All statements in this article are based on reliable information, and the sources are detailed at the end of the article
The field of large-scale machinery manufacturing seems to have never been the strength of the mainland, but with the unremitting efforts of the mainland, the mainland has now achieved the corner overtaking of many developed countries.
Now it has achieved the world's leading position in many industrial fields, such as shield machines.
The quality of the shield machine produced in our country is excellent, which can be called the "underground aircraft carrier", and if there is no Chinese shield machine, even the capital of Portugal will have a headache for it.
So how powerful are China's shield machines?
First, the development process of China's shield machine
The so-called shield machine is a tunnel boring machine that uses the shield method, and lays the supporting segments of the tunnel at the same time during the tunneling process.
Using such equipment and machinery to dig tunnels is of course twice the result with half the effort.
This large-scale machinery has a history of more than 180 years and originated in the United Kingdom.
Tunneling itself is a very difficult job, and before the advent of the shield machine, countries around the world basically used the most primitive human methods to dig tunnels.
This is not only time-consuming but also laborious, and does not achieve the expected excavation efficiency.
With the continuous development of technology, even if it is possible to use some automated machinery to replace manpower, there are some risks.
On the one hand, it is necessary to consider the efficiency of the excavation, and on the other hand, it is necessary to pay attention to the safety issues in the excavation process to avoid the collapse of the tunnel.
The introduction of the EPB machine has greatly improved the automation and overall efficiency of tunnel construction, and the equipment is not affected by the climate and underground terrain during the construction process.
Because the laying of tunnel supporting segments can also be taken into account in the excavation process, it can also effectively control the ground settlement and reduce the impact on the ground buildings, which can be described as a very effective tunnel excavation equipment.
Of course, the most important thing is that the advent of this equipment saves manpower and brings huge economic benefits.
However, the UK, as the birthplace of this technology, has not carried forward the shield machine, which naturally involves corresponding market factors and local industrialization constraints.
However, for such high-quality technology, other countries are naturally very jealous.
In the course of subsequent developments, the corresponding technology was introduced to Japan and Germany, and was carried forward by these two countries.
In the past 30 years of development, German and Japanese companies have innovated and improved the shield machine technology.
The sealing conditions of the EPB machine and its suitability for harsh terrain have been improved.
Since then, the production technology of the shield machine has entered a new stage, and the equipment has become more modern.
This has also given the companies in these two countries a significant share of the international market, although this seems to have changed.
Compared with the German shield machine and the Japanese shield machine, the shield machine produced in China is the best-selling product in the world, so how does China's shield machine achieve a counterattack?
As we all know, our country is a big country in terms of infrastructure, and we attach great importance to the construction of infrastructure.
In the past few years of development, the mainland has built a lot of railways and excavated a lot of tunnels, and the shield machine is an indispensable equipment for the construction of subway excavation tunnels.
For this kind of equipment, our country naturally attaches great importance to it.
In 1953, the mainland had already introduced the first shield machine, but at that time, the mainland's related industries were still more dependent on overseas imports.
They also did not have the relevant technology to achieve independent research and development.
All this finally came in 2008, and in 2007, the chairman of the North Heavy Industries Group signed a corresponding equity transfer agreement with the French company.
Subsequently, North Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. has the world's most advanced core technology of a full range of tunnel shield machines, and well-known brands took the lead in breaking the technology monopoly from Western countries.
At this time, our country already has the source technology, and in just one year, with the unremitting efforts of Chinese engineers in the mainland, the first shield machine in China's history, China Railway No. 1, has been developed.
Through the market-oriented cooperation of related enterprises, there is no difficulty in the research and development technology of the shield machine.
With the blessing of the huge market size and huge productivity in the mainland, China's shield machine industry has begun to rise rapidly, realizing the comprehensive replacement of localization.
According to the data of 2020, Continental has achieved a total of 1,000 independent research and development of shield machines.
At that time, the mainland shield machine industry had reached a domestic conversion rate of 90%.
What is more worthy of our attention is that China's shield machine is not only of excellent quality and powerful performance, but also very cheap.
The price of German shield machines is as high as 50 million yuan, while the price of shield machines produced in mainland China is only half that of Germany.
