Designing the working tool of the bucket-wheel excavator with spherically shaped buckets

Relevance of research. The Russian Federation currently disposes of enormous coal reserves ranging from lignite to anthracite. At the same time a significant part of coal in Russia is mined by the surface method, more than half of coal mining is done using the bucketwheel excavators. Design and manufacture of advanced bucket-wheel excavators and increasing their productivity is a topical task. The article proposes a design solution for the working tool of the bucket-wheel excavator, that uses spherically-shaped buckets, which makes it possible to increase the fill factor of the bucket at different directions of the bucket loading. This will not only increase the efficiency of the mining operations, but also significantly reduce the cycle time. Methods used. A complex approach that included a system scientific analysis and generalization of previously published studies was used in addressing the tasks set. Results. The working tool of the bucket-wheel excavator with spherically shaped buckets has been designed and simulated. Practical value. This approach can be implemented in the development of promising designs of the bucket-wheel excavators