Bucket-wheel excavator
Their primary function is that of a continuous digging machine in large-scale open-pit mining operations, removing thousands of tons of overburden a day.
[1] They are used in conjunction with many other pieces of mining machinery (conveyor belts, spreaders, crushing stations, heap-leach systems, etc.)
While the overall concepts that go into a BWE have not changed much, their size has grown drastically since the end of World War II.
On older models these would be rails for the machine to travel along, but newer BWEs are frequently equipped with crawlers, which grant them increased flexibility of motion.
They use their cutting wheels to strip away a section of earth (the working block) dictated by the size of the excavator.
Automation of the BWEs requires integrating many sensors and electrical components such as GPS, data acquisition systems, and online monitoring capabilities.
[3] The primary application of BWEs is in lignite (brown coal) mining, where they are used for soft rock overburden removal in the absence of blasting.
The additions of automated systems and greater manoeuvrability, as well as components designed for the specific application, have increased the reliability and efficiency with which BWEs deliver materials.
Bucket wheel reclaimers are used to pick up material that has been positioned by a stacker for transport to a processing plant.
In shipyards, bucket wheels are used for the continuous loading and unloading of ships, where they pick up material from the yard for transfer to the delivery system.
Heap leaching entails constructing stacks of crushed ore, through which a solvent is passed to extract valuable materials.
The manufacturers of BWEs and similar mining systems now receive some revenue from maintenance and refurbishing projects, but also produce large steel parts for other purposes.
Current use of bucket-wheel excavators is mainly focused in the area of lignite (brown coal) mining for the production of electricity, mostly in Germany and East/Southeastern Europe.
