October 14th 2011

The Story of KK1300

After almost 25 years, a new giant mining machine for open-pit mining was produced in Czech Republic.

General supplier of the unique bucket wheel excavator KK1300 was company Prodeco. With regard to the extent of the supply, a number of further companies were involved in its development and production - among others also Svendborg Brakes CZ.

KK1300 has all drives equipped with Svendborg braking systems. However, it should handle more difficult mining conditions as the hardness of the overburden is increasing due to increasing depth of the mine. Locally, large sandstone boulders and very hard girdles can be found.

Mine Bílina is already the deepest open-pit mine in Europe. Its low-sulfur coal of very high quality is used mostly for heating purposes. KK1300 will be placed in the northern part of the mine, on newly open strip cut. It does not substitute any existing machine as all of them are needed, but with its high capacity, it will bring higher mining efficiency. The ratio between the coal and overburden is currently 1:6, which means that the machines have to extract 6 units of overburden to get 1 unit of coal. 

The machine is designed for the extraction of 10 million cubic meters of overburden per year, which is 1/5 of the total annual overburden volume. The total height is 53 m. Excavator has a length of nearly two football fields, 180 m in total. Wheel diameter is 13 m, wheel drives are 2 x 1150 kW, volume of each bucket is 1300 liters, conveyor belt speed reaches 4,1 m/s and total weight of the machine is nearly 5 000 tons.

The project started at the beginning of 2006, when a study for the selection precedure was done. This precedure was won by company NOEN and the design and documentation process started. Svendborg Brakes CZ entered the project in summer 2007. By the end of 2007, the design and placement of all braking systems was ready. Complete project documentation was ready in January 2008 and was used as a basis for technical documentation, which was finalized in 2010. In the meantime, the production of the first parts - out of tens of thousands - has started.

The assembly of the excavator was initiated in autumn 2009 at the assembly point in Duchcov (near the town of Teplice). The main suppliers of machinery parts and steel constructions were Czech companies. Braking systems were completely delivered by Svendborg Brakes CZ. There were 50-100 people assembling the machine every day. It began with the chassis and upwards. In parallel with this, assembly of the supporting structure and connecting bridge was running. Afterwards, the installation of mechanical parts, electrical equipment and hydraulics began.

The machine was finally handed over and put into operation by president of the Czech Republic Mr. Václav Klaus on 6th July, 2011.

Estimated life time of the machine is set more than 35 years, which corresponds to the life time of the steel construction.

The list of Svendborg Brakes´ delivery is long:

Travel drives:   6 x 132 kW, 12 x BSFI 208 MS, 6 x PU
Intermediate conv.:   1 x 315 kW,  2 x BSFI 208 MS, 1 x PU
Loading conv.:   1 x 315 kW, 2 x BSFI 208 MS, 1 x PU
Connecting conv.:   2 x 500 kW, 4 x BSFI 320 MS, 1 x PU
BW conv.:   2 x 500 kW, 4 x BSFI 320 MS, 1 x PU
Slewing drives:   6 x 55 kW, 6 x BSFI 208 MS, 2 x PU
BW:   2 x 1150 kW, 4 x BSFI 320 MS, 1 x PU
Winches:   3 x 22 kW, 3 x BSFI 208 MS, 3 x PU
Travel of supporting carriage:   3 x 75 kW, 6 x BSFI 208 MS, 3 x PU
Boom hoist:   2 x 785 kW, 8 x BSFI 320 MS, 2 x PU
Boom hoist loading carriage:   1 x 75 kW, 4 x BSFI 208 MS, 2 x PU

Should you wish to learn more about the LKK1300project, you are most welcome to contact us.

Contact person:
Nikolai Jørgensen
Sales Director, Industry
E-mail: nij@svendborg-brakes.com