On November 12, Wirtgen North America gathered 1,200 customers, dealers, executives and members of the media in Antioch, Tennessee, to show off its latest tech and demo new machines.
On display was the Vögele Super 2100-5i tracked paver, newly available in North America this year. Boasting new operator ergonomics and faster setup times, it features a liquid-cooled 6-cylinder diesel engine, a nominal output of 250 horsepower and 106-gallon tank.
Attendees were periodically let onto the demo grounds to examine the machines after use.Equipment World
These units can pave up to 82 feet per minute at a max width of 31 feet 11 inches, lay down up to 1,210 tons per hour and have a hopper capacity of 15.4 tons. With an AB 600 TP2 Plus screed, the 2100-5i is at its heaviest at 54,680 pounds and its longest at 22.5 feet.
Brodie Hutchins, vice president of sales at Vögele North America, describes it as a specialty machine, primarily used for base roller-compacted concrete, cement-treated base, soil, cement and even thick-lift asphalt. The unit can put down layers up to 16 inches.
One key difference with the 2100-5i from a traditional North American paver, says Hutchins, is its compacting ability. Since the machine is designed for very thick lifts and different types of base material, contractors will be working with a tamping device on the front of the screed plate and pressure bars on the back, creating smoothness and density.
“With a machine like this, the benefit of it is behind the screed, you’re at a much, much higher percentage of density than you are with a traditional machine,” says Hutchins. “It not only gives you more precision, especially with a thicker lift and drier material, but you get fewer passes with the roller.
“You’re coming in and your rolldown is much more precise and predictable, based on a high level of density here, as opposed to something that might be 10% less dense that you need to try to do with the roller. And that just gives you another potential to create an unsmooth mat.”
Brodie Hutchins, vice president of sales at Vögele North America, points out the pressure bars on the back of the Super 2100-5i.Equipment World
Other key upgrades from previous models include hydraulic end gates, an improved lighting system and upgraded auger sensors.
Additionally, Hutchins says that in the “brains” of the machine, contractors will find more improvements.
“There’s so much more automation. There’s so much more integration of technology, especially in terms of 3D where we go out to a job, you load the model, the width, the steering, the grade and the slope – we’re trying to make the machine do more of the work and the precision by itself and take out the human error potential.”