Pile driving device and a follower
A pile driving device for driving a pile into the ground comprises a ram, an anvil and a sleeve. The anvil is accommodated in the sleeve and movable with respect to the sleeve in a driving direction. The ram is reciprocatingly movable with respect to the anvil in the driving direction so as to provide impact energy to the anvil under operating conditions. The anvil and the sleeve contact each other in transverse direction of the driving direction through an anvil guide surface of an anvil guide. The anvil guide is a separate anvil guide that is mounted to one of the anvil and the sleeve such that the anvil guide surface is movable with respect to said one of the anvil and the sleeve in the transverse direction.
1 . A pile driving device for driving a pile into the ground, comprising a ram, an anvil and a sleeve, wherein the anvil is accommodated in the sleeve and movable with respect to the sleeve in a driving direction, wherein the ram is reciprocatingly movable with respect to the anvil in the driving direction so as to provide impact energy to the anvil under operating conditions, wherein the anvil and the sleeve contact each other in a transverse direction of the driving direction through an anvil guide surface of an anvil guide, being a separate anvil guide that is mounted to one of the anvil and the sleeve such that the anvil guide surface is movable with respect to said one of the anvil and the sleeve in the transverse direction.
2 . The pile driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the anvil guide comprises an elasticity for allowing the anvil guide surface to move, which elasticity has an elastic modulus which is smaller than an elastic modulus of the anvil or of the sleeve in the transverse direction at a location of the anvil.
3 . The pile driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the anvil guide surface is part of a rigid anvil guide body, which is resiliently mounted to said one of the anvil and the sleeve.
4 . The pile driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the anvil guide is a discrete anvil guide element, wherein one or more of such discrete anvil guide elements are located at a distance from each other in a circumferential direction of the anvil.
5 . The pile driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the anvil guide is mounted to the sleeve such that the anvil guide surface is movable with respect to the sleeve in the transverse direction.
6 . The pile driving device according to claim 5 , wherein a further anvil guide is mounted to the anvil such that the further anvil guide is movable with respect to the anvil in the transverse direction, wherein the further anvil guide has similar functional characteristics as the anvil guide.
7 . The pile driving device according to claim 1 , wherein the sleeve is provided with a pile guide element configured to guide a pile to be driven into the ground, which pile guide element is displaceable with respect to the sleeve in the transverse direction of the driving direction so as to vary a rate of protrusion of the pile guide element within the sleeve.
8 . The pile driving device according to claim 7 , wherein the pile driving device comprises a blocking mechanism configured to block the pile guide element with respect to the sleeve in the driving direction.
9 . The pile driving device according to claim 8 , wherein the blocking mechanism is provided with a wedge, which is movable in the transverse direction so as to allow blocking and releasing of the pile guide element with respect to the sleeve in the driving direction.
10 . The pile driving device according to claim 8 , wherein the blocking mechanism is operable from the outside of the sleeve.