Gulf Construction Online - bauma 2022 displays best of construction, building innovations

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bauma 2022 displays best of construction, building innovations

27-10-2022

The third edition of bauma - the world's largest construction machinery trade fair in terms of exhibition space, which opened in Munich, Germany this week - is showcasing the best of construction and building material machinery as well as mining machines.

The expo which runs until October 30, will see more than 3,100 exhibitors from around 60 countries dispalying their innovative products on an exhibition space of 614,000 sq m.

Alongside numerous excavators, dump trucks, asphalting machines and mixing towers, visitors are being treated to a "crane forest" made up of more than 30 cranes, said the event organisers.

In addition to being a showcase for construction and building material machinery, bauma is serving once again this year as the central information platform for the mining industry, said the organisers.

This focus was reflected by the topic covered on Wednesday at the bauma FORUM in the innovation hall bauma LAB0: “Mining – sustainable, efficient and reliable.”

According to leading exhibitors, going "green" was the main focus of many manufacturers as much of the industry moves back towards pre-covid production levels.

"It is clear like every manufacturer we are suffering from a lack of components," remarked Peter Wildemann, the managing director for Germany at French heavy equipment manufacturer Manitouhe, referring to the still present Covid-19 logistics and production backlogs.

On the opening day, Dr. Volker Wissing, the German minister for Digital and Transport, said the trade fair exuded optimism, something that is needed in particular right now.

He was joined by Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder and Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs Hubert Aiwanger while attending the world-class trade fair.

Söder described bauma 2022 as an exhibition that offered “new perspectives and traditional stabilities.”

As part of the trade fair’s supporting programme, the bauma Forum focused on “construction methods and materials of tomorrow,” one of the five key topics to be addressed at this year’s exhibition, during the fair’s first day.

Luc Rudowski, the Head of Innovation at thyssenkrupp Industrial Solutions, Business Unit Cement Technologies, noted that the task of lowering the CO₂ emissions during the cement-production process ranked among the most crucial challenges facing the industry.

In this context, he talked to audience members about polysius pure oxyfuel technology, a pioneering process that enables the CO₂ concentration in the kiln exhaust gas to be increased to up to 100% during clinker production. The CO₂ that is subsequently separated can be used industrially or stored.

One very promising construction technique is 3D concrete printing, or additive manufacturing, he stated.

At the bauma Forum, Frank Will, who holds a professorship in construction machinery at the Technical University of Dresden, talked about monolithic, or full-wall 3D printing.

The expert noted that the process was capable of using even coarse materials and would significantly reduce work hours.

Alexander Bettenmann, a business development manager at PERI 3D Printing, sees tremendous amounts of potential in the integration of various trades into the printing process.

A specialist in framework and scaffolding, Peri has developed a deep base of know-how in 3-D contour printing.

He noted that his company is already capable of integrating empty pipes into the printing process as well as parts of the interior design like bathtub edging, kitchenettes and wood-burning stoves.

"We are open to new ideas and are looking forward to making contacts,” Bettenmann said. Peri’s 3D construction team is taking part in bauma for the first time," he added.

In her talk, Claudia Eugenin of the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile offered some additional thoughts about ways to improve the sustainability of building 3D printing.

She suggested the idea of integrating the huge amounts of waste materials produced by Chile’s mining industry into the print compound. There is also a social aspect here as well. “Roughly one-fourth of families in Chile live in poorly constructed buildings,” Eugenin said. “3D-printed houses would certainly help,” she added.

The topic “Innovative building materials and construction techniques of the future” was also reflected in the bauma Innovation Award 2022.

On Sunday, Holcim GmbH (Germany) won the award in the construction category for its CPC concrete elements. CPC stands for carbon prestressed concrete. In this process, concrete is reinforced with prestressed carbon fibers instead of the traditional choice, steel. This process creates thin, high-performance concrete plates that enable up to 80 percent of material to be saved and the carbon footprint of the construction element to be lowered by up to 75 percent.

On Day 2, the expo saw indusry experts discuss the 'Road to autonomous machines' at the bauma Forum.

