Netherlands: high-tech fastening for high-speed track ... - Hilti

The magazine
of the Hilti Group
Fall/Winter 2005
Netherlands: high-tech fastening for high-speed track
Germany: a stadium seemingly lighter than air
China: Beijing redefines itself
Austria: Vienna’s hidden power plant

Contents
Page 2
Construction
4 Munich: soccer in a ceramic bowl
10 Paris: museum deploys refined technology
Worldwide
8 China: diamond systems on the freeway
9 Vienna’s hidden power plant
9 Munich: Hilti anchors a safe ride
24 Beijing redefines itself
Engineering
12 High-tech fastening for high-speed track
20 Dependable track system for high speeds
Company
26 Hilti employees help
27 Robust and stylish
27 88 doubles the luck
28 Whistling while they work
Innovation
29 Theft protection for Hilti tools
30 Diamond power
31 New Hilti laser tools
4 The air-filled hull of
Munich’s Allianz Arena
hides 7100 tons of steel.
10 Paris is getting a new
museum, the “Musée
du Quai Branly.”
The architecture of
Jean Nouvel calls for
refined technology.
12 A dowel is used for the
first time in constructing
a high-speed rail line.
20 The new dowel system
for railway construction
proved its load-bearing
capacity and reliability
in extensive tests.
Impressum
Publisher: Hilti Corporation,
Corporate Communications,
Postbox 333, FL-9494 Schaan,
Principality of Liechtenstein
Editor-in-chief: Ursula Trunz,
phone: +423 234 26 30,
ursula.trunz@hilti.com
Distribution: Tamara Eberle,
tamara.eberle@hilti.com
Layout / design: milano-graphic,
CH-8640 Rapperswil, Switzerland
Composition / lithos / printing: Buchs-
Druck, CH-9471 Buchs, Switzerland
Publication frequency: twice a year
Circulation: 36,000 (17,000 English,
10,500 German, 3,000 Spanish,
2,500 French, 2,000 Japanese,
1,000 Italian)
Cover photo: construction of the
high-speed rail line in the Netherlands
The Magazine is also available
in electronic form under
www.hilti.com/magazine
The articles published in this magazine
may be regarded as official statements
by the Executive Board only when expressly
marked as such. In the event of
differing interpretation, the original text
shall apply.
Hilti is a registered trademark of the
Hilti Corporation.
© Hilti Corporation, September 2005

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Editorial
Page 3
Hilti’s
tangible
innovation
Recently one of our developmental
engineers traveled to
Helgoland on an assignment. It is
on this German island that we are
conducting long-term testing on
the ability of nails to resist corrosion
in the harsh maritime climate.
As the engineer boarded the ferry
in Hamburg, comments of wonder
and surprise could be heard: “Look
at that! He’s even taking a Hilti
toolbox on vacation.”
The white logo on the red background,
as found on our toolboxes,
is a symbol for top performance,
innovation and competent services
worldwide. This symbol is an asset,
and one valuable enough that
it can generate returns in the form
of innovation and performance
that surpass the usual. A performance
that generates enthusiasm. To
better reflect this fact, our branding
professionals have placed the
Hilti logo in a new corporate design.
That’s why this customer
magazine appears to you to be both
familiar and new. The same will
soon be true for the Hilti toolbox,
products, packaging and other
printed material, as well as our Internet
appearance. Hilti’s new corporate
design will touch all aspects
of our company.
Today, good design is linked with
ergonomics, particularly where
tools are concerned. This year four
Hilti tools were distinguished with
renowned design awards. Read
more about this on page 27.
Engineers are also designers. An
international team of Hilti specialists
developed a pioneering system
of dowels for a high-speed rail link
in the Netherlands. The system is
noteworthy for the simplicity of its
design and application. You’ll find
the corresponding report on page
12. The developmental team was
also acknowledged within our
company when they were awarded
the Martin Hilti Innovation Prize.
This award is named after the
founder of our company and is
given each year. Unrelenting innovation
is a hallmark of our company.
Pius Baschera
Chief Executive Officer

Construction
Page 4
A stadium seemi
lighter than air

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Construction
Page 5
ngly
Germany is preparing to host the world football
championships in 2006. At the north end of
Munich a stadium has been built, designed by
Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron, that
will seat 66,000 people. It’s a hull without corners
or edges that conceals 7100 tons of steel.
By Ursula Trunz

Construction
Page 6
Suddenly, everything stopped.
No one milled around the
construction site and the workers
put down their tools. A VIP, complete
with security detail, strode
through the semi-finished arena.
German President Horst Koehler
was looking over the site that has
generated architectural interest
and that only took two-and-onehalf
years to complete.
During the day, the Allianz Arena
looks from afar like a bulbous ceramic
serving dish, and a giant one
at that. The stadium is 259 meters
long, 227 meters wide and 50 meters
high (850 x 745 x 164 ft). To
the visitor, the weaved, gleaming
white façade appears upon closer
inspection as a type of skin. At 0.2
millimeters thickness (.008 in), the
plastic material allows 90 percent
of the light to penetrate while
keeping out rain, hail, wind and
snow without suffering damage.
The skin wraps around a loadbearing
structure totaling 7100
tons of high-strength S355 steel.
48 radially-aligned steel beams
carry the ceiling load to the reinforced
concrete at the outside of
the stadium. Above this a secondary
roof of steel strutting stretches
out. Workers secured with rope and
carabiners crawled along the steel
strands like spiders after President
Koehler had left the building.
Hilti consulting engineer Volker
Römer, who looked after the stadium
site for Hilti together with
Hilti salesman Manfred Dachauer,
redirected attention to something
else. The seemingly light-as-air cocoon
surrounding the stadium consists
of individual, rhomboid-form
foil cushions. There are 2784 of
these cushions that range between
16 and 32 square meters (172 and
344 sq ft) in size and cover a total
area of 64,000 square meters
(688,889 sq ft). The cushions are
fastened to steel netting above the
steel beams. Viewed up-close, the
light appearance of the edge-free
structure gives the ceramic bowl
the look of a round air mattress or
inflatable boat.
The cushions are each outfitted
with as many as eight fluorescent
tubes and color filters, allowing
the frame of the Alliance Arena to
light up in white as well as blue or
red. Hilti was brought in to fasten
the fluorescent tubes. Throughpenetration
of the base steel was
not allowed and the protective
coating could not be damaged.
This was a case for the Hilti X-BT
threaded fastener, a blunt-ended
fastener for setting at short depths
that shows its strength in thin,
coated, high-strength steel. Even a
tensile load of 2 kN, caused by the
leverage exerted by the angle of
fastening in the Allianz Arena, is
no problem for the Hilti X-BT. The
Hilti X-BT was also the right
choice for fastening the brackets
for rainwater pipes to the steel
beams.
Volker Römer had good reason to
climb the stands of the stadium that
hold as many as 66,000 people. To
ensure that the spectators are as
close to the action as possible, the
lower tier of stands rises at 24 degrees,
the middle tier at 30 degrees
and the top tier at 34 degrees. The
seats, as Volker Römer showed, are
anchored in the concrete by Hilti
One coat
is enough
Protection against fire is particularly
important wherever people
congregate. Fireproofs, a German
company specializing in fire
protection, carried out most of
the corresponding work in the Allianz
Arena, mainly using Hilti
products in the process: firestop
jackets for sealing pipe penetration,
firestop foam for sealing cable
penetration and firestop
bricks for light drywall partitions.
Where cables and pipes both cut
through a single opening, Fireproofs’
workers used a mineral
fiber slab that was coated with
Hilti CP 673 firestop paint. This
provided the required firestop
duration in a single coat, and a
dry-film thickness of 0.7 millimeters
(.03 in). This type of strong
performance and efficiency are a
tremendous advantage when
construction schedules are short
and deadlines are tight.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Construction
Page 7
technology. A drilling wagon, on
which two Hilti TE 16 rotary hammers
were simultaneously in operation,
reduced drilling time by
half. “To fasten the seats – and the
railing – the workers used the Hilti
HST stud anchor,” said Volker
Römer.
The Allianz Arena in Munich: a secondary roof of steel strutting is suspended above
48 radially-aligned, high-strength steel beams. The brackets for the rainwater pipes were fastened
to the beams with the Hilti X-BT threaded fastener.
He then climbed to the top level of
the Allianz Arena, where the ventilation
system is located that is
hidden from the public. The subcontractor
hired to install the system
had a difficult time, that is until
Volker Römer told them about
the modular Hilti MI system to
support medium and heavy pipes.
“The system is so flexible that I
took care of planning together with
the customer directly on location,”
he said. The system allows for adjustments
to be made while the
pipes are being set. This is an advantage
that welded pipes don’t offer
and that provides the user with
greater efficiency as well as lower
costs.
The first match in the Allianz Arena,
named after the Munich-based insurance
company, took place at the
end of May. It is the hope of the
planners and operator that the soft
external features of the “ceramic
bowl” will help to soothe any aggressiveness
of the crowd.
While workers moved like spiders along the steel strutting,
Hilti’s expertise was required to fasten the fluorescent lamps
and seats and to install the ventilation system.

