360 degree rotary Ballast Sweeper

A specialized attachment that can be quickly mounted on general-purpose construction machinery (such as skid steer loaders and excavators) instantly transforms ordinary equipment into a highly efficient railway ballast cleaning sweeper, achieving multi-functionality and low-cost professional transformation.

Core Application: Precise Post-Tamping Cleanup As a crucial supplementary step in the tamping machine operation process, it follows closely behind to specifically clean up loose ballast remaining on the sleeper surface, fasteners, and shoulder areas, ensuring tamping quality and providing the final safety guarantee for the restoration of line operation.

What is a ballast sweeper?

Precise Post-Tamping Cleanup，As a crucial supplement to the tamping machine operation process, this step follows closely with a dedicated cleanup of loose ballast remaining on the sleeper surface, fasteners, and shoulder areas. This ensures tamping quality and provides the final safety guarantee for the line's resumption of operation.

Efficient Cleaning During Sleeper Replacement & Maintenance，When replacing sleepers or performing partial track maintenance, quickly cleaning the ballast around the work area creates a clean and safe working surface. It also allows for rapid restoration of the track bed's appearance after work, greatly improving maintenance efficiency.

Flexible Tool for Routine Track Maintenance，Utilizing the mobility of excavators to treat track bed contamination, remove weeds and debris between sleepers, and regularly tidy up the track bed cross-section (especially the shoulder area) is the "Swiss Army knife" of the track maintenance department's routine maintenance.

Specialized Cleaning in Stations & Switch Areas，The complex structures of switches and stations make it difficult for large specialized equipment to access them. This machine combines the flexibility of an excavator with the precision to clear ballast debris from critical areas such as turnout points and frogs, ensuring smooth operation of the switching mechanism.

Emergency & Spot Cleaning，For localized ballast encroachment or scattering caused by severe weather or accidents, it can respond quickly, providing targeted and immediate cleanup to minimize disruption to traffic.

Specifications

Advantages

High ROI: No need to purchase expensive large specialized vehicles; simply equip existing excavators with this attachment to achieve professional functionality, significantly reducing equipment investment costs.

Extreme Flexibility and Maneuverability: The excavator itself has excellent maneuverability and 360-degree working capability, easily performing precision cleaning operations in narrow or complex spaces such as yards, tunnels, and bridges.

Multi-functionality and Maximized Utilization: After finishing work, it can be quickly switched to other attachments such as buckets and breakers, ensuring high utilization of the main equipment throughout the year and avoiding equipment idleness.

Rapid Deployment: Utilizing existing equipment and operators, training is simple, and it can be immediately deployed to various small to medium-sized, scattered cleaning tasks

that are difficult for large machinery to cover.

Detailed Explanation of Working Principle: High-Efficiency Sweeping System Based on Dual-Path Hydraulic Drive

This sweeper attachment is powered by two backup hydraulic lines (commonly known as "hammer lines") on the excavator, independently controlling two core actions to collaboratively complete the "sweeping" and "vacuuming" cleaning processes.

The working process is broken down as follows:

Step 1: Powerful Gathering by Rotating Brush Disc

The first hydraulic line drives a high-speed hydraulic motor, causing a heavy-duty wire brush disc to rotate clockwise or counterclockwise.

This rotating brush disc acts like a powerful mechanical broom, penetrating deep into the sleeper box and both sides of the rail, quickly loosening, breaking up, and gathering the tamped and excess ballast (gravel) into the center of the track or a designated location.

Step 2: Efficient Collection by Wave-Type Steel Sweeping Pipe

The second hydraulic line drives a hydraulic cylinder, causing a specially designed steel collection pipe (or corrugated suction pipe) to produce a regular back-and-forth wave motion.

The front end of this pipe is located behind the brush disc. Under its undulating action, the gathered ballast is precisely "fed" or "guided" into the pipe inlet. This undulating design is more effective at grabbing material and preventing blockages than fixed pipes.

Collaborative Operation, Seamless Completion

When the two actions run simultaneously, a continuous work cycle is formed: the rotating brush continuously sweeps up and throws the ballast backward → the undulating steel sweeping pipe simultaneously collects and transports the swept ballast away (usually blown through a pipe to an accompanying collection vehicle, or temporarily collected in a collection box on the attachment).

The operator in the excavator cab can adjust the brush rotation speed and the undulating frequency and amplitude of the steel sweeping pipe in real time by controlling the handles of these two pipes to handle ballast with different bulk densities and moisture levels, achieving the best cleaning effect.

In short, its working principle is like an efficient cleaner: one hand (rotating brush) vigorously sweeps up the debris, while the other hand (undulating steel sweeping pipe) simultaneously receives it with a scoop. This dual hydraulic drive design ensures ample power and independent, controllable motion, making it an ideal solution for completing high-intensity, continuous cleaning tasks.

Team Showcase

Conclusion

Choosing the right railway ballast sweeperis vital for maintaining the efficiency and safety of your operations. At Tiannuo Machinery, we are committed to providing high-quality, reliable solutions tailored to meet the unique needs of our customers. Whether you are a construction company, mining organization, or environmental agency, our experienced team is here to help you find the perfect machine for your requirements. For more information or to request a quote, please contact us at arm@stnd-machinery.com