Open For Business: Silent Operation Opens Opportunities

Imagine a hospital operating room. Surgeons are performing heart surgery, but due to a demolition project within the building, they feel vibrations through the walls and the noise is so loud that the surgical team can barely concentrate. Now imagine the same scenario – heart surgery in one room and demolition in the next – but it’s silent and vibrations aren’t felt. It’s like the demolition isn’t even occurring.

While this scenario may never actually occur, it’s possible thanks to the Brokk crusher by Darda.

The Brokk crusher with its two penetrating jaws squeezes under tremendous pressure the concrete material until the pieces quietly crush into small manageable chunks. This alternative alleviates the contractor from using a hydraulic breaker, which is, of course, much louder and creates unwanted audible vibrations. The combination of the crusher and the electric power of a Brokk machine provides the contractor an option that causes no vibration and eliminates nearly all noise during operation. In the industry this is known as silent demolition, and Brokk is taking it to new levels.

“With these tools, it’s now possible for the contractor to do work during standard hours without anyone being affected by it,” said Mike Martin, inside sales manger for Brokk Inc. “It’s a tremendous improvement over working expensive graveyard shifts when businesses are closed or closing a business down completely during renovation.”

It all began in the mid ’90s when Brokk and Darda formed a partnership, shortly after Darda became a part of the Brokk Group. Darda, a world-recognized attachment manufacturer, is always looking for innovative tools to manufacture, and Brokk is always looking for unique attachments for its machines. It made for a perfect combination.

To get there, Darda and Brokk have spent years designing and perfecting the crusher attachments so they offer optimal performance and are 100 percent in tune with each Brokk unit. Darda prides itself on using state-of-the-art technology and diving into the complete workings of each product it manufactures. In engineering the crusher, Darda focused on the geometry of the jaws, their rotation, the location of the hydraulic cylinders and the level of power needed.

One especially unique feature of the Brokk crusher is the intensifier. Concrete crushing is all about pressure; the more PSI, the greater the force that can be exerted in the crushing process. Every Brokk crusher is equipped with intensifiers, which act as a second gear for the crusher. If the crusher reaches a point that is more difficult and requires more power, the intensifier automatically kicks in that extra pressure. It can nearly triple the breaking force of the unit, and it’s completely automatic.

“When it comes to confined spaces that need silent demolition, no one can do it like a Brokk with a crusher,” said Martin. “You aren’t going to see anyone that comes with a machine like a Brokk, with the power to push like the crusher and the ability to complete demolition work with little to no noise or vibration.”