Worldwide
Page 8
China: Diamond
systems on the freeway
Above: Almost half of the bridge over the Changsan River has been
dismantled. Hilti diamond saws worked efficiently and with care.
Small images at right: Charlie Ren, diamond specialist with Hilti China, regularly visited
the site to provide support. The detached segments of the bridge were carefully removed
while boats plied the river below.
Counting the trucks was almost impossible.
The freeway running southwest from Shanghai
toward Hangzhou is severely congested. But the
capacity of this route in Zhejiang province is to
be doubled. Old bridges must make way for new.
Hilti diamond saws sliced through the concrete
on the old bridge over the Changshan River.
Trucks rumbled over the
bridge above as transport
ships slipped by below. One shudders
to think of the consequences
should a section of concrete have
fallen while one half of the bridge
was being demolished. It’s a tough
job that demanded a great deal of
care and precision. The workers
used three Hilti DS-TS 32 saw
heads with the appropriate blades
that were powered by Hilti D-LP 32
hydraulic units. Horizontal cuts
were made with the electricallypowered
Hilti DS-WS 15 diamond
wire saw as well as the lighter, easily-handled
Hilti DS-WS 10 that
also draws its power from the Hilti
D-LP 32 hydraulic unit. The wire
saws cut through concrete on the
bridge as thick as 45 centimeters.
Wall saws and wire saws, in fact,
also sliced through the reinforcing
bars in the concrete, either transversely
or longitudinally, without
difficulty. Even the bridge’s tensioning
cables were cut through in
this way. Holes were drilled in the
concrete, where the diamond wires
were fed through, with a Hilti DD
130 diamond coring system. The
equipment thus formed an integrated
system that ensures precision
and optimum efficiency.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Worldwide
Page 9
Vienna’s hidden
power plant
In the Austrian capital of Vienna,
where the Danube canal
begins, one will find the Nussdorf
dam facility. A hydroelectric generating
station is now being installed,
although practically invisible
from the outside, within the
dam system, that is under protection
as an historic facility. The
power plant will be outfitted with
12 matrix turbines, a new and
more economical technology for
generating electricity. The small
turbines can be installed in existing
water plants with only slight
construction activity, and generate
a very high performance in
spite of the limited height that the
water will fall.
To guarantee the stability of the
turbines that will function underwater,
anchors were used to fasten
them to the baseplate. The construction
company completing
the work drilled the baseplate
holes with the Hilti DD 250-E
diamond coring system and then
filled them with Hilti HIT-RE 500
injectable mortar. To ensure that
no air bubbles “sneak in”, the
workers also used Hilti HIT-SZ
build up plugs. For the threaded
rods, that were rotated into the
mortar to a depth of 1000 mm
(39 in), tractive force of 220 kN
was calculated for a center
distance of more than 60 cm
(24 in) and water saturation. For
threaded rods with an anchorage
depth of 500 mm (19.5 in) the
load is 140 kN.
The small power plant in Vienna’s
Nussdorf section will produce
some 24.6 million kilowatt hours
of energy a year in almost total
secrecy, supplying approximately
10,000 Vienna households with
clean energy.
Hilti anchors
a safe ride
The Hilti HVZ dynamic
adhesive anchor
system directs the
forces generated by
the simulator cabin
into the concrete.
Once installed here, small turbines will generate electricity
for 10,000 Vienna households.
In developing the increasingly
complex interface between people
and machines, simulator testing
is the preferred tool in vehicle manufacturing.
Of particular interest is
how the test subject handles operating
elements in dangerous situations.
But this can only be tested if
the driver and ambient environment
are not endangered. Driving simulation
is the perfect development
tool for allowing critical situations
to be created and reproduced without
the threat of danger.
The department of vehicle technology
at the Technische Universität
München has introduced a dynamic
truck-driving simulator. The movement
system gives the driver the
sense of acceleration and of driving
through curves and can move the
nearly one ton driver’s cab in all directions
in a highly dynamic manner.
The dynamic forces that develop
must always be safely
directed toward the concrete base
material. Hilti mastered the requirements.
For the limited thickness
of the base material and the
highly dynamic normal loads, the
correct products were the Hilti
HVU-TZ adhesive capsule and the
Hilti HAS-TZ anchor rod with the
dynamic set and the Hilti HIT-HY
150 injectable mortar. Together
these items form the Hilti HVZ dynamic
adhesive anchor system,
which corresponds to German approval
standards*.
* DIBt approval Z-21.3-1692

