Recently, China's first single-shield hard rock tunnel boring machine (TBM) for coal mines was assembled and debugged at China Communications Construction Tianhe Machinery Equipment Manufacturing Co., LTD. It is about to participate in the construction of the auxiliary inclined shaft of Gucheng No.1 Coal Mine in Fugu County, Shaanxi Province, setting a precedent for the construction of single-shield TBM in inclined shafts of coal mines.
It is understood that the large amount of support work, high labor intensity and imbalance between excavation and support are the main factors restricting the excavation speed of underground roadways. Most of the work in China's coal mines is confronted with the problem of the imbalance between excavation and support time. The excavation speed of rock roadways in the mines is far from meeting the development demands. If the rock roadway excavation cannot be extended forward in time, it will lead to all mining and excavation activities being unable to proceed smoothly. The main construction method for coal mine roadway excavation at home and abroad is the drilling and blasting method. With the advancement of technology, in recent years, some coal mines in stable geological strata have adopted the open, double shield TBM full-face rock roadway excavation method. However, in fragmented, unstable and high-stress strata, only the traditional drilling and blasting construction can still be used, which requires a large number of workers, is slow and inefficient. It has seriously restricted the pace of high-quality development of China's coal mines.
The section length of the inclined shaft project of the No.1 Coal Mine in the Ancient City of Fugu County is 2.1 kilometers. The TBM has to face a 6-degree downhill slope, fractured zones, soft rock and gas-containing areas, etc. China Communications Construction Tianhe thoroughly studied the construction techniques of the coal mining industry and, in combination with the geological conditions of the No. 1 Coal Mine in Gucheng, Fugu County, successfully developed the first single-shield TBM for coal mines in China. This TBM has an excavation diameter of 8.34 meters, an overall length of approximately 153 meters, and an installed power of 4,900 kilowatts. It achieves lightweight design for the entire machine, as well as rapid assembly and disassembly. The series of targeted designs adopted, such as the back-pushing system and the advanced drilling rig system, can solve construction problems such as mudstone clogging of the cutter head, roof leakage, cleaning of the broken zone, and reverse slope drainage of inclined shafts. This TBM can also meet the overall explosion-proof requirements for construction in gas strata, providing an effective guarantee for the safe and efficient excavation production of inclined shafts in coal mines.
With the support of technological equipment, this originally powerful tool for "tunneling" can now be used in coal mine excavation, support, muck removal and guidance, etc. It has the advantages of good construction safety, fast excavation speed, high quality of roadway formation and environmental friendliness.
TBM has played a "catalyst" role in high-quality production, disaster control, and the construction of green and intelligent mines, promoting the development level of mines to a new stage. The tunneling efficiency is nearly three times higher than that of the traditional drilling and blasting method. It not only fills the domestic gap in single-shield TBM construction for inclined shafts in coal mines, but also will lead the transformation of the construction method for rock roadway development in coal mines and promote the improvement of the intelligent level of coal mine equipment. Jin Dangpeng, deputy chief engineer of China Communications Construction Tianhe and director of the Design and Research Institute, said.
China Communications Construction Tianhe is located in the High-tech Zone of Yushan, Changshu. It mainly engages in the design and manufacture of equipment such as shield machines and Marine vessels. Since its establishment in 2010, China Communications Construction Tianhe has successively developed high-end equipment such as super-large diameter shield machines, full-face hard rock tunnel boring machines, and vertical hard rock tunnel boring machines for major projects such as the Yangtze River Tunnel in Nanjing, the No. 1 Tunnel of the Jakarta-Bandung High-Speed Railway in Indonesia, and the Heyan Road Cross-river Passage in Nanjing. It has continuously broken through foreign technological barriers and highlighted the "Made in China" brand.
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