Patents

The technology and equipment have received 57 patents, including 7 — foreign; 24 licenses have been sold. The kits have been awarded the following: diplomas of the All-Russian Exhibition Centre, the Kuzbass Fair, the Russian Financial Corporation and the Academy of Management and Market; also, a commemorative medal of the participant of the reconstruction of the Moscow Kremlin (1996), and the Small Gold Medal of the Siberian Fair (1999). The work “Replacement of sewerage networks in urban conditions without excavation works” has won the Russian Government Prize in 2000.

In 1992 the Institute of Mining of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences set up a research and production company “Kombest”. Intellectual potential of the company consists of doctors (PhD) and candidates of sciences, laureates of the RF Government prize in the field of science and technology and honoured inventors of Russia. The main task of the newly organized company was the implementation of the State Innovation Program “New generation of technologies and equipment kits for the reconstruction of underground engineering networks by trenchless methods”.

In the period of 1992-96, within the framework of the State Innovation Program “The New Generation of Technologies and Sets of Equipment for the Reconstruction of Underground Engineering Networks”, the Institute of Mining of the Siberian Department of Russian Academy of Sciences (SBRAS) and Research and Production Company (RPC) “Kombest”, developed technology and equipment for trenchless replacement of drainage pipelines with diameters from 100 to 600 mm. The technology and equipment have undergone extensive pilot-industrial testing at the operating facilities of the municipal water-canals of Moscow, Novosibirsk and Omsk. The Siberian State Unitary Project Institute ‘Sibgiprokommunvodokanal’ developed and transferred technological maps for trenchless technology to the Russian city water canals. Since 1996, serial production of kits for replacement of drainage pipelines has been taking place at the Novosibirsk machine-building plant of OJSC ‘Sibligmash’.

Since the technological requirements for the re-laying of water supply networks are significantly different from similar works on drainage pipelines (length of sections, pressure, sanitary and hygienic requirements, etc.), the Novosibirsk Water Canals developed technical requirements for a set of equipment for replacing steel pipelines with polyethylene, based on which a research and development work and also, extensive industrial inspection and technological preparation of production were carried out.