Construction
Page 10
Paris: refined technology
for a museum
In Paris a new museum, the “Musée du Quai
Branly,” is taking shape on the banks of the Seine.
Past cultures will be presented amid futuristic
architecture that calls for the latest technology.
Depending on the time of day, the Eiffel Tower casts shadows
on the museum. At the right side of the image, installation channels
fastened to steel beams.
By Ursula Trunz
After more than a century, it
still attracts thousands of
visitors a day who stand in line to
ride the lifts more than 300 meters
(984 ft) up for one of the most picturesque
views of Paris. But most
visitors to the Eiffel Tower will fail
to notice the construction site on
the Quai Branly, in the Tower’s
shadow, on the Seine’s left bank.
At the initiative of French President
Jacques Chirac, Paris will
have another museum. The Musée
du Quai Branly will house more
than 300,000 historical works of
art from Africa, Oceania, Asia and
the Americas in highlighting the
union between cultural, religious
and ethnologic developments. The
chance to experience lost civilizations
from four continents, in a futuristic
setting, will likely be possible
in spring 2006. Leading
French architect Jean Nouvel created
the plans for the museum.
Now it’s up to additional architects,
engineers and contractors to realize
the plans in a technically refined
and efficient manner. The
various teams ensure that construction
proceeds through daily
discussions and exchanges.
Antonio Das Neves, General Manager
of “Île de France Plâtrerie,” a
drywall specialist, was confronted
with an unusual problem in that he
had to affix a horizontal construction
on the steel, load-bearing
The Musée du Quai Branly should open in spring of 2006.
Above: Hilti’s Gilles Christien (left) is there when Alain Fleury
needs him. Antonio Das Neves (image at right) also found
the right solution thanks to Gilles Christien.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Construction
Page 11
structure, that would support a suspended
ceiling. Due to the exposed
location of the ceiling, which will
cover a generous passageway out
of doors, it will be exposed to
strong winds and, as a result, substantial
tensions and pressures. Mr.
Das Neves initially decided on a
welded mechanical solution and
shared this with Gilles Christien,
who looks after the construction
site for Hilti. Mr. Christien immediately
saw the disadvantages of
the original system and instead
suggested Hilti installation channels.
This system is modular and
allows flexible usage, can be
adapted to the changes that are all
but unavoidable on a construction
site of this size, is unique and simple
to calculate thanks, to the corresponding
software, and quick to
assemble. These advantages were
lacking in the original solution and
they spoke clearly in favor of following
Mr. Christien’s idea. Mr.
Christien and Mr. Das Neves became
partners when speaking to
the engineers who calculated the
force loads that would influence
the ceiling and they traveled together
to Belgium to speak with
the manufacturer of the suspended
ceiling about its assembly.
Cutting assembly time
in half with the right
solution
Mr. Das Neves races from one
meeting to the next, “I’m pleased
that the issue of the suspended ceiling
has been settled once and for
all,” he admits. The three kilometers
of channels (1.9 mi) were installed
in two weeks, instead of the
four that had been originally
planned. The modular Hilti installation
channels are so flexible that
alterations can be made at the construction
site. This allows, for example,
installation of ventilation
pipes at a later date. Instead of
merely making mathematical observations,
the Hilti-developed
software makes individual and efficient
calculations.
Mr. Christien takes another look at
the progress being made on the
outdoor ceiling before striding energetically
into the building to
where the museum’s theater will
be. This is where the success story
of the Hilti installation channels
began. Project manager Alain
Fleury, also a drywall specialist,
contacted the various suppliers for
the suspended ceiling. The job was
not a typical one for him either.
“How is a drywall specialist supposed
to suddenly carry out very
complicated mechanical work?”
he wondered. He then tells of how
he found someone who took his
concerns seriously in Gilles
Christien. “He was a partner who
not only provided the material but
also offered technical support.”
It pays to carefully
study all possible
solutions
The solution suggested by Gilles
Christien allowed for the hanging
of a suspended wooden ceiling that
will make a significant architectural
impression but that places a
great challenge on the assembly requirements.
The Hilti HUS screw
anchor was used to fasten the
brackets to the concrete ceiling.
The installation channels, that run
completely through the theater,
were then attached. Wooden elements
attached to threaded rods
were then hung from the installation
channels, forming both horizontal
and vertical waves. As Alain
Fleury tells it, “I gained a full work
week during the time we installed
more than a kilometer of channels
and was able to have my people
work elsewhere on the site. This
was an experience that showed me
how valuable it is to closely analyze
possible solutions in order to
choose the best one. If we hadn’t
done this we would have certainly
selected a welded mechanical solution.”
Once the Musée du Quai Branly
opens, none of the Hilti products,
such as those used to anchor the
load-bearing structure to the concrete
foundation, will be visible.
This is, simply put, the art of Hilti:
offering comprehensive and targeted
consultation and supplying
the correct products so that no one
need ask, once the project is complete,
how modern architecture is
realized in the first place.
In the museum’s theater installation channels were fastened to concrete.

High-tech fasten
for high-speed tr

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
ing
ack
Soon, high-speed trains will cross the Netherlands.
The construction of the rail bed requires
a specially-developed dowel system that may
very well influence modern railway construction
in other countries.
By Ursula Trunz

