A European civil construction company has upgraded to a next generation crawler excavator to fulfil contract work for a quarry producer.
Lorban TP is a family-run business that has been involved in public works such as demolition, asbestos removal, road and pavement construction, earthworks and construction waste, sewerage and waterworks facilities, and contracting for nearly 50 years.
The company has most recently been engaged in extraction and loading of limestone in the Carrières du Bassin de la Sambre (aka the “Quarries of the Sambre Basin”) in Limont-Fontaine. These quarries produce 600,000 tonnes per annum of limestone granulate.
To aid in its work at the quarries, Lorban had been on the lookout for a high performance excavator with short loading cycle times to operate a hydraulic hammer, to break up the rock, as well as a shovel to load it into the dump trucks. It would replace a Liebherr Generation 6 R 946 excavator.
The company subsequently opted for a Liebherr Generation 8 R 945 excavator. The Generation 8 crawler excavator range comprises seven models and was launched at Bauma Munich in 2019.
Jean-Pierre Deruelle, the only driver of the R 945, previously worked with Lorban’s R 946 excavator. When comparing the old and new generations, he noted an increase in both performance and stability.
Combining flexibility, performance
The R 945 is the replacement model for the Generation 6 R 950 SME and is designed for optimised operating performance, comfort, ergonomics and safety.
The stability and dynamics of the excavator enable loading cycle times to be shortened, thus increasing production output. A loading cycle takes between 14 and 15 seconds. The time required to load an articulated dump truck in the 30-tonne class is one minute and 20 seconds in seven passes.
The R 945 achieves higher outputs than the old R 946, with an engine output of 220kW compared to its predecessor’s 200kW. The average fuel consumption is 28.5 litres per hour. The engine efficiency of the Generation 8 excavators meets the European standard of Exhaust Gas Stage V. The transition to idling and the start-up are controlled automatically.
The R 945 crawler excavator is equipped with a HDR bucket with a 2.5m3 capacity for loading the granules into the dump trucks and can be fitted with a hydraulic hammer for crushing the rock.
It is equipped with a 6m long SME monobloc jib with a SWA 66 hydraulic quick change system and new, powerful LED lighting with a longer reach and a longer service life than the predecessor model’s old halogen system. The brightness of the LED headlights can be switched with a single press of the joystick button, which is convenient for the operator.
According to Liebherr, the R 945 machine was perfectly adapted to the Lorban TP’s requirements. Deruelle also appreciated the comfort of the cab and the smoothness of the R 945’s manoeuvrability. The spacious, air-conditioned cab is equipped with an air-sprung seat with vertical and longitudinal shock absorption.
Source: Liebherr Australia