Kolubara lignite mines produces majority of coal which is supplied to the Serbian TPPs TENT. After the 2014 catastrophic floods during which the key open pit Tamnava was damaged along with its equipment, Kolubara mines company initiated a cycle of reconstruction and modernization of equipment parallel with ongoing supply and construction of new equipment.
Within the construction of the new Bucket Wheel Excavator SchRs740L, capacity of 4800m3/h, performed by the German company “Thyssen Krupp” in cooperation with local subcontractor “Kolubara Metal”, Siemens Serbia was selected for the basic and detailed electric project design, delivery of complete electrical equipment, control software design and commissioning.
The engineering team of Siemens d.o.o. Beograd, in accordance with the requirements of investors has designed and delivered Simotics TN and SD motors with total capacity of 3MW and three “multi – drive” systems based on the Sinamics S120 Cabinet and Booksize Variable Frequency Drives to move complex impressive machine. About 1.700 tons of steel was incorporated in 34 meter high Bucket Wheel Excavator, and it is projected to work on the excavation of coal and overburden. Siemens Serbia has successfully implemented a number of projects over the past few years with the aim to contribute to the modernization of production process in the Mining Basin “Kolubara”, the largest coal producer in the Serbian Electric Power Industry. Kolubara open pit mines annually produce about 30 million tons of lignite which is about 70% of the total coal production within company “Electric Power industry of Serbia”.
The control system for the SchRs740L was implemented using the S7-400F controller with technological and control functions as well as safety functions for all running modes of the machine. By using the latest software tools within the TIA Portal for control and visualization software the machine is easy to maintain and control trough HMI systems based on Comfort Panels and SCADA system WinCC. The BWE SchRs740L was successfully put into operation at an open pit mine during November 2014.
In the following year the new Bucket Wheel Excavator 6000m3/h produced by the German company “Thyssen Krupp” will be equipped and commissioned by Siemens AG Austria Minerals team from Graz and Siemens d.o.o. Belgrade Mining team.