Engineering
Page 14
A signal – a rebar: Danny Mangal moves the detector over the substructure,
covered with geotextile, to locate rebar. His comment (image at right):
“The detector is like a friend.”
The dual-line, high-speed railway line stretches from Amsterdam to the Belgian
border. Soon the railway’s sleepers will be laid out over the geotextile.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Engineering
Page 15
Don’t forget, you’re
below sea level
here,” says engineer Harry Kolk
as his eyes follow the light-colored
band of concrete that vanishes into
the horizon. We’re at the site of the
dual-line, high-speed railway being
built between Amsterdam and
the Belgian border, part of it on reclaimed
land now protected by
dikes. Harry Kolk’s gaze returns to
the spot on which he’s standing.
Thick steel dowels project at his
feet: high-tech fastenings for highspeed
track on which trains will
run at up to 330 kilometers per
hour. In a few minutes, the dowels
will disappear under the layer of
concrete poured around the sleepers
on the slab track.
The same day, at a different location
on this band of concrete,
Danny Mangal opens his ears: “I
listen for the signal of course, but
that’s about all there is to it,” he
says. The signal, indicating the position
of a rebar in the concrete, is
emitted by the Hilti Ferroscan detector.
“Meet a good friend of
mine,” says Danny, pointing to the
Hilti Ferroscan unit. His workmates,
using a template, have
marked out the projected positions
of the steel dowels on the strip of
non-woven fabric, a so-called geotextile,
covering the concrete substructure.
Danny Mangal runs the
Hilti Ferroscan detector along the
geotextile to ensure that the positions
of the holes for the dowels
don’t coincide with the steel reinforcing
bars in the concrete below.
Also on the same day, Peter
Schaap, the man responsible for all
of the work being carried out,
strides into his temporary site office.
His tousled hair gives him the
look of someone who has just
Peter Schaap: “Each construction
team must complete
300 meters every day.”
leaned out the window of a fastmoving
train. “We’re setting about
750 dowels a day, and each construction
team has to complete a
stretch of 300 meters every day.”
The south stretch of the track between
Rotterdam and the Belgian
border has to be completed by
April 2006 and the north stretch
from Amsterdam to Rotterdam six
months later. After testing, the
trains will go into scheduled service
on the total of 90 kilometers of
track a year after the completion
date.
Flashback to the Hilti
Research Center in
Liechtenstein, Christmas
2003: down in the cellar, powerful
hydraulic units are running day and
night, generating a hydraulic pressure
of up to 280 bar that applies a
shear force of 33 kilonewtons and
simulated tensile stress ten million
times to each of the dowels on the
test rigs in 4 tests running simultaneously.
You can read more about
the tests on page 20.
The solution with the dowels was
developed toward the end of the
summer of 2003 by a team of Hilti
consultants and research engineers
who specialize in shear connection
and the construction of slab track
rail systems. The system calls for
nine round stainless steel dowels to
be set in the center section of each
of the 6.4-meter concrete slabs that
form the superstructure of the
track. These dowels will take up
the high dynamic forces generated
by the high-speed trains in transverse
and longitudinal directions,
without displacement, and transfer
them to the solid substructure. The
type of steel chosen by the Hilti
specialists remains their secret but
it has been made clear that the tensile
yield strength of A4 stainless
steel would not have been adequate
for the purpose. With a view to preventing
direct contact between the
superstructure and substructure,
already separated by the geotextile,
the Hilti engineers wrapped
the upper sections of the round
bars in a thin plastic foil.
As temperature fluctuations cause
expansion and contraction of the
concrete slabs of the superstructure,
provision was made for an expansion
joint with a width of 10
centimeters between each of the
slabs. The dowels at both ends of
the concrete slab have also been
designed to allow longitudinal expansion.
At the same time, these
dowels are also required to take up
high dynamic loads, although only
in a transverse direction. The Hilti
engineers proposed use of a round
bar, the upper part of which has
two flat surfaces, like a bar that has
been squashed from both sides.
The lateral forces act on these flat
areas. To ensure correct behavior
of the dowels under the influence
Switch to dowels
Civil engineering works such as
bridges or viaducts have their
own set of rules when it comes to
behavior under dynamic loading.
Slab track railway substructures
were originally cast in concrete in
the form of a trough. The trough’s
side walls took up transverse
forces. Later, a ridge-like hump in
the center part of the substructure,
known as a corbel, took over
from the trough design.
As a result of being built on piles,
the characteristics of this highspeed
rail track substructure in
the Netherlands can be compared
to those of a bridge. Accordingly,
the engineers were required
to even further optimize
the dynamic behavior of the superstructure
relative to the statically
fixed load-bearing substructure
layer, the settlementfree
plates. “We therefore had to
adapt the Rheda 2000 system by
making use of segmented short
slabs individually designed for
each settlement-free plate,” explained
Detlef Obieray, Deputy
Project Manager with Rheda
2000 vof, the Infraspeed subcontractor
responsible for constructing
the track. A corbel was
out of the question as the substructure
with a thickness of 70
centimeters had already been
completed. As the thickness of
the superstructure could not exceed
24 centimeters, the depth
of coverage over the corbel
would not have been adequate in
any case. Hilti devised the solution
with the Hilti HCD-C and
HCD-O concrete dowels specially
for this project.

Engineering
Page 16
of the temperature-dependent displacement
of the concrete slab relative
to the substructure, the Hilti
engineers specified rectangular
guides, also made from stainless
steel, to be placed over the connecting
dowels. The expansion
space within the guides is filled
with polystyrene foam. Two of
these outer dowels are positioned
at each end of the concrete slabs.
Both types of dowel, the Hilti
HCD-C for the central area of the
slab and the Hilti HCD-O for the
ends, are set in the substructure
with Hilti HIT-RE 500 adhesive
mortar. Both types are equipped
with a rubber O-ring at their top
ends, designed to absorb initial
loads and thus prevent the dowel
punching through the concrete surface.
The O-ring is held in place by
a plastic cap on the dowels at the
center section.
This technology, the
brainchild of experienced
specialists, proved
itself in tests that continued even
over the 2003 Christmas holiday
period. Thanks to many years of
experience gained in road tunnel
tests, the Hilti engineers were also
able to meet the corrosion resistance
requirements without difficulty.
After a development period
of only seven months, the Hilti system
for concrete to concrete connection
was ready for implementation
and was given preference over
other proposed solutions.
The story now takes a leap forward
in time to May 2005. Engineer
Harry Kolk, responsible for construction
of the railway, has returned
to his office. Being an engineer,
words are generally not
enough for him – he needs drawings.
Harry Kolk’s pen darts to and
fro on the plans pinned to the white
board on the wall. He mentions the
poor subsoil and makes a sketch of
the various layers: peat or clay with
a layer of sand between. Even a
cow running across the meadow
generates ground oscillations.
That’s how the ground behaves
here below sea level. This work of
modern engineering thus began
with the time-honored technique
of driving piles into the ground –
to a depth of up to 30 meters. The
track, and its dynamic behavior,
can thus in many ways be compared
to a bridge or viaduct. Read
more about this in the box “Switch
to dowels” on page 15.
“Safety, quality and
construction progress –
that’s the order of my priorities”,
explains Harry Kolk. The Infraspeed
consortium founded by technology
leaders Siemens, planners
and contractors Fluor Daniel and
the BAM construction company,
has not only planned and built the
high-speed rail track, it has also
Harry Kolk: “We need a
dependable system that offers
a simple application.”
been contracted by the Dutch authorities
to look after its maintenance.
“We need a dependable system.
Maintenance will otherwise
be very costly,” Harry Kolk continues,
laughing mischievously.
“But these dowels are expected to
last a hundred years!” Harry works
for Rheda 2000 vof, a joint venture
of BAM, the Dutch construction
giant and Pfleiderer, the German
specialist in concrete rail sleepers
and originator of the Rheda 2000
slab track system.
In comparison with conventional
methods employed in the construction
of maintenance-free slab
track, use of the Hilti dowels has
allowed the thickness of the concrete
layer in the superstructure to
be reduced by 10 cm to only 24 cm.
“We had to optimize the thickness
of the slab track in order to meet
requirements for the free-space
profile of the new high-speed
line,” explains Harry Kolk. “In total,
only 24 cm remains for the
thickness of the Rheda slab. The
challenge, on the one hand, was to
come up with a method of fastening
the Rheda slab to the engineered
substructure and, on the
other, to optimize the construction
process required with this fastening
system. If you consider that the
task is to lay a concrete band with
a length of 160,000 meters, the importance
of a highly efficient logistic
process becomes obvious.
Use of a high-tech product not only
simplifies the job, it also reduces
the time-related risks and costs
tremendously.”
The next day, Jan Valstar, one of
the team from a subcontractor of
Rheda 2000 vof, also has time for
a chat. He and his two colleagues
are well ahead with their dowelsetting
work and have now established
quite a lead over the next
workgroup in the process. His job
is to drill the 44 mm holes, to blow
out the holes with compressed air
and to then inject Hilti HIT-RE 500

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Engineering
Page 17
Images at left: the upper part of
the dowel, for the center section
of the superstructure slab,
is covered with plastic so that
super- and substructure do not
have direct contact. Adhesive
mortar is injected into the holes
and the dowels are twisted in.
Images below: the dowels for
the edges of the slabs are flattened
on the side. Thanks to
the expansion space, longitudinal
expansion of the connecting
dowels is possible.
The sleepers and rebar for the superstructure of the left rail bed are in place and the dowels have been set.
On the right, the superstructure has already been poured. The expansion joints are visible.

