The Vermeer D550 horizontal directional drill origin story
The Vermeer D550 horizontal directional drill (HDD), with its impressive 100,000 foot-pounds (135,581.8 Nm) of torque and low operational sound level, is no superhero. However, this large directional drill is super productive at boring in challenging grounds over long distances and when installing large-diameter products, including oil and gas pipelines, water lines, and high-voltage electrical transmission lines. The origin story of this class-leading 550,000-pound (249,475.8-kg) maxi rig drill is a tale those in the underground construction industry should hear. It’s a story about a team from the industry’s leading underground equipment manufacturers creating a next generation of drills. A generation of drills designed to meet the needs of contractors today in a variety of environments and adapt to their future needs.
This is the origin story of the Vermeer D550.
Conceptualizing the future of large directional drills
To begin, we need to travel back in time to more than a decade ago. Large directional drilling operations were coming into their own at the time, with contractors pushing the limits of what many felt was possible with a directional drill. The industry started sharing stories of using drills to perform long bores and to bore in challenging ground conditions that were deemed undrillable.
Marvin Klein, Vermeer application specialist, remembers the details well. “As our team always does, we were spending a lot of days in the field talking and listening to contractors, understanding their needs and challenges to resolve their issues,” said Klein. “At the time, a lot of the work for large directional drills revolved around the oil and gas industry. Crews would set up a drill in remote areas and stay there for months at a time. As the population density grew, the need for large-diameter products installed in urban areas grew, and large drills with lower sound levels and a smaller footprint were needed.”
Kelly Beller, Vermeer Pipeline solution specialist, added that contractors raved about all the features packed into the Vermeer small drill line — efficient controls, low sound levels and the ability to be tracked quickly from one location to the next. “Over the years, the need for these types of features became more prominent for HDD contractors doing large-diameter work,” he explained. “Contractors we spoke to wanted a big drill with the operational ease of a small drill.”
Not an easy task, but the Vermeer team got to work designing the next generation of large directional drills. “It started as sketches after spending time in the field,” said Beller. “Eventually, those sketches became build plans that included several performance goals for what would eventually become the Vermeer D550.”
Determining performance goals for the next generation
To create an iconic large directional drill, the team at Vermeer set high expectations for the build. Jeff Utter, infrastructure solutions product manager at Vermeer, outlined a few of the goals that were “must-haves” for another generation of large directional drills. “Our attention was focused on creating a drill with class-leading torque and fast rotational speeds — contractors should have a choice,” he said. “We also knew there would be times when a bore demands drilling slowly, ultra-slowly, for precise control in unforgiving ground conditions, and other times when crews need to pump high volumes of fluid down the hole at low pressures.”
The Vermeer team determined that this next generation of large drills needed to be convenient to operate and allow new operators to get up to speed quickly. They also wanted to provide contractors with advanced operational and diagnostic information using telematics.
Physically, this drill needed to be efficient to set up, quick to track from one bore to the next and able to operate quietly. This generation of drills needed to raise the bar higher than the industry had seen before.
Prototyping a large directional drill
With performance goals and a few sketches, Vermeer engineers got to work creating what would eventually be the D550. Jason Morgan, Specialty Excavation and Pipeline engineering manager at Vermeer, said a lot goes into designing a machine to excel in all the areas the D550 does. “It’s more than selecting components for the machine and putting them together. We must make sure every physical part complements the next, and the onboard technology delivers purposeful value for the life of the machine,” he said.
One big point of emphasis was to optimize training for new operators coming from smaller Vermeer drills. That meant including a very similar operator control station — making a large drill’s controls feel like a small drill.
Testing the next generation in large directional drills
Years of work went into the first D550 prototype, and when it was complete, it was time to put the drill through its paces. “We had to make sure this drill met the performance goals we mapped out during the planning process,” said Kevin Sebolt, Vermeer new product coordinator for the D550.
“Testing the performance and durability of individual components and the machine as a whole is something Vermeer does with every new product before it’s production-ready,” explained Brad Roorda, Vermeer test application engineer. “For the D550, that process involved simulated testing of components, operational testing at a local test facility and having contractors use the drill on real projects.”
The Vermeer product development team started with cyclical testing of specific components of the prototype drill to test for machine durability. “These cycle tests focused on key areas of performance to simulate 3 to 5 years of operation,” said Roorda. “We made adjustments that were needed during these initial tests. After that, we sent it out to our testing site for hands-on testing.”
Over several months, the Vermeer design team worked the D550 to dial in the control system and analyze every detail of the drill’s performance. “We wanted to make sure every performance goal we established during the planning process was being met or exceeded,” said Morgan. “When those standards weren’t being met, we made changes until they were. After that, we continued to work on the machine.
Once everyone on the team was happy with the current prototype, it was time to put it in the hands of contractors. “After those tests were completed, our latest D550 prototype had more than 1,600 hours of drill time on it,” said Sebolt. “From there, we continued to make minor tweaks based on contractor feedback, then tested those changes and performed even more cyclical testing. Once everyone agreed the machine was ready and testing procedures were completed, we were ready to put the D550 into production.”
Telling the story of today’s D550
Powerful large drills that operate like a small drill — like the D550 — don’t just show up one day. It takes years of planning and testing to create the next generation of large directional drills. If you’re reading this, you’re likely part of the origin story of the D550, and for that, everyone at Vermeer thanks you.
So, what’s the future hold for this next generation of directional drills? Well, that’s up to the people on the job working their D550 on large-diameter underground projects. Stay tuned, because there are sure to be many stories to tell about the Vermeer D550 in the future.
If you want to learn more about all the features, benefits and specifications of the Vermeer D550 horizontal directional drill, contact your local Vermeer dealer.
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