Bagger 293

Bagger 293
Bagger 293 in the Hambach brown coal mine, 2008
Class overview
Name
  • MAN TAKRAF RB293 (1995-2003)
  • Bagger 293 (2003-Present)
Cost€92.46 million (2007) or US$100 million (2007)
In service1995
History
Germany
NameBagger 293
BuilderTAKRAF
Laid down1985
Launched1990
Commissioned1995
NotesLargest ground vehicle ever built
General characteristics
Class and typeType SRs 8000-series Bucket-wheel excavator
Tonnage14,200 t (31,300,000 lb)
Length225 m (738.2 ft)
Beam46 m (151 ft)
Height96 m (314.9 ft)
Installed power
  • 1 x 6,413 kW (8,600 hp) powered electric motor[1]
  • 1 x 10.15 MW (13,611 hp) external coal power plant[2]
  • Total: 16.56 MW (22,207 hp)
Propulsion12 x caterpillar tracks
Speed2 to 10 m (6.6 to 32.8 ft) per minute (0.1 to 0.6 km/h)
CapacityBlade capacity: 21 m (69.9 ft) in diameter, 20 buckets each holding 19.6 cubic yards (15.0 m3) or 16.5 short tons (15.0 t)
Complement5[2]

Bagger 293, previously known as the MAN TAKRAF RB293, is a giant bucket-wheel excavator made by the German industrial company TAKRAF, formerly an East German Kombinat.[3][4]

It owns and shares some records for terrestrial vehicle size in the Guinness Book of Records. Bagger 293 was built in 1999, one of a group of similar sized 'sibling' vehicles such as the Bagger 281 (built in 1958), Bagger 285 (1975), Bagger 287 (1976), Bagger 288 (1978), and Bagger 291 (1993). Moreover, like the Bagger 288, the Bagger 293 cost around 100 million US dollars at the time of its construction with exactly the same construction and assemblage time period of ten years.[5]

It is used in a brown coal mine near Hambach in Germany. It is called Bagger 293 by its current owner, RWE Power AG (the second-largest energy producer of Germany). It was called RB293 by its former owner, the brown coal company Rheinbraun, which in 1932 became a subsidiary of RWE. During an internal reshuffle in 2003 it merged with another daughter company to form RWE Power AG. Manufacturer TAKRAF generally refers to it as an excavator of the Type SRs 8000.

Like its siblings, the Bagger 293 is operated by a disproportionately small crew of just five.[2]

  1. ^ "Bagger 293: Unearthly Giant of the Mining World". Rico Europe.
  2. ^ a b c "Bucket Wheel Excavator (Bagger 293)". YouTube.
  3. ^ "The world's largest diggers: in pictures". 6 April 2011 – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  4. ^ Chen, Brian X. (5 October 2009). "Monstrous Mechanical Marvels: 9 Enormous Gadgets" – via www.wired.com.
  5. ^ Gramme, Helmo; Benoit Michel (2014). "Cours Extreme Engineering" (PDF). HELMo — Haute École Libre Mosane. p. 7.