Engineering
Page 18
adhesive mortar from the Hilti P
8000 dispenser, insert the dowel
and finally check that the 2 mm annular
gap is filled completely. “On
a good day, we manage up to 1,000
dowels,” Jan Valstar tells us. “We
started in June 2004 and should be
finished by December 2005. We
were trained to set the dowels correctly
and efficiently by a representative
from the local Hilti organization.”
In the meantime, engineer
Peter de Waard is
busy with some calculations
– his figures provide a
forecast for the ten-week period
ahead. The materials required by
the various teams have now to be
ordered from Hilti Benelux. The
dowels are manufactured in
Switzerland and supplied directly
to the jobsite. As the site’s location
changes day by day, Peter de Waard
includes a very precise description
of the route to the site when he
places his order. “To begin with,
we received the outer dowels already
assembled with the guides.
But that wasn’t very efficient because
we had to remove the guides
before we could install the dowels,”
he remembers. Hilti now supplies
both parts separately and the
polystyrene foam is fixed inside
the guides to prevent it falling out.
Peter de Waard values the quality
of Hilti products, quality that is
also reflected in the logistics system.
Peter de Waard: quality must
continue into logistics.
Peter Meijvis: within 30 years
the dowels will experience
52 million load cycles.
There is currently no slab track as slim as the one in the Netherlands.
The concrete for the superstructure, being poured here, is only
24 centimeters thick.
One man, however, is
looking even further
into the future. He is head of
the team of engineers responsible
for planning the railway track and
his name is Peter Meijvis. He confronts
us with some astonishing
figures: “Over a period of 30 years,
the high-speed trains will travel up
and down the track a million times.
Each train has 52 axles and each
axle exerts a dynamic load on the
rails and track. That adds up to 52
million load cycles. We ran a numerical
simulation of this at a research
center in the Netherlands,
but we couldn’t rely on that alone.
Independent experts were therefore
called in to provide additional
experience and to find the right solution
for the connection between
the substructure and superstructure
of the slab track.”
As the surface of the substructure
is rough, dynamic forces from the
superstructure will be taken up by
the selected polypropylene geotex-

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Engineering
Page 19
tile. “At the planning stage, for
safety reasons, we had to conservatively
reduce the resulting coefficient
of friction from the measured
0.4 to a value of 0.1 in order to account
for vertical dynamic effects,”
continues Peter Meijvis. After
reducing friction in this way,
90% of the load is taken up by the
dowels. “The total of 13 dowels in
each concrete slab – 9 in the center
section and 2 at each end – is
capable of taking up this load with
the required high safety factor. In
theory, a lower number of dowels
would have been adequate, but we
decided on a redundant system because
even just a scratch in one of
the round bars could be enough to
initiate a fatigue fracture.”
Drawings of the entire stretch of
track hang along the walls of the
long corridor leading to Peter Meijvis’s
office. Although he knows
the details on the drawings by
heart, he’s still amazed to see how
this light-colored strip of concrete
is taking shape as it progresses
through the Dutch countryside. Peter
Meijvis and his colleagues will
almost certainly be sitting in one of
the very first trains. All of their
planning and problem-solving will
then seem to whiz past in a kind of
time-lapse playback as they travel
along the track at high speed.
Hilti Concrete Dowels proved
their load-beaning capacity and
reliebility in extensive tests.
Read more on page 20.
The new
railway pioneers
Project Manager Theo Winter has
an admission to make: “I certainly
had a few sleepless nights.” He is in
charge of all the work on the highspeed
rail track that the Infraspeed
consortium has entrusted to the
subcontractor Rheda 2000 vof. To
begin with, he and his team had no
answer to the question of how the
concrete superstructure could be
connected to the substructure. But
then the Hilti engineers laid their
proposal on the table and this
stretch of track between Amsterdam
and the Belgian border began
to take on pioneering character.
Mr. Winter, why did the concrete
to concrete connection
cause so much of a headache?
Theo Winter: Such a thin superstructure,
as is demanded by this
project, is the first of its kind in the
world. Not only that, but the points
at which the holes could be drilled,
and thus the number of holes for
anchoring the dowels in the substructure,
were strictly limited to
three zones. And, of course, the
concreting work for the substructure
had already been completed.
These limitations meant that the
use of conventional methods
could be ruled out.
Only 8 kilometers of the total of
about 90 kilometers from Amsterdam
to the Belgian border is laid
on ballast. The rest is slab track.
For about 60 kilometers of this –
that’s about two thirds of the entire
stretch – we’re now using the Hilti
concrete dowels.
Theo Winter: “The thin superstructure in this project
is the first of its kind in the world.”
What impresses you most
about this solution?
Theo Winter: Its simplicity – in
the true sense of the word and in
two ways. The dowels for the
center section of the superstructure
slab stand out, above all, due
to the simplicity of their design
and their ease of use. The installation
process can be easily organized
because it is so straightforward.
This method pays for itself,
especially when labor costs are so
high.
Did it allow you to raise
efficiency?
Theo Winter: Yes, certainly! When
I make a comparison with conventional
methods, we are definitely
making faster progress with the
Hilti dowel system.
Despite rapid progress, quality
still has to be guaranteed.
Theo Winter: The low tolerances
demanded by this project are an
indication of high quality and, at
the same time, are a great challenge.
We measure rail alignment
to a tenth of a millimeter! A tolerance
of only 2 millimeters is permissible
over a length of 5 meters.
And don’t forget that the trains will
reach speeds of up to 330 kilometers
per hour in tests and 300 kilometers
per hour in normal operation.
That makes precision essential.
The long service life of the railway
is also a question of quality, and I
look upon that as an even greater
challenge. The substructure has
been designed to last 100 years
and the superstructure has a projected
service life of at least 50
years. Maintenance of the rail
track for the first 25 years will be
the financial responsibility of the
Infraspeed consortium. The scope
of maintenance required must not
increase for a further 5 years beyond
this period. This has been
agreed by contract with the Dutch
government authorities. High
quality is thus also in our own interest.

