Efficient = STICHWEH
The Deromedi Group chooses STICHWEH’s KS 400 drag scraper.
The Deromedi Group is ready to roll in Argenvières with its KS 400 drag scraper from STICHWEH Maschinen & Service GmbH. The high-end machine, built in 1996, underwent a programme of modernisation that included, among other things, replacing its internal combustion engine with an electric one.
The retrofitted drag scraper is in operation on a dam on the site of Ile au Page. At this location, which is susceptible to sharp increases in water levels, the STICHWEH KS 400 will enable excavation all year round.
STICHWEH KS 400 drag scraper
In Argenvières, not far from Charité-sur-Loire, the Deromedi company operates an alluvial site of 20 ha located on the Ile au Page. While there is a cable dredger on-site, for a little over a year now, excavation operations have been carried out by a STICHWEH brand drag scraper. And that will also be the case for another 15 years.
When it came to selecting the most efficient solution for excavation operations, Deromedi got in touch with Jean-François Trousselet, the Managing Director of DESMMA. This is the company that has taken over distribution for STICHWEH in France and in French-speaking countries.
Trousselet’s proposal for Deromedi was STICHWEH’s KS 400 drag scraper, which needed to be updated.
The aim was to replace the original internal combustion engine with a 160kW electric motor and to overhaul the electrical equipment. A touch screen operating panel as well as a switch enclosure of the latest generation would also be added.
Enhanced efficiency in operation – scraper versus cable dredger and wheel loader
Deromedi has estimated that the costs of operating ONE drag scrapper are one-third less when compared with the previous configuration that comprised a cable dredger and wheel loader. “The purchase costs point to using ONE drag scrapper because we only need one machine”, remarks Deromedi.
The efficiency advantage of the drag scrapper consists in the drag scraper bucket “always being full when it comes out of the water in order to be able to continuously supply the processing operations at the site via the conveyor belt – this was not the case with the cable dredger,” explains Jean-François Trousselet, who was previously a distributor for this type of machine and, these days, supplies the more efficient STICHWEH technology.
Flexible and quiet in operation – the modernised STICHWEH KS 400 drag scraper
In the generously sized and glazed operator’s cab the work can be performed and monitored while standing up or sitting down. On the control panel it is possible to monitor the displayed information, such as the scrape path and current intensity in conjunction with the pulling force of the cables or the working time.
“The added plus of an electric engine is the silent operation of the machine. This is an advantage outside of the operator’s cab, too”, say people at the quarry.
Assisted operation scraping – the future of scraping
How long is the service life of a KS 400 drag scraper? “Its predecessor was in operation for 45 years. The new KS 400 could achieve an equally long service life”, predicts Trousselet. “The machine has a very simple design and comes with relatively low maintenance costs.”
The new type of drag scrapers that leave STICHWEH Maschinen & Service GmbH in Salzhemmendorf/Thüste, in the south of Hanover, can be equipped with an assisted operation feature that provides support to the operating staff.
For example: The KS1000, – the biggest drag scraper in the model series – is equipped with a bucket with a capacity of 10 m³. It was delivered in 2018 to a mining region in southern Denmark.