Fabio Carluccio, the Head of Quarry Decarbonization at the construction-materials producer Holcim pointed out that automation was clearing the way to net-zero quarries and enhancing the appeal of the business model.

During his talk, he noted that autonomous and digital mining processes were initially facilitating, above all, increased employee safety and the centralization of operational oversight.

The expert also highlighted the close connection that exists among autonomous solutions, the use of smaller vehicles and electromobility.

"I think that the huge trucks used in today’s quarry activities, machines whose capacities are only partially utilized during many operational phases, could be replaced by much smaller autonomous vehicles. Such vehicles are easier to electrify thanks to their smaller size," Carluccio said.

He noted that the smaller e-vehicles were more cost-efficient, produced less dust and noise and generated dramatically lower CO2 emissions. They could also use narrower roads in quarries, Carluccio said.

“The opportunities for autonomous and carbon-neutral solutions are still limited today,” he acknowledged. This is why Holcim is striving to become a trailblazer in mining operations of the future, a company that will help develop new concepts and technologies as well as adopt them from other industrial branches.

Professor Dr. Martin Sobczyk of the Institute for Mechanical Engineering at the Technical Mining Academy of Freiberg, Germany, noted that automation and electrification practically belonged together.

In his talk, Prof Sobczyk pointed out that productivity in mining could be increased in a number of ways: automation and autonomization, new traction designs as well as the coupling and uncoupling of traction and operations.

He said problems in mining operations included locating machines without GPS availability and transmitting data in almost real time.

A key highlight at theexpo in the area of “smart construction equipment” was the exosystem made by Built Robotics Inc.

Gaurav Kikani, the Vice President for Business Development and Strategy at the company, presented the retrofitting system that he said could be used to easily turn any excavator into a totally autonomous trenching robot.

"Equipped with robust hardware and an eight-stage safety system, the upgrade facilitates autonomous trenching in various types of soils and depths as well as under a range of conditions. The exosystem can be installed on an excavator and then calibrated in less than a day," Kikani said.

A sign of industry recognition: The new product developed by Built Robotics was nominated for the bauma Innovation Award 2022 in the category of mechanical engineering.

The Day 3 saw leading captains of the industry put spotlight on the requirements of 'digitalization, automation and interoperability' for boosting efficiency and successfully decarbonizing mining production.

"The industry realized years ago that platform-independent data exchange was an important key to digitalization," remarked Dr Michael Schulte Strathaus, the Board member of German Mechanical Engineering Association (VDMA).

"In this regard, the VDMA is committed to establishing the OPC Unified Architecture (OPC UA)," he stated.

Dr Schulte Strathaus recommended the UPC UA Walks for anyone wanting to learn more about how this standard is being applied in business.

The association is offering the guided tours twice a day at bauma together with the Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies at RWTH Aachen University.

BGE Bundesgesellschaft für Endlagerung mbH also has a major interest in the use of OPC UA as a way to facilitate automation and digitalization.

According to the company’s expert, David Horner, the operating company owned by the German federal government envisions a preferably autonomous final nuclear waste repository – not least for the purpose of keeping people away from potentially exposed areas, particularly those underground.

On the Day 3 of bauma Forum, Horner discussed the development steps taken by BGE in recent years to develop a standardized information model for machine-to-machine interaction based on OPC UA.

Professor Elisabeth Clausen, Head of the Institute for Advanced Mining Technologies at RWTH Aachen University, is of the opinion that mining operations of the future would not only have to be smart, green and as climate neutral as possible, but also always focus on people.

“Mining companies need a culture in which employees can also be part of this development journey,” the professor stressed.

In the academic work at her institute, the main trends of automation, digitalization and electrification frequently go hand in hand.

She referred to the recently launched ELMAR project, funded by the German Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, as one of the latest examples of this.

"In this project, a consortium of research and industry partners is investigating how the decarbonization of the raw materials sector can be achieved and implemented in a holistic approach," she explained.

"The project not only involves the deployment of autonomous electric heavy-duty electric mine transport systems, but is also, in fact, about adapting the infrastructure this requires, and redesigning the relevant operational processes," remarked Prof Clausen.

In other words, it’s about far more than simply replacing diesel with electricity,” as the scientist made clear.-TradeArabia News Service