Hilti Research Center in Liechtenstein: to test the dowel system,
powerful hydraulic units ran day and night.
Dependable
system for
high speeds
Nothing can be left to chance where trains are to race along a track
at a speed of 300 kilometers per hour. Hilti therefore developed a new
shear connector system for a high-speed rail track in the Netherlands.
Thorough testing, completed in a remarkably short time thanks to
the availability of high-performance test facilities, has provided verification
of the Hilti Concrete Dowel’s loading capacity and dependability.
By Jakob Kunz*

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Engineering
Page 21
Rheda 2000 slab
concrete sleepers
superstructure
substructure
outer dowels inner dowels outer dowels
interface
With a view to minimizing
the height of construction,
the slab track of the high-speed rail
system under construction in the
Netherlands has an exceptionally
low profile. This led to use of a
concrete slab sandwich design
with the substructure and superstructure
separated by an intermediate
geotextile layer (image 1). In
conventional slab track designs,
transverse and longitudinal forces
are taken up by the walls of the
trough formed by the substructure.
In this particular case, however, the
forces involved were required to
flow between the slabs through a
system of connectors. The Infraspeed
Consortium therefore commissioned
a number of companies
to propose, design and test a system
of connectors suitable for the
task. The solution put forward by
Hilti was subsequently selected for
use in the construction of this
stretch of high-speed track.
High loads in a corrosive
environment
The primary requirement to be fulfilled
by the Infraspeed system –
allowance for longitudinal movement
between the slabs as a result
of deflection, shrinkage or temperature
differences – resulted in a
concept comprising fixed inner
dowels and displaceable outer
dowels. These must be capable of
taking up not only the high dynamic
loads of normal railway operation,
but also the static loads
that may occur in extreme situations
such as derailment. In order
to ensure that loads occurring in
the system do not exceed the permissible
values at any point, a finite
elements program specially
developed by Hilti for applications
Image 1: Hilti slab connection system with inner and outer dowels.
Image 2: Model of numeric simulation.
center track line
in the field of fastening technology
was used to check the distribution
of forces (image 2). Furthermore,
as water is able to seep between the
concrete slabs and, for part of its
length, the track is situated close to
the coast where the atmosphere
contains chloride, consideration
also had to be given to exposure of
the connectors to climatic influences.
This combination of a corrosive
environment and high loads
meant that great care had to be
taken in selecting a suitable corrosion-resistant,
high-strength steel.
Verification
through testing
Loading capacity verification testing
formed a significant part of the
development of the Hilti composite
slab system. The Hilti test engineers
were required to determine
the fatigue strength and expected
deformation of the connectors in
order to provide verification of the
system’s serviceability limit state
and its loading capacity up to failure.
They produced concrete blocks
for the substructure according to
the specification used for the rail
track in the Netherlands. Subsequently,
a Hilti diamond coring machine
was used to drill the holes in
which the concrete dowels were to
be set with Hilti HIT-RE 500 injectable
adhesive mortar. To be on
the safe side, the situation where no
friction is transmitted by the intermediate
geotextile layer was simulated
by laying two sheets of Teflon
foil, each with a thickness of 2 mm,
on the surface of the substructure.
The concrete block of the superstructure
was cast on top of this
(image 3). B35 concrete was used
for this purpose, exactly as specified
for the project in the Netherlands.

Engineering
Page 22
To allow application of the specified
loads and achievement of the
necessary displacement, the Hilti
test engineers anchored the substructure
rigidly to the supporting
floor of the test area. A hydraulic
cylinder attached to a steel frame
set up around the test specimen was
used to apply loads to the superstructure.
In this way, loads of up to
250 kN could be applied vertically
and the specified horizontal displacement
also achieved (image 4).
A separate test rig was constructed
by the engineers for the purpose of
applying the static loads that occur
until failure (image 5). These loads
were allowed to act only in the direction
of the application of the
force, as any longitudinal displacement
in the system is of no further
significance due to the considerable
plastic deformation to be expected
under these loading conditions. The
test specimen, however, had to be
supported adequately to prevent
torsion of the superstructure.
Evaluation
of the system
a) Tests with alternating loads at
service load level and until failure
by fracture
The alternating dynamic loads
specified by the Infraspeed Project
were applied up to 10 million times
to specimens equipped with inner
and outer dowels. After testing at
service load level, the engineers
measured the relative displacement
between the substructure and
superstructure occurring during alternation
between minimum and
maximum load. This amounted to
0.4 or, respectively, 0.6 mm and
Image 3: Test specimen before casting the superstructure.
Image 4: Test setups for Woehler tests.
Image 5: Static loading test setup.
was thus within the specified tolerance.
Testing of the system then
continued at increased load levels
and with fewer cycles, the loads being
increased until failure by fracture.
Image 6 shows the load-displacement
curves obtained before
these tests and after the individual
steps in the application of loads in
the fatigue strength tests. This
made it possible to determine the
system’s rigidity or, in other words,
the increase in force per millimeter
of displacement of the inner and
outer dowels. System rigidity provides
a basis for the definitive calculation
of load distribution between
the inner and outer dowels.
b) Determination of fatigue strength
In order to be able to draw a
Woehler curve (stress-number
curve) for the system, the engineers,
in a second step, applied various
levels of alternating dynamic
loads and determined the number of
cycles achieved before fracture in
each case. When two concrete slabs
connected in this way are subjected
to shear loads, various amounts of
concrete break away, depending on
the load applied, before the dowels
fail. This results in the dowels being
subjected to greatly varying combinations
of shear and bending forces.
Accordingly, the tests were carried
out with the greatest possible range
of stress amplitudes. The mean failure
load was determined by regression
analysis as a function of the
number of load cycles. It was possible
to calculate the 5% fractile
from scatter in the deviation of the
test values from the mean value.
This model, used to determine the
function of the mean values and the
desired fractile from the test results,

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Engineering
Page 23
is suitable for use even when only
few test results are available. Accordingly,
fatigue strength could be
estimated relatively reliably even
after a series of only nine tests, thus
helping the engineers to meet the
tight schedule.
Test results
All of the dowels failed at their full,
round cross section where set in the
concrete of the substructure. Fatigue
fracture occurred at 40 to 120
mm below the surface of the concrete
as this is where the point of
maximum bending moment and
thus maximum stress amplitude is
located due to elasticity of the concrete
in which the dowel is set. With
higher loads, the point of fatigue
fracture was located deeper in the
concrete than with lower loads. This
is because a higher load also causes
more concrete to break away around
the dowel, with the result that the
point of maximum stress then lies
deeper in the concrete.
Evaluation
Image 7 shows the test results and
the mean value function derived
from them, as well as the function
for the 5% fractile. 52 million loading
cycles were taken to represent
30 years of operational service. Although
the tests were only run to
maximum of 15 million cycles, the
calculated function for resistance to
fatigue can be extrapolated to the
total of 52 million load cycles as
stainless steel has been found to
posses a form of long-term fatigue
resistance at over 10 million load
cycles. A mean fatigue strength of
86.8 kN could thus be calculated,
the characteristic value being
75.4kN.
Image 6: Load-displacement curves before and after load application.
Image 7: Woehler curve.
Image 8: The shear connector setting cart.
A material safety factor of S=1.15
was specified for the steel. The
tests, however, were carried out in
the laboratory, whereas the actual
structure is exposed to a corrosive
environment. According to information
provided by the manufacturer,
the steel’s resistance to fatigue
may thus be reduced by up to 20%.
As a result, the characteristic resistance
to fatigue was further divided
by a safety factor of corr=1.2 to allow
for environmental influences.
This produced a design value of
R d,fat=54.6 kN for fatigue strength.
The data determined thus fulfilled
all specifications for the inner and
outer dowels.
Efficient installation
The connectors were required to
meet the specifications while, on
the other hand, they also had to be
easy to handle and install so that
the planned rate of progress of 300
meters per day could be achieved.
This meant that about 600 dowels
had to be set each day. Accordingly,
an automated drilling and
setting procedure was developed
for this purpose (image 8).
* Jakob Kunz, based at Hilti
headquarters in Liechtenstein,
is a consulting engineer for fastening
systems. He specializes
in solutions to complex problems.
Please contact him at
jakob.kunz@hilti.com for further
information.
The article on page 12 continues
the story, taking you all the way
from the test laboratory to the
construction site.

