Hägglunds Mellansel hydraulics lab: drive system insights for bulk mine handling
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on International Mining – News
30 Second Briefing
Hägglunds, part of Bosch Rexroth, has opened a new hydraulics laboratory in Mellansel, Sweden to develop and test its hydraulic direct drive systems used on large apron feeders, bucketwheel reclaimers and conveyors. The lab focuses on integrated systems comprising a hydraulic motor, flexibly placed drive unit and dedicated control and monitoring system, allowing optimisation of torque control and start-up behaviour under high-load, low-speed conditions typical in bulk materials handling. For mine operators and designers, the facility should accelerate validation of drive configurations for retrofit and greenfield projects, particularly where variable-speed, stall-resistant drives are critical.
Technical Brief
- Laboratory test rigs are tailored to mining-scale applications such as large apron feeders and bucketwheel reclaimers.
- Integrated control and monitoring hardware is installed to capture drive response under controlled load cases.
- Physical separation of hydraulic motor and drive unit can be trialled to optimise layout around existing plant.
- Test campaigns can reproduce low-speed, high-torque duty cycles typical of bulk materials handling equipment.
Our Take
Within the 897 Mining stories in our database, Sweden appears far less frequently than major mining hubs, so Hägglunds’ Mellansel hydraulics laboratory stands out as one of relatively few Nordic-based infrastructure items supporting global mine equipment supply chains.
Hägglunds and Bosch Rexroth feature mainly in our ‘Product’ tag coverage as drive and hydraulics suppliers to large mills, conveyors and apron feeders, so an expanded test facility in Sweden likely underpins higher-torque, low-speed solutions for heavy-duty mining applications rather than mine-site construction per se.
Among the 1,719 tag-matched ‘Projects’ and ‘Product’ pieces, most new labs and test centres are located close to major mining regions; siting this hydraulics laboratory in Mellansel suggests Bosch Rexroth is keeping R&D and high-end testing in a controlled European environment while serving equipment OEMs that export into harsher mining jurisdictions.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
Related Articles
Related Industries & Products
Mining
Geotechnical software solutions for mining operations including CMRR analysis, hydrogeological testing, and data management.
Construction
Quality control software for construction companies with material testing, batch tracking, and compliance management.
CMRR-io
Streamline coal mine roof stability assessments with our cloud-based CMRR software featuring automated calculations, multi-scenario analysis, and collaborative workflows.
HYDROGEO-io
Comprehensive hydrogeological testing platform for managing, analysing, and reporting on packer tests, lugeon values, and hydraulic conductivity assessments.
GEODB-io
Centralised geotechnical data management solution for storing, accessing, and analysing all your site investigation and material testing data.