Bagger-288 excavator: specifications and photos

2024 Author: Erin Ralphs | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-19 11:41

Excavators are heavy construction equipment designed to dig the ground. It is equipped with a bucket and a cabin on a rotating platform. The cab is located on top of the machine, can be rotated in all directions, providing a full view and high mobility of the excavator. This is very important for an aggregate of this kind.

Cable drive mechanisms

The excavator cable drive uses very strong and reliable steel ropes to help the machine perform all sorts of maneuvers and movements. All functions of a hydraulic excavator are carried out using a special fluid, with hydraulic cylinders and motors. Due to the linear operation of the cylinders, their mode of operation is fundamentally different from that of a cable driven excavator.

Excavator: what is it? Who invented it?

Excavator is the most successful mechanism for working with soil, as well as coal and other minerals. The first mention of such an earthmoving giant was found in the diaries of Leonardo da Vinci, who designed such a machine.and even tested it.

However, it is believed that he was not the creator of this mechanism. Similar structures, reminiscent of today's excavators, were used in ancient Egypt in the construction of various temples and huge pyramids.

Types of excavators and their purpose

Excavators are a technique that is used in many activities, such as digging trenches, building foundations, digging holes, all kinds of forestry work, demolishing buildings or dams. They are also used in landscaping, for the extraction of various minerals, deepening of reservoirs and rivers, installation of overall piles.

Wherever large quantities of minerals or common earth must be excavated and transported most economically and efficiently, the largest bucket wheel excavators are used to get the deepest layers of raw materials. Since the plans of the mines, as well as the features of the mountains, can differ significantly, excavators are supplied in different configurations. Accordingly, their work and management will be slightly different, but the essence of the tasks performed usually always remains the same. Excavators can be connected to a special conveyor bridge, and also connected to a specific cargo block.

Excavators come in different sizes, among them there are both very small and very large, but there are certain leaders whose dimensions cannot be surpassed by any other machine. It is difficult for such mechanismsmove around, but the amount of work they do cannot be surpassed by even a dozen smaller machines.

Bagger-288 excavator: the history of the creation of a giant

This mechanism, created by the world famous German company Krupp for the energy and mining company Rheinbraun, is a bucket wheel excavator, or mobile mining machine. When it was completed (in 1978), it was used by NASA as a tracked carrier to ferry the Apollo rocket. The mechanism itself is produced by Marion Excavator as the largest land vehicle in the world, weighing over thirteen tons. This makes both installation and disassembly of this machine incredibly expensive and difficult. Without seeing this huge mechanism live, it is simply impossible to understand what Bagger-288 is.

Advantages of the giant mechanism

The Bagger-288, a gigantic excavator with unique specifications, was built for remote coal mining in Germany. It can lift about 240,000 tons of coal, or 240,000 cubic meters of rock per day, the equivalent of a football field dug 30 m (98 ft) deep. This is unbelievable for other excavators that can't do half that amount of work in a day. The coal mined by him in one day fills 2,400 wagons transporting raw materials to factories for its processing. Bagger operation requires 16.56 megawatts of externally supplied electricity. This allows himmove at a speed of 2 to 10 meters per minute (0.1 to 0.6 km/h). Its main section chassis is 46 meters (151 ft) wide. The large surface area of the giant's tracks makes the Bagger-288's ground pressure very small (17.1 N/cm2 or 24.8 psi). This allows the excavator to move freely on gravel, earth and even grass without leaving significant marks, which is very important when working with rocks. Initially, wheels were planned for this excavator for greater mobility of its movement, but during the very first tests, this idea suffered a catastrophic defeat, as the machine immediately collapsed, unable to withstand its own weight. Caterpillars have become the best solution to this problem. In the future, it is planned to replace them with an air cushion, which will further reduce the pressure on the surface under the excavator. The minimum turning radius of the Bagger-288 reaches 100 meters, which is a very good indicator when working with minerals, the extraction of which is extremely laborious.

Digger Achievements

By February 2001, Bagger-288 had completely cleared the Tagebau mine's coal source and was no longer needed there. It was decided to move it to another mine. Three weeks later, the excavator made a twenty-two-kilometer trip to Tagebau Garzweiler, passing along Autobahn 61, crossing a railway track and several unpaved route routes along the way. This trip cost almost DM 15 million and required the assistance of a team of seventyworkers exercising full control over the movement of the excavator. To cross the river, large steel pipes were laid for water, through which it could pass unhindered. From above they were covered with stones and gravel. A special grass was sown to smooth out the excavator's passage through particularly valuable terrain. Despite the enormous cost of moving the Bagger-288, this method of moving it was more economical than completely dismantling and moving it in parts, which would require a lot of equipment and even more time.

Dignity of the unique mechanism

Bagger-288 belongs to a group of similar size excavators. It consists of Bagger-281 (built in 1958), Bagger-285 (1975), Bagger-287 (1976), Bagger-293 (1995) and other units.

Bagger-288 was featured in the 2012 film Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, where Ghost Rider (the main character in the film) uses it to subdue his enemies.

Being such a famous huge machine, the excavator is even praised in several songs of American bands. Many people, having seen this unit, immediately ask themselves: "Bagger-288 - what is it?" After all, the very sight of this incredibly large machine inspires everyone who sees it with horror and awe.

Such a huge sturdy construction requires special care. More than twenty workers are engaged only in the maintenance of the excavator. Every two months, the entire mechanism is lubricated, because the cost of repairs in the event of a breakdown will be simply colossal. Each move mustbe calculated and planned, especially when it occurs in dangerous unstable mines, so that nothing is hit or demolished. After all, this can harm both work and the machine itself.

Instead of a conclusion

This unique mechanism is not just an excavator, for some people it is a lifetime. Today, many are interested in the Bagger-288 excavator. Where this giant is currently located, unfortunately, is not known.