulated to be used with Rammer products. Additionally, and with all Performance Line hammers, the R45P comes with a Ramlube II kit as standard mounted on the hammer housing to ensure optimum wear and impact protection. Featuring no external electric cables or hydraulic hoses, it is ideally suited to applications in which the hammer is required to work with more than one carrier.
As an optional extra, and one that Britafiel chose for its Rammer R45P hammer and has found to be of great benefit is the RD3 remote monitoring system. This provides detailed information about the operating hours, service intervals and GPS location of the hammer through logging onto the My Fleet platform. As noted by Britafiel's Guimarães, RD3 effectively improves fleet management, making processes more efficient, thereby improving operational profitability.
