Various constructions that have to be anchored in the ground are mounted using ground screws. They were invented by Klaus Krinner when he had to fasten a rotary clothes dryer in the ground for his wife. This idea has grown into a major international business.
Ground screws are used for everything that has to be anchored firmly and also reversibly in the ground, including carports, road signs, railings, terraces – and rotary clothes dryers, of course. The ground screws have experienced a boom since the spread of large solar systems. Thousands of ground screws are mechanically driven into the ground by Krinner and its partner companies to securely and firmly install the solar panels on them. The machines engineered by Krinner specifically for setting the ground screws have been reliably driven by air cooled Hatz diesel engines since 2014, and by liquid cooled engines since 2015.
Krinner and Hatz: a successful partnership
In 2005, family-owned company Krinner was facing an important step in the company's history: the ground screw business had not only become established in Germany, but was also flourishing around the globe thanks to cooperations with partner companies. Increasingly larger projects, including a high number of solar parks, were mounted on Krinner ground screws. A few years later, due to the increasing number of screws that had to be driven into the ground, Krinner began to develop and design a machine which enabled this process to be extensively automated. The internal development department headed by family member Günther Thurner designed the first machine. The requirements made on the device right from the word go were high, which also determined the demands made on the quality, power output and durability of the engine. With the air cooled Hatz 3L41C three-cylinder diesel engine with 36 kilowatts at 2,300 revolutions per minute, Hatz had the ideal model in its portfolio. During the subsequent years, Krinner manufactured around 15 machines per year for its internal requirements and those of its partner companies, and thus extended its leading position in the global ground screw market.
