Small-Diameter TBM Rotary Platform for Right-Angle Adit Turns
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small-diameter TBMs face challenges in making right-angle turns during the excavation of exploration adits in underground powerhouses and pumped storage projects, leading to incomplete construction of underground cavern group branch adits.
Innovation Solution
A method involving a small-diameter TBM with a total length of about 27 m, including a host system, control system, and cooling system, which allows for right-angle turning by parking the machine at a temporary location, expanding a turning workspace, retracting onto a rotary platform, rotating to align with the branch adit, and then continuing excavation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If conventional borehole-blasting methods are used for ultra deep and ultra long adit excavation, then construction can proceed in harsh environmental conditions, but safety control of pyrotechnical materials becomes extremely difficult and construction period is excessively long
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the chemical blasting system with a mechanical TBM (Tunnel Boring Machine) system. The TBM uses a rotating cutter head with cutting tools to mechanically grind and remove rock, eliminating the need for pyrotechnical materials and their associated safety risks while maintaining high excavation efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The TBM system utilizes hydraulic power systems to drive the cutter head rotation, thrust mechanisms, and conveyor belts. The hydraulic system provides controlled mechanical force for rock breaking and material transport, replacing explosive energy with controlled hydraulic pressure
2Productivity
If small-diameter TBM is used for exploration adit excavation, then excavation efficiency is significantly improved and safety risks are reduced, but the machine cannot make right-angle turns to construct branch adits
Solution Approach 1:
The TBM is divided into multiple detachable modules including the cutter head assembly, host body, and conveyor system. This segmentation allows the machine to be disassembled, repositioned, and reassembled in different orientations to achieve right-angle turns for branch adit construction
Solution Approach 2:
The TBM incorporates dynamic reconfiguration capabilities where the modular components can be moved and repositioned during construction. The machine transitions from a fixed linear configuration to a reconfigurable system that can adapt to different tunnel directions and angles
3Productivity
If small-diameter TBM with cutter head diameter less than 3.5 m is used, then the machine can operate in confined spaces and achieve high excavation efficiency, but the machine length of 27 m creates space constraints during right-angle turning operations
Solution Approach 1:
The 27-meter TBM is divided into multiple segments of approximately 6-7 meters each. This segmentation allows the machine to be disassembled into smaller units that can be maneuvered through tight spaces and reconfigured for right-angle turns, effectively reducing the operational length constraint while maintaining the total machine length for excavation efficiency
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention discloses a right-angle turning method for small-diameter TBM exploration adit excavation and belongs to the field of geological exploration of water conservancy and hydropower projects. The method includes the steps: excavating a main exploration adit with a small-diameter TBM to a designated position, and then enabling the small-diameter TBM to continue to excavate forward to a temporary parking place, and parking the small-diameter TBM there; expanding and excavating a turning workspace at a right-angle turning position, and assembling a rotary platform; pulling the TBM onto the rotary platform, then starting excavation after rotating the rotary platform to make the TBM move in a same direction as the branch exploration adit; and pulling the TBM onto the rotary platform after excavation of the branch exploration adit is completed, and then moving the TBM to an adit portal so as to complete excavation after rotating the rotary platform to make the TBM move in a same direction as the main exploration adit. The present invention effectively solves the problems that the small-diameter TBM can only excavate main exploration adits in geological exploration adits of underground powerhouses of hydropower projects and pumped storage projects, and cannot make right-angle turns and excavate branch adits of underground cavern groups. It effectively fills the blank of a traditional adit excavation adopting blasting technology; and the excavation efficiency is high, the working environment is friendly, and safety production is guaranteed.