Gigantic excavators

Image: Christian Hütz

In addition to all the information, it's the gigantic excavators that are of main interest.

»»» http://www.fotocommunity.de/

»»» http://~hendrik/bagger.html


I decided to have a closer look at the excavator ... will take a guided tour so that I can almost touch it.

Here you can register (only in German):

»»» http://www.rwe-schulforum.de/

A different look at transport

Image source: Wikimedia

I happened to come across the subject of brown coal, its mining and finally its transport ... quite interesting:

"The lines of the works railway of the company RWE Power (former Rheinbraun) in the Rhenish brown coal area are electrified with single-phase AC current of 50 Hz at a nominal voltage of 6 kV which is different from the railway current/voltage common in Germany (15 kV at 16 2/3 Hz). In view of the large quantities transported the locomotives need high pull force, therefore the electric locomotives have all been specially designed. So, the locomotives of the EL 1 series were the first electric locomotives with thyristor controller worldwide and thus a milestone in the development of rail vehicles."

»»» Further information see Wikipedia

bauma 2010

bauma features more than half a million square meters of exhibition space, making it by far the largest and certainly the most impressive exhibition ever. No other industry event features a wider range of products and services. No other exhibition is more international. This is where all of the market’s leading manufacturers and key players are represented. This is where innovations are presented for all sectors.

Here are some selected exhibitors of the fair:




http://www.uplifter.de/

Denise was her name

Denise was her original name, and she was the first underwater vehicle designed expressly for scientific exploration. From 1959 on, the mini-submersible sailed the depths to explore unknown parts of the ocean. On board Calypso, a crane lowered the saucer into the water or lifted her up to the rear deck of the ship. With a diameter of 2.85 meters and a weight of 3.5 tons, she carries a crew of two in her steel cabin. She can work stay as far as 350 meters down, for four or five hours...



More information on this and on sea exploration:

»»» http://www.cousteau.org/

What is a dragline excavator?

Dragline excavation systems are heavy equipment used in civil engineering and surface mining. In civil engineering the smaller types are used for road and port construction. The larger types are used in strip-mining operations to move overburden above coal, and for tar-sand mining. Draglines are amongst the largest mobile equipment (not water-borne), and weigh in the vicinity of 2000 metric tonnes, though specimens weighing up to 13,000 metric tonnes have also been constructed.

A dragline bucket system consists of a large bucket which is suspended from a boom (a large truss-like structure) with wire ropes. The bucket is manoeuvred by means of a number of ropes and chains. The hoist rope, powered by large diesel or electric motors, supports the bucket and hoist-coupler assembly from the boom. The dragrope is used to draw the bucket assembly horizontally. By skillful manoeuvre of the hoist and the dragropes the bucket is controlled for various operations.

»»» Source: wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragline_excavator

What’s next?

Lunabotics Mining Competition



The purpose of the Lunabotics Mining Competition is to engage and retain students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM, in a competitive environment that may result in innovative ideas and solutions, which could be applied to actual lunar excavation for NASA.

»»» www.nasa.gov