A drilling machinery orientation apparatus, including an orientation device permanently affixed to, and integral with a structure of, a drilling machine at a point of integration. The orientation device comprises orientation means capable of determining at least an azimuth of a drill rod of the drilling machine prior to drilling a drill hole and determining a change in the azimuth of the drill rod when drilling the drill hole.

A boom for supporting a drilling and bolting tool includes a first portion including a first end and a second end, a longitudinal axis extending between the first end and the second end; a second portion including a proximal end and a distal end, the proximal end supported for translational movement relative to the first portion in a direction parallel to the longitudinal axis, the distal end configured to support the drilling and bolting tool; an actuator for moving the second portion relative to the first portion parallel to the longitudinal axis; and a fluid passage for conveying pressurized fluid between the first end of the first portion and the drilling and bolting tool adjacent the distal end of the second portion, the fluid passage positioned within the first portion and the second portion.

A method for preparing a charging plan for rock cavern excavation, in which plan drill hole locations for a round to be drilled in a tunnel face are determined in a predetermined coordinate system by using a drilling plan created by means of a computer-assisted design program. The method determines pull-out of a round on the basis of the locations of the hole ends and the topography of the rock remaining after a round blast, and designs or modifies a charging plan for a subsequent round on the basis of the thus determined pull-out.

A manually operated pneumatic rock drill positioner for mining shaft wall boring, said positioner comprising: an articulated boom having one end for releasable coupling to a mobile ground platform and another end opposite said one end thereof; a rigid elongated drill turret defining a main body with an exposed outer wall, an inner wall opposite said outer wall, and first side edge wall and second side edge wall opposite said first side edge wall, and first end and second end opposite said first end, a lengthwise rail member integrally mounted to said turret outer wall; a carriage slidingly engaging said rail member, said carriage for slidingly carrying a pneumatic drill head over said turret exposed outer wall for reciprocating motion thereof between said first end and second end thereof; drive means for power actuating said carriage sliding motion along said rail member; a cradle member releasably anchored to said boom another end and defining a well sized and shaped for releasable engagement by an intermediate section of said turret inner wall and said first side edge wall thereof; anchoring means for anchoring said turret to said cradle member; first coupling means for pivotally connecting said turret to said cradle member for relative pivotal movement of said turret about said cradle member along a first axis; second coupling means for pivotally connecting said turret to said cradle member for relative tilting movement of said turret about said cradle member along a second axis transverse to said first axis; all in such a way that the intersection of said first axis and second axis coincides with the center of gravity of said turret positioner and is located within said turret main body, providing a balanced load-free manual operation of the positioner.

A drilling machine includes a self-propelled motor vehicle, a front drilling member, and a rear drilling member, wherein at least one of the front or rear drilling members, has at least one drilling head suited to be oriented in any direction with respect to the advance direction of the machine, and wherein at least one of the front or rear drilling members has an integrated sliding means system suited to stabilize the member on the ground.

A method for calibrating sensors in a drilling apparatus provided with a movable carrier, a frame, a boom assembly mounted to rotate about a turning axis vertical to the frame, and an angle sensor for measuring the turning angle of the boom assembly and gravity-based inclination sensors for measuring inclination. When the boom assembly is turned in relation to the frame, the value of the turning angle and the inclination values provided by the inclination sensors are measured, and on the basis of the measured values, deviation of the values of the inclination sensors from the real inclination angle value are determined.

A gripping device for a drill string component handling device in a rock drill rig. Gripper element pairs are supported by a body and include at least one gripper element, being pivotally movable around a pivot joint, between a closed position, including a gripping position, and an open position. The pivotally movable gripper element is pivotal in a respective gripper plane forming a right angle to an axial direction. Each movable gripper element includes an actuation portion, which co-operates with a wedge device being movable in directions parallel to the axial direction for pivoting said movable gripper element. A method, a drill string component handling device for a rock drill rig and a rock drill rig including a drill string component handling device.

A method for estimating wear of a drill bit in percussive rock drilling. A percussion device is configured for generating shock waves in a drill bit for breaking rock. The method includes, during drilling determining a percussion frequency of the percussion device; and estimating wear of the drill bit based on the determined percussion frequency of the percussion device and a model representation of the wear of the drill bit as a function of percussion frequency, wherein the model representation is configured to output the estimated wear of the drill bit utilizing the determined percussion frequency as input signal.

A system includes a utility chassis for use with rock drills for automatic and safe drilling of target surfaces. The utility chassis has a lightweight vertical frame member with an overall center of gravity that allows for manual lift handles to be arrayed about the center of gravity for easy loading and unloading onto transportation vehicles without the need for separate heavy machinery. The utility chassis incorporates a spring-centered closed position valve for drill rotation and a three-way spring-centered retract with two open feed positions valve for increased safety. A hinged drill rod guide cap is incorporated into the drill rod guide for quick removal of the chassis from lodged or broken drill rods. The chassis is lighter, more ergonomic, and safer than prior art chasses.

An apparatus and method for planning a drilling sequence. The solution relates also to a rock drilling rig and to a computer program product. The apparatus searches several possible drilling scenarios for drilling a given drilling pattern. Different actions required by the scenarios have given costs and the executed algorithm calculates total costs of found scenarios. Scenarios with the lowest costs are selected.