Beijing redefines
itself

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Agigantic dome of titanium
and glass has grown in Beijing.
In the city center, near
Tiananmen Square, the new Chinese
National Theater is taking
shape. It will encompass an opera
house seating 2500, a concert hall,
two theaters, an art center and
shops. Hilti anchors were used to
assemble the stages and the elevator
shafts, to fasten steel beams and
to install heavy pipes. The building
owes its round design to French architect
Paul Andreu. It contrasts
with the pagoda-shaped rooftops
and golden lions of the nearby Forbidden
City, home to Chinese emperors.
The design contrasts even
more with the hutongs, the city’s
older quarters with narrow alleys
and low-lying houses. But the old
meets the new in a city that is redefining
itself in advance of the
games of the XXIX Olypiad that
will take place in Beijing in the
summer of 2008.

Company
Page 26
Hilti employees
assist in
relief efforts
Although the tsunami has disappeared
from the headlines, Hilti employees around the
world will provide relief for years to come.
After the Hilti Group and the
Martin Hilti Family Trust
donated immediate financial relief,
a group of employees came together
to organize a sustainable relief
effort. Now, Hilti employees in
sales organizations and plants
around the world are carrying out
fund-raising drives to build a vocational
training center in Sri Lanka.
Other, ongoing efforts are aimed at
financing the training center’s future
operation.
The project, to be realized in the
southeastern Sri Lankan city of
Monaragala, is a cooperation between
Hilti employees and the SOS
Children’s Villages Switzerland relief
organization. According to
Charlotte Häfeli, President of SOS
Children’s Villages Switzerland,
“Sustainable projects like the vocational
training center are vital for
young people living in countries
affected by the tsunami. The actions
of the Hilti employees are
giving these people a chance at self
determination.” Relief aimed at the
longer term generates optimism,
confidence and hope, a fact that
was not lost on the employees who
initiated the project.
Construction on the Hilti Vocational
Training Center in Monaragala
began a few weeks ago. The
first young people are scheduled to
begin learning a skilled trade there
in January 2006. The center will
train 150 people to become mechanics,
electricians and other professions.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Company
Page 27
Plant 88
doubles the luck
Robust
and stylish
Robust and ergonomically
pleasing tools for use by
tradesmen and on construction
sites can also look good. The
Hilti TE 16-M rotary hammer is
a prime example. This tool received
the iF design award in
the “industry” category from
the Industrie Forum Design, in
Hanover, Germany which has
singled out outstanding designs
since 1954. The iF design award
is one of the most prestigious
international design awards and
is given annually to products
that have been judged to have a
particularly innovative design
and quality.
The Design Zentrum Nordrhein
Westfalen, also of Germany,
also bestowed their red dot design
award on the Hilti TE 16-
M rotary hammer. The Hilti
WSJ 850-EB/ET jigsaw, the
Hilti WSR 1400-PE reciprocating
saw and the Hilti TE 706-
AVR breaker also won this
award that is highly esteemed in
technically-minded circles.
The outstanding design also
generates enthusiasm among
our customers. The tools not
only function with efficiency
and highly-developed ergonomics,
they also make an
impression wherever customers
take them.
It sprung up from fields of green grass in a mere 14 weeks: the assembly plant in Shanghai.
The building also houses Hilti’s Asian Development and Supply Center.
As the number “8” stands for luck in China,
Hilti decided to designate its new plant in Shanghai
as Plant 88, bestowing on it a double dose
of luck. Plant 88 deploys the usual Hilti quality to
assemble the Hilti TE 2-A cordless hammer drill
for the worldwide market as well as other tools.
The good luck began during
construction of the new Hilti
assembly plant in the southwest of
the Chinese port city as the rough
construction work, on what had
been green, grassy fields, was completed
in the record time of 14
weeks. Once interior finishing and
the installation of the assembly
lines finished, actual production began
on an incremental basis.
Plant 88 builds bridges across continents.
The guide tube for the hammering
mechanism of the batterypowered
hammer drill is produced
at the Hilti plant in Austria while the
rotor and housing for the gears are
from Hilti plants in Germany. The
international flavor that the hammer
drill possesses is also a bit of luck
for customers. The Hilti TE 2-A
generates a great deal of enthusiasm
among electricians and maintenance
and interior finishing tradesmen.
The building that houses Plant 88
also contains Hilti’s Asian Development
and Supply Center (ADSC).
“This allows us to bring the significant
aspect of manufacturing costs
into the development process,” says
Alex Gapp, manager of the ADSC.
Hilti has had a manufacturing presence
in China since 1995 when it
opened Plant 8, which was also expanded
over the past year. Plant 8,
now having 22,000 square meters
of building space (236,806 sq ft),
practically doubled in size and produces
anchors, nails and drill bits
for Hilti’s worldwide customers.
For more information on the tools
mentioned, see www.hilti.com

