Bucket wheel excavators are used in open pit mines to dig through rock and soil. This machine is set up to dig continuously with a large wheel of smaller buckets to scoop earth as it turns. A conveyer belt then removes the debris to be hauled away. These machines are some of the largest ever built – one in particular, the Bagger 293, is the largest land vehicle in human history.
These bucket wheel excavators consist of a main structure with several other components attached, including the bucket wheel, a discharge boom, a counterweight boom and sometimes crawlers.
Bucket wheel excavator photos:
