Bucket-wheel excavators are some of the world’s largest continuous mining machines used for removing
overburden and extracting materials such as clay, sand, gravel, marl, lignite and hard coal. Known for their
immense size and capacity, BWEs provide efficient excavating solutions for mining projects.
Continuously excavating, conveying and dumping or stockpiling material, BWEs offer a mining solution with
potentially the lowest lifecycle cost, despite the higher initial investment costs. Importantly, a bucket-wheel
excavator, together with an integrated conveyor system, is a far more environmentally friendly and safer
solution than a truck/shovel operation for open pit mining.
The main parts of a bucket-wheel excavator include:
The bucket-wheel with its buckets
The bucket-wheel drive located at the head of the boom
The slewable superstructure with a counterweight boom
The substructure with crawler undercarriage and a transfer boom or loading unit (crawler-mounted loading
bridge) for transfer of material to the bench conveyor
This rotating wheel enables the excavator to scoop up materials from the ground and transfer them onto a
conveyor system for further transportation. Renowned for its exceptional speed, capacity, and precision, the
bucket wheel excavator has revolutionized the process of massive excavation tasks. Bucket wheel excavators
are commonly used in lignite (brown coal) mining, as well as in the extraction of other minerals such as
phosphate, bauxite, and iron ore.
The working principle of the bucket wheel excavator is to use the rotation of the bucket wheel and the opening
and closing of the bucket to complete the work of excavation, loading and transportation. Specifically, the
bucket wheel of the bucket wheel excavator is composed of multiple bucket teeth, and the bucket wheel is
driven to rotate through the hydraulic system to excavate ground materials onto the bucket wheel. With the
rotation of the bucket wheel, the excavated material is transported to the bucket, and the bucket is controlled
by the hydraulic system to load the material onto the vehicle or transportation equipment.
The working process of bucket wheel excavator can be divided into the following steps. First, the driver of
the bucket wheel excavator moves the machine to the dig site, placing the bucket wheels on the ground. The
driver then activates the bucket wheel's hydraulic system through a button or lever on the console, causing the
bucket wheel to spin. As the bucket wheel rotates, the teeth excavate ground material onto the bucket wheel.
When the bucket wheel is full of material, the driver controls the opening and closing of the bucket through
the button or lever on the console to load the material onto the vehicle or transport equipment. Finally, the
driver moves the bucket wheel excavator to the next excavation site and continues the work of digging, loading
and transporting.
Here's a more detailed explanation of the working principle:
Excavation:
The BWE's main component is the large, rotating bucket wheel, which is fitted with buckets that scoop up
material as the wheel turns.
Material Transfer:
As the buckets fill, they discharge the excavated material onto a conveyor belt system, which transports the
material away from the excavation site.
Boom and Slew:
The bucket wheel is attached to a boom arm that can swing left and right and up and down, allowing the
machine to access a wide area of soil or coal.
Continuous Operation:
BWEs are designed for continuous operation, meaning they can excavate and load material without
stopping, unlike cyclical excavators.
Here's a breakdown of the key factors and the general calculation process:
Key Factors:
Bucket Capacity (q):
The volume of material each bucket can hold (measured in liters or cubic meters).
Number of Buckets on the Wheel (z):
The total number of buckets attached to the bucket wheel.
Wheel Speed (nr):
The speed at which the bucket wheel rotates (measured in revolutions per minute).
Bucket Filling Factor (kf): A factor that accounts for how fully the buckets are filled during operation
(typically a value between 0 and 1).
Soil Loosening Factor (kl):
A factor that accounts for the difficulty of loosening the soil (typically a value between 0 and 1).
BWE Working Method:
(a) Terrace cut:
➢ When undertaking terrace cuts the bucket on the front side of the wheel do the cutting.
➢ This figure shows a crowd type bucket wheel excavator in a terrace cut formation.
➢ The block is excavated in a number of layers (terraces) of equal height, with between 40 and 70
percent of the wheel diameter being actively involved in the cutting process, depending on the
ratio of face height to diameter and the nature of the material excavated.
➢ At the start of the top terrace the wheel is in the retracted position and at the end of each pass it is
extended by the slice thickness.
Dropping cut
➢ In the dropping cut the bucket on the underside of the wheel cut the material.
➢ It is often employed where the nature of the deposit causes surging or excess lump size.
➢ At the start of the block the wheel is lifted to a height sufficient to clear the face.
➢ The wheel is then set at the segment ends by lowering it an amount equal to the slice thickness and
retracting the wheel to give the batter angle.
➢ Slewing to 900 is common, so that the front and slide batter have the same slope.
➢ In the cut the slice thickness remains constant but the segment slope height gradually decreases to
zero at a slew angle of 900.
Full Block Working
➢ Full block working represents something close to the optimum operating method.
➢ A full block is excavated in several bench cuts by raising, lowering and continuously slewing the
bucket wheel, while at the same time the bucket wheel excavator is driven straight along the face
length.
Productivity Calculation Formula:
The theoretical productivity (Qtheor) of a bucket wheel excavator can be calculated using the following
formula:
Qtheor = q * z * nr * Ff * S
Qtheor: Theoretical productivity in cubic meters per hour.
q: Capacity of each rotor bucket in liters.
z: Number of buckets on the wheel.
nr: Speed of rotation of the rotor in revolutions per minute.
Ff: Filling factor of a bucket.
S: Soil loosening factor.
Example:
Let's assume the following parameters: Bucket capacity (q): 10 liters, Number of buckets (z): 20, Wheel speed
(nr): 20 revolutions per minute, Bucket filling factor (kf): 0.8, and Soil loosening factor (kl): 0.9.
Then, the theoretical productivity would be:
Qtheor = 10 liters * 20 buckets * 20 rpm * 0.8 * 0.9 = 28800 liters per hour
To convert liters to cubic meters:
28800 liters / 1000 = 28.8 cubic meters per hour
Performance of a bucket wheel excavator is estimated using the following formula:
( m /hr )
60 x N x Bc x Ff x rpm 3
P=
Sf
Where
P – Production
N – No. of bucket in the wheel
Bc – Bucket capacity (m3)
Ff – Bucket fill factor
rpm – Bucket wheel rotation per minute
Sf – Swell factor
Q. Determine the yearly production capacity of a BWE of a limestone mine having 14 buckets each of 1.4 m3
capacity and operates at 5 rpm for cutting ore. Bucket fill factor and Swell factor are 0.6 and 1.2 respectively.
The density of limestone is 1.6 te/m3. The available hours in a year is 3000 hrs.
Solution:
60 x 14 x 1.4 x 0.6 x 5 x 1.6
Hourly production, P = te/hr
1.2
= 4704 te/hr
Yearly production = 4704 x 3000 te = 14112000 te.
Q. BWE of NLC having 14 buckets each of 1.4 m3 capacity and operates at 5 rpm for cutting lignite and 3
rpm for cutting overburden. If the target production (yearly) of the mine is 12 million tonnes with a stripping
ratio of 5 m3 of OB per tonne of lignite, determine the number of BWE required for OB and Lignite. Bucket
fill factor and Swell factor are 0.6 and 1.2 respectively. The density of limestone is 1.6 te/m 3. The available
hours in a year is 3000 hrs.
Solution:
For Lignite
60 x 14 x 1.4 x 0.6 x 5 x 1.6
Hourly production, P = te/hr
1.2
= 4704 te/hr
Yearly production = 4704 x 3000 te = 14112000 te. = 14.112 Mte > 12 Mte
No. of BWE required = 1
For OB
Targeted production = 12 x 5 million m3 = 60 million m3
60 x 14 x 1.4 x 0.6 x 3 3
Hourly production, P = m /hr = 1764 m3 /hr
1.2
Yearly production = 1764 x 3000 m3 = 5292000 m3 = 5.292 Mm3
No. of BWE required = 60 ÷ 5.292 12
Q. A bucket wheel excavator has buckets with capacity of 2 m3 each. The wheel has a diameter of 20m with
16 buckets attached to it. If it rotates at a velocity is 0.5m/s and
material swell factor is 1.2, find the production per hour if the speed does not change.
Solution:
60 x V x N b 60 x 0.5 x 16
NB = = = 7.64 buckets/min. = 8 buckets per min.
πD π x 20
60 x CB x N B 60 x 2 x 8
Q= = = 800 m3/hr.
S 1.2
Q. A BWE has eight buckets with a nominal capacity of 2 m3 per bucket. The wheel has a diameter of 15 m
and operates at a speed of 0.4 m/s. In a material with a digging resistance of 25 kg/cm, the BWE is producing
400 m3/he. If the speed of the bucket does not change, what would be the bucket fill factor for the buckets
when cutting a material with a digging resistance of 45 kg/cm?
Solution:
k12 252 3
Q2 = Q1 2 = 400 x 2 m /hr = 123.5 m3 /hr
k2 45
Production rate, Q = Bc x Bf x Ss x 3600
Q Q 123.5
Bf = = = = 0.252 = 25.2%
Bc x Ss x 3600 B x V x Z x 3600 2 x 0.4 x 8 x 3600
c
D π x 15
Q. A bucket wheel excavator with 20 buckets of capacity 0.5 m3 each, rotates at 5 rev/min. The bucket fill
factor is 80%. The excavator loads on to 1200 mm wide belt conveyor. The cross – sectional area (m2) of the
material on the belt is 0.1B2, where B is the belt width in m. Find the minimum speed of the belt in m/s to
avoid spillage of material.
Solution:
Productivity of bucket wheel excavator, P = 60 x N x Bc x Bf x ν
= 60 x 20 x 0.5 x 0.8 x 5 m3/h = 2400 m3/h
Productivity of belt conveyor = 3600 x A x v
= 3600 x 0.1 x 1.22 x v = 518.4v m3/h
So, 518.4v = 2400
v = 2400 ÷ 518.4 m/s
= 4.63 m/s
