Next generation of compact bucket wheel excavators
The Industrial Solutions business area of thyssenkrupp presents a new generation of compact bucket wheel excavators. The “Barracuda” and the “Mine Shark” have the ability to work in hard materials with compressive strengths up to 50 MPa (7200 Psi).
While bucket wheel excavators today typically work in soft and medium-hard rock with an uniaxial compressive strength between 2 and 10 MPa (1450 Psi), thyssenkrupp’s new machines are capable of working in a broad range of materials, including coal, limestone, phosphate rock, potash and frozen materials in winter conditions, as well as in the corresponding overburden layers.
thyssenkrupp engineers created special bucket and tooth designs in order to meet the demands of these severe working conditions. The designs are based on innovative testing methods and include a larger number of teeth and buckets. These advancements for bucket wheel excavators demonstrate the changing character of the extraction process from digging to cutting.
The combination of extracting and loading processes within a single machine eliminates hazardous and ecologically harmful blasting, as well as additional material handling activities. The new bucket wheel excavators produce throughputs of over 3000 mtph and require less vehicles and manpower, resulting in significantly reduced operational expenditures.
