NHI’s Coal Mine TBM Leads the Industry Technology Revolution

On May 15th, 2020, a section of a cutterhead with a "brushed flower" was sitting quietly at the wellhead of the Zhaizhen coal mine. The "New Coal No. 1" full-section semi-coal rock tunnel boring machine manufactured by NHI under the Fangda Group for Xinwen Mining Group was holding a downhole ceremony. Since then, the "New Coal No. 1" full-section semi-coal rock tunnel boring machine has been put into operation in Zhaizhen Coal Mine.

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In the Guiding Opinions on Developing Equipment Manufacturing in the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" for Coal Industry, the state proposed to develop equipment with digging, support, and transportation capabilities based on safety, efficiency, and green standards. After participated in the mixed ownership reform of NHI, Fangda Group has invested abundant capital to support the research and development of new products, making NHI the only heavy machinery manufacturing enterprise in the world that currently applies TBM to the construction of coal mine rock roadway. New construction methods with safer, more environmentally friendly and efficiency, had been provided to the coal mining enterprises.

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NHI has years of experiences in design and development of full-section TBMs. With profound technical knowledge and abundant capital, NHI has now designed and developed a series of TBM products for coal mine rock roadway. The system of machines can be customized and designed according to the user"s requirements, such as mesh, arch frame, anchor rod, advance drilling, synchronous spray mixing, etc. and a complete set of solutions can be provided for the special requirements of the project, such as well transportation, site assembly, initial operation, disassembly, site transfer, etc.

During the tunneling process of the coal mine roadway full-section boring machine installed this time, the shield and the excavated rock wall were supported by a continuous row of steel bars without “unsupported roof distance”, and there was no working area without support and suspension, so that the underground construction workers and electromechanical equipment were well protected, and the life safety of underground personnel was effectively guaranteed. There were independent air outlets at the rear of the trailer and the tail of the main machine. The wind speed at the rear of the trailer was up to 0.5m/s. There were independent dedusting and air extraction channels inside the cutterhