Excavators commonly known as “Hydraulic” are heavy construction equipment. Excavators are very popular machines used in construction and other civil engineering consisting of a boom, dipper (sticker), bucket and cab on a rotating platform known as the “house”. There are several types of excavators used in various applications. Although they may be different in shape, size or functionality, they basically serve the same purposes.
All movements and functions of a hydraulic excavator are accomplished through the use of hydraulic fluid, with hydraulic cylinders and hydraulic motors. Excavators are also called diggers. An Excavator is basically made up of 2 parts a driving base associated a powerful boom arm with an attachment designed for excavating. The operator sits within a small cab connected to the base and controls the arm.The excavator uses a Hydraulic system to generate a Hydraulic force to control the mechanical arm of the machine. It also uses a chain wheel system for its movement.

Uses of Excavators:
Excavators are been used in large and small scale constructions. They are used for small housing projects to do a cut and fill, used in road construction, used in marine structures to place armors and large rocks, and also been used in larger sites to excavate, move construction material, remove construction waste etc. There are several types of excavators which are classified on use, brand and purpose. Usage of Excavator in Construction the excavator probably is the most commonly used machine in the Construction Industry.
Excavators are used in many ways:
Digging of trenches, holes, foundations,Material Handling,Forestry Work,Forestry Mulching,Construction,Demolition,River Dredging,General Grading/landscapingt,Driving Piles, in Conjunction with a Pile Driver,Mining Simulation,Brush cutting with hydraulic saw,Snow Removal with Snowplow
Configuration and Features
An excavator consists of a number of features that provide digging poweraid mobility and provide carriage. It has hydraulic cylinders, a boom, undercarriage, arm/stick and a bucket.These features are controllable from a house-like cab sitting on a rotating platform. The platform is fitted with wheels for mobility. The controller, who is also the driver, sits in the cab which houses several control features, used to direct the excavator’s arm and bucket to the right position, or increase drill force. The rotating platform allows the arm and bucket to lift off soil (or any other excavated debris) away from the excavation point. Most excavators use hydraulics because they optimize power output using fewer resources. The boom section resembles and functions in the same way a human arm does. The bucket basically holds soil and rocks during lifting. The design of excavators allows them to be used for various purposes. The boom is designed to fit a bucket, drill, scissor or even a crushing tool/element. Excavators are therefore very versatile and can be used to break the ground, drill and drag rocks and lift loose debris away from the excavation point.
Types of Excavators:
The two most used excavators in construction field are:

Backhoe Excavator:
This is the most common excavator used today. Their use is widely applied to areas that may not be specific to excavation. As the name suggests, a backhoe excavator has a bucket (which functions as a hoe) facing the driver. The bucket is attached to a boom and extracts soil by pulling it towards the driver before lifting. This allows the driver/controller to have a clear view of what he is doing. The cab can easily rotate to 360 degrees. This allows loading of excavated materials to transportation or dumping truck. Backhoes are used to excavate soil in construction and mining sites or load waste in dumpsites, in dragging collapsed soil, ice or other debris away from roads and houses.They are therefore used in small to moderate applications like foundation building and constructions.
Dragline Excavator:
These excavators are much bigger in size and slightly different.They are used in large-scale applications such as on-surface mining and expansive civil engineering. They can be further divided into on-site and standard mobile draglines. On-site draglines refer to large excavators that are assembled and built on site while standard cranes are generally bigger than backhoes and smaller than on-sites. They are used in civil engineering tasks such as canal dredging. Large draglines usually weigh a lot and can damage standard tarmac roads or cause maneuvering troubles during transportation to excavation sites. For these reasons, they are usually transported in parts and assembled on site. Based on the nature of function, mechanism of work and machine size. Some common examples include the following
Suction Excavators:
These are also known as vacuum excavators. They use a suction pipe that carries away loose soil and debris, cut using the sharp teeth at the edge of the pipe. A water jet is usually used to loosen the ground before excavation begins. Suction are mostly used in delicate situations that require careful and safe identification of underground elements.[/jv_column][/jv_columns]
Long reach/long arm Excavator:
As described by the names, these are excavators with long arm and boom sections. They are mostly used for destruction/demolition tasks like breaking down walls and procedural structural crumpling. Crawlers and compact excavators – Crawlers are high horsepower excavators used in mining and other heavy tasks. Compact excavators are generic machines used to lift of soil and debris using hydraulic power mechanisms. the machine’s ACERT engine meet EU Stage IV emission standards, but it does so while giving you all the power, fuel efficiency, and reliability you need to succeed. Where the real power comes in is through the hydraulic system. You can literally move tons of material all day long with a great deal of speed and precision. When you add in a quiet operator environment that keeps you comfortable and productive, service points that make your routine maintenance easy, and multiple Cat work tools that help you take on a variety of jobs,you simply won’t find better Long Reach Excavation machines.
Power shovels Excavator:
They are also known as stripping shovels or front shovels. These are high-end machines used in sectional excavation such as mining and digging. They consist of a revolving device, crane with lifting arm and bucket, counter weight and maneuvering controls. Shovels normally consist of a revolving deck with a power plant, driving and controlling mechanisms, usually a counterweight, and a front attachment, such as a crane (“boom”) which supports a handle (“dipper” or “dipper stick”) with a digger (“bucket”) at the end. “Dipper” is also sometimes used to refer to the handle and digger combined. The machinery is mounted on a base platform with tracks or wheels. Modern bucket capacities range from 8 m3 to nearly 80 m3.
Other types are:
Compact Excavator,Amphibious Excavator,TSteam Shovel,Walking Excavator,Bucket-wheel Excavator,Bulldozer,Civil Engineering,Heavy Equipment,Loader (Equipment),Mining Simulation,
Excavator attachments
Hydraulic excavator capabilities have expanded far beyond excavation tasks with buckets. With the advent of hydraulic-powered attachments such as a breaker, a grapple or an auger, the excavator is frequently used in many applications other than excavation. Many excavators feature a quick coupler for simplified attachment mounting, increasing the machine’s utilization on the jobsite. Excavators are usually employed together with loaders and bulldozers. Most wheeled, compact and some medium-sized (11 to 18-tonne) excavators have a backfill (or dozer) blade. This is a horizontal bulldozer-like blade attached to the undercarriage and is used for levelling and pushing removed material back into a hole.
Some Major Manufacturers:
Related Links:
- Japan Forklift Machinery
- Agricultural Machinery and Tractors
- Japanese Machinery and Equipments
- Japan Machinery Federation (JMF)