Company
Page 28
Whistling
while they work
Employees of Hilti Great
Britain have a bounce in
their step and a smile on their face
when they go to work in the morning.
This was shown in a survey
conducted by the Sunday Times
newspaper. According to this survey,
carried out annually in the
UK, Hilti ranks among the 100
best employers in the country.
In another survey, some 4800 students
at 21 Swiss universities were
asked to state their professional expectations
and to name an ideal
employer. This group placed Hilti
in 20th position in the sector of engineering
and science. The survey
is carried out annually in Switzerland
and in 18 other European
countries and the USA by Universum
Communications, a Swedish
branding agency.
Enthusiasm and a smile. Hilti Great Britain’s Rahell Choudray happily answers customer calls.
New
logistics center
Currently, the Hilti Group collects decentralized
logistics activities in Liechtenstein. Beginning
in late 2006, a new logistics center in Nendeln,
a few kilometers distant from corporate headquarters,
will serve all of Hilti’s worldwide sales
organizations.
The new logistics center will
have a floor space of about
10,000 square meters (107,640 sq
ft), a volume of 165,000 cubic meters
(216,150 cu yds) and will provide
some 24,000 pallet storage
spaces. The Hilti Group is investing
more than CHF 50 million in
the new Logistics Center Nendeln,
creating about 100 jobs in the
process.
“Liechtenstein was the obvious
choice for a location due to the
proximity to Hilti production facilities
in the country and in Austria
and southern Germany,” said
Chairman Michael Hilti. Mr. Hilti
went on to say that the Logistics
Center Nendeln will also make a
long-term contribution toward ensuring
Hilti service quality which
is key to customer satisfaction.
This will also further promote the
company’s competitive ability and
support growth targets.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Innovation
Page 29
Theft ist
pointless!
Bad news for those with sticky fingers:
an entirely new theft protection system now
prevents unauthorized use of Hilti tools.
Thanks to their high performance
and renowned quality,
Hilti tools have always been much
sought-after – to such an extent
that theft, unfortunately, is not uncommon.
Hilti is putting an end to
this with the introduction of the exclusive
TPS electronic theft protection
system – the first of its kind in
the world. The system supplements
Hilti’s previous passive theft protection
system where the tool’s serial
number is generally registered
together with the customer’s number.
The TPS system is based on an
electronic module that forms an integral
part of the tool. A code is
first set in the module using the
company card or company remote
(control unit) and the tool subsequently
made ready for use by way
of the corresponding activation
key. In the interest of maximum security
customers are advised to
set the theft protection code in all
Hilti tools equipped with the
TPS system. Greatest efficiency is
achieved when each user of the
tools carries his or her own activation
key. The tool is automatically
deactivated (locked) when disconnected
from the electric supply
for more than 20 minutes and
needs to be reactivated
with the key before further
use is possible. The
tool cannot be started
by persons not in possession
of an activation
key, not even if the
electronics unit is disconnected
and removed.
Theft is thus absolutely
pointless.
The new TPS theft protection system
is a highly effective deterrent
that makes Hilti tools unattractive
to thieves. Tools equipped with
TPS, and the corresponding toolboxes,
are conspicuously marked
as a clear indication to potential
thieves that stealing Hilti tools
simply doesn’t pay.
Everything one needs to activate
the theft protection system:
company card (below) and activation
key (above).
Hilti tools equipped with
the theft protection system
are marked conspicuously.

Innovation
Page 30
Diamond power
The Hilti DD 500 and DD 300 diamond coring systems offer a unique power-to-weight ratio for exceptionally high coring performance.
Two new diamond coring machines, the Hilti DD
300 and DD 500, now join the successfully established
DD 200. This powerful trio, featuring innovative
high-frequency motor technology, provides
convincing performance over a very wide range
of applications and exceptionally easy handling.
Advanced 1000 hertz highfrequency
motors were specially
developed to make optimum
use of the power available: the DD
500 achieves a power output of up
to 5500 watts on a 400 volt threephase
supply while the DD 300
reaches an output of up to 3600
watts at 230 volts. Thanks to 10-
speed electronic “gearing”, coring
speed can be regulated while the
water-cooled motor is running and
power output remains virtually
constant over the entire diameter
range for maximum efficiency.
With the machines of this new generation,
the annoying stops needed
to change gear with conventional
mechanical gearing now become a
thing of the past. Even when the
going gets tough in reinforced concrete,
the built-in Iron Boost function
provides useful extra performance
for drilling through rebars.
No matter whether drilling corner
holes, penetrations for pipes or cables,
using large-diameter core bits
or drilling to great depth even in
highly reinforced concrete, the DD
300 and DD 500 simply take the
effort out of diamond coring. Their
power controls indicate the opti-
mum pressing force applied to the
core bit, making it easy to maintain
maximum efficiency under a wide
range of conditions in various applications.
The Hilti DD-HD 30
drill stand, specially designed for
use with this new family of coring
machines, folds out to form an exceptionally
rigid and versatile rig
that makes coring easy, even at angles
of up to 45°. With the specially
optimized core bits of the H-line
(for the DD 300) and HX-line (for
the DD 500), both of these newlydeveloped
coring systems cut
drilling costs by up to 20 percent
per meter compared to many competitors’
products.

Magazine Fall/Winter 2005
Innovation
Page 31
Two vertical,
and two horizontal
A simple yet very successful formula characterizes
the new Hilti PMP 34 point laser. The four
laser points site on ceiling, floor, wall and target
plate in such an exact manner that time-consuming
alignment work can now be completed
in a fraction of the time.
The handy precision tool, protected
against dust and water
spray, automatically self-levels
within seconds. The horizontal
twin laser points, at a 90° angle to
each other, allow for rapid and exact
determination of fastening
points for raised floors or drywall
partitions when used for interior
applications. It replaces the spirit
level and builder’s square at the
touch of a button.
The same can be said for the plumb
bob. Whether an installer is transferring
installation points for pipe
rings from the floor to the ceiling
or a drywall specialist needs to
mark the corresponding reference
points for assembling rails on the
ceiling, the two vertically projected
points allow for quicker and
more exact work than if two people
were working with plumb bob,
folding rule and chalk line.
The new tool also enhances efficiency
in exterior applications.
Steel columns are generally
aligned with a plumb bob in a complicated
process. By the time the
plumb line has settled amid wind
and weather, the point laser has
long found the correct position.
And all one has to do is
set the tool up on the ground
and the target plate checks to ensure
uniform spacing between the
column and the vertical line.
Plum bob, chalk line
and the like don’t
only sound old, they
are. The new Hilti
PMP 34 point laser
provides measuring
points fast and
precisely at the touch
of a button.
The all-rounder
Whether working in an interior or exterior
setting, the Hilti PR 25 rotating laser is one of
a kind. The new Auto Alignment System allows
everyday alignment and leveling work to be
easily managed by means of remote control.
One person works quickly and efficiently with a reliable reference line.
Users can now direct the rotating
laser beam of the
Hilti PR 25 via remote control. The
Auto Alignment System allows exact
alignment of drywall partitions
to be carried out with much greater
efficiency. Horizontal and vertical
alignment work can now be completed
with greater precision and
speed.
In spite of its versatility the new
Hilti rotating laser is very simple to
operate. The diverse and imaginative
selection of accessories, such
as the precisely-adjustable Hilti
PRA 70 wall mount, make it a convincing
measurement system. The
adjustable crank tripod makes it
easier to transfer datum and other
reference marks within a radius of
more than 100 meters (328 ft).
Thanks to the integrated line
function, the professional construction
worker has both hands
free to align and mount radiators,
cable trays or pipes.
The Hilti PR 25 is built to withstand
the hard, day-to-day conditions
of the construction site. It is
protected against dust, strong water
jets and vibrations. A shock
warning device immediately
alerts the user in the event that
the laser has been moved out of
level position. When working
outdoors and in bright sunlight,
the Hilti PRA 25 laser receiver
locates the beam of the laser and
has a range of more than 100 meters.

Hilti. Outperform. Outlast.