From the perspective of comprehensive cost performance, China's shield machine products are far better than Germany and Japan, and naturally have been affirmed by the international market.
It has to be said that now China's shield machine products have achieved the world's leading position, and it is a hot-selling product that countries all over the world are vying to buy.
From relying on imports to completely counterattacking, one has to marvel at how strong the mainland's strength is.
Second, without China's shield machine, the Portuguese capital also has a headache
How powerful are China's shield machine products? If there is no shield machine in our country, then the capital of Portugal is probably going to have a big headache.
The capital of Portugal is located in Lisbon, which is a typical maritime city.
Influenced by the warm Atlantic Current, Lisbon, Portugal has a good climate all year round, with pleasant winds and sunny weather most of the time.
It's just that the weather is unpredictable, and Lisbon occasionally has seasonal heavy rainfall, which is quite a headache.
You know, the city has a history of many years, and the underground drainage facilities are also extremely old.
If there is extreme weather, or if there is heavy precipitation, then flooding is unavoidable.
For this reason, the Portuguese side has decided since 2021 to dig one of the largest drainage tunnels to solve the problem of water accumulation caused by seasonal rains.
According to the Portuguese plan, the tunnel will be up to 5.6 kilometers long and will greatly improve the drainage efficiency of the urban area.
However, Portugal does not have advanced shield machine production technology, and Portugal also intends to reach corresponding cooperation with our country to purchase shield machine products from the mainland.
China Railway Engineering Equipment Group took over the order from Portugal, and in April 2022, the EPB shield machine produced by the company has successfully passed the acceptance project.
This is the first export of shield machines from mainland China to Portugal, and it also represents that mainland shield machine products have been recognized and affirmed by the European market.
In the follow-up development, countries such as Italy and Turkey have also reached cooperation with mainland enterprises to import shield machine products.
At present, the shield machine in the mainland can be said to be blooming everywhere, and has won a large market share in the international market.
Third, how good is the domestic "underground aircraft carrier".
Of course, the recognition of other countries alone is not enough to highlight how powerful the continental shield machine products are.
Although our country has now realized the full localization of shield machine products, the relevant enterprises have not stopped the innovation and optimization of the shield machine production technology, and are still developing products with better performance.
In December 2022, Continental developed the main bearing of the super-large diameter shield machine.
With a diameter of up to 8 meters and a weight of 41 tons, the main bearing of the shield machine with the largest diameter and the largest single weight made in China is the first main bearing of the shield machine with the largest diameter.
The main bearings of this volume can be mounted on a 16-metre EPBM, which greatly increases the efficiency of the tunnelling process.
This achievement seems to have been ahead of Germany and Japan, and in 2024, the mainland China Railway 14th Bureau Group and China Railway Construction Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. jointly developed a super-large diameter shield machine, which has now rolled off the assembly line in Changsha, Hunan.
With a total length of 135 meters and a total weight of 4,350 tons, it resembles an "underground aircraft carrier".
While the increase in volume will improve the efficiency of the tunneling, it is worth noting that the TBM is equipped with 308 special cutters.
The applicable scenarios have also become more diverse, and in the future, our country may apply it to the construction of the world's longest undersea high-speed rail tunnel.
Of course, in the follow-up development, the relevant enterprises in our country will further develop and optimize the shield machine products, and the relevant technical level will also be improved here.
At that time, China's excellent shield machine products will not only go to the world, but will gain more market share, and even achieve independent monopoly.
brief summary
The shield machine is an effective tunnel boring machine, although our country started late in this field, but now it has achieved corner overtaking for many western developed countries.
Nowadays, China's shield machine products have gone to the world and received a lot of recognition from overseas markets.
China's development power should not be underestimated. From nothing, from 0 to 1, everything is miraculously realized.
In the future development, China's shield machine technology will continue to achieve innovation and optimization, which can also enable China's shield to gain more market share and promote the rapid development of the domestic infrastructure industry.
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Resources:
1. Sogou Encyclopedia shield machine
2. Huanqiu.com 2023.12.20 "7 out of every 10 shield machines in the world come from China! Domestic "underground aircraft carrier" excavates to the forefront of the world》