Extension of the excavator reach by 5 metres

Cleaning a sludge tank with a mobile excavator - not really a difficult task. But in the specific case of a customer of Rädlinger Maschinen- und Anlagenbau GmbH, the reach of the mobile excavator was not large enough to drain the sludge collector. But a solution was found quickly: A handle extension which can be mounted on the excavator should make it possible to be used. Besides the construction of the handle extension with a cylinder, Rädlinger was also commissioned to produce a rigid trenching spoon.

In accordance with the customer specifications, the designers of Rädlinger developed and manufactured a 4500 mm long extension arm with mounted shovel kinematics, which extends the reach of the normal equipment, together with the mounted trenching shovel, by 5.1 meters. Many hurdles were to be overcome in the design: The handle extension was to be as light as possible. The stability of the excavator had to be assessed and ensured. In addition, provided parts, such as cylinders, deflectors and couplings were used in the handle extension. Consequently, the kinematics had to be perfectly tailored to the supplied parts, to ensure optimal opening and closing behaviour of the shovel. Furthermore, the attachment to the mobile excavators had to be directly bolted.

When developing the special design, Rädlinger used virtual simulations and software-supported FEM calculations, which were used to estimate strength and to illuminate different load cases. This enabled vulnerabilities and problems to be ruled out in the planning phase.

Rädlinger also delivered a light rigid trenching shovel with a cutting width of 1,250 millimetres and a capacity of around 300 litres, which can also be directly mounted on the excavator.

With this special model, Rädlinger Maschinen- und Anlagenbau has proven once again that they are able to quickly and effectively meet customers' wishes.

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