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Market Disruptive Pin Technology for Improving Heavy Machinery Operations and Safety

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - BTPin (Market Disruptive Pin Technology for Improving Heavy Machinery Operations and Safety)

Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2021-04-30

The aim of BTPin project was to pilot, commercialise and market-replicate our patented pivot pin technology to unite and flex the joints in heavy machinery used in port, mining and construction operations. Prior to Phase 2 project, our product was at TRL7 and has been verified for its technical and practical potential in a Phase 1 Feasibility Study (GA #774553). BTPin will be commercialised in the global market for industrial fasteners, which was worth €77.1bn in 2020 and projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.1% to reach €94.2bn by 2025. A Phase 2 will lead to a unique technology for use in heavy machinery, save manufacturers and operators an estimated €504,000/year per production or construction site, and upwards of €15,174 in lifetime costs per pivot pin.

EU INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIETAL PROBLEMS
Pivot pins unite and give flexibility to the joints in all industrial machinery. Standard pivot pins come under immense pressure from constant movement, and inevitable wear leads to joint slackness, vibration, lack of precision, breaks and jams, machine downtime, mechanical damage, extremely hazardous working conditions and eventual mechanical failure. Pivot pin technology has made almost no advances in decades. Manufacturers use basic and highly standardised pivot pins which do not tolerate the heavy physical stress. They frequently break and jam. Pivot pin replacement means mechanical downtime, damage to working machinery, repair and replacement costs and lost business income. Crane downtime in a port in Europe costs €31,500 a day. Mining companies can lose €162,300 in lost production per incident. The construction industry is also severely impacted with equipment downtime – 100 employees unable to work on a building site costs over €16,000 a day at standard salary rates in Western Europe.

OUR SOLUTION
BTPin has a unique expanding construction with a large degree of assembly tolerance. Each end of the pin is tapered and surrounded by a steel cone sleeve that expands when tightened. BTPin adheres tightly to the joint surface and eliminates play and wear. An independent study at the University of Stavanger found Bondura pins to be far superior in durability, maintenance and working lifespan, even in machinery for land excavation. BTPin completely resolves the issues of joint damage, repair and mechanical downtime which are frequent and unavoidable with any other alternative. BTPins are made at diameters of 10mm-500mm and can be customised to greater sizes or asymmetric geometries if the client requires. BTPins last over ten years. End users pay between €100-€4000 for the final pin.

CONCLUSIONS OF THE ACTION
Bondura has successfully completed the BTPin Phase 2 in line with the objectives and aims of the project. All pilot partners that have tested BTPin in real-operating conditions were satisfied with the pin installation, as well as its operation. Partners have reported that BTPin installation time was shorter and simpler than expected and x-measurements after installation were as indicated in the manual. During the BTPin operation there were no critical problems reported. Several pilot partners have expressed interest in changing to BTPin permanently to reduce the overall maintenance and improve the quality and lifespan of their equipment.
Our work was focused on final prototyping, piloting and commercialisation readiness following the set of technical and commercial innovation activities below:

1. BTPin technology maturation and final prototyping (reach TRL8) to deliver a fully functioning prototype at TRL8, ready for piloting in real-operating conditions through: (1) Designing the new prototypes in-house, (2) in-house testing and verification of prototype performance, (3) optimising production and developing final prototypes.
2. BTPin performance validation (reach TRL9): We have advanced our solution to market-readiness level (TRL9) by piloting the TRL8 prototype in real-life conditions under the supervision of construction, port, mining, steel production test partners.
3. BTPin commercialisation measures: Parallel to the technology maturation activities, while building upon the results of our Feasibility Study, we have implemented market maturation and market replication activities to prepare for a successful onshore launch. This included value chain consolidation, continuous market and regulatory monitoring, revision of our cost structure depending on clients, order quantities and market conditions, and a broad-based communications campaign with heavy machinery manufacturers selling to onshore users. Dissemination and communication and the overall innovation management activities ensuring IP management and the creation of our final BIP and CP were addressed.
BTPin is technically superior to current market state of the art solutions in the following crucial respect:

SIZES: BTPin is available in a range of more than 10 different designs or different applications. Each can be customised to any length or diameter, as required by the end user. Bondura can design and produce pivot pins up to 1000mm diameter and over with our existing computer numerical control (CNC) machinery available both locally and at partner locations in other countries.

CUSTOMISABLE: BTPin can be adapted to joints which have irregular or non-cylindrical geometry and dimensions and for which an off-the-shelf BTPin is not suitable. Variations in the BTPin design include non-circular cylinders, asymmetric and eccentric cylinders, pins for working at extreme temperatures where differential expansion and contraction may affect contact, and pins made of materials which resist corrosive acids and alkalis. Expander does not offer this customisation.

LOCATION: BTPins can be tightened from one end, or both ends. This makes BTPin a far better choice for machinery or for articulations in restricted spaces or with difficult access.

PRICE: BTPin is €100 to €4,000 each according to size and complexity. The price differential becomes much greater in pins >80mm in diameter. Bondura is mechanically and economically far superior at larger sizes.

LIFESPAN. BTPins work for at least ten years.

Business opportunity and expected impact: Bondura expects an accumulated total BTPin sales of 132,940 units, which will make €95m in accumulated revenues and €75m in accumulated profits in year 5, and at least 19 full time jobs.

This project enabled to bring our solution to TRL9 and offered a unique technology to use in the manufacture and on-site maintenance of articulated heavy machinery for port handling, mining and construction applications. Machinery manufacturers can lower costs by €504,000/year by switching to BTPin, depending on the scale of their operations, as our Feasibility Study with Liebherr discovered. Our present offshore clients Hydramech Solutions AS calculated the lifetime costs of two of our BT pins versus standard pins in their DDM 650 derrick drills and HTV robotic arms over a 12-year period. This included purchase costs, damage and repair to working machinery, mechanical downtime and lost business income. Bondura costs €888 or €1,353 per pivot pin to purchase and maintain over the entire period. Alternatives cost from €16,062 to €28,171 each. This lifetime cost differential between BTPin and standard alternatives is the driver behind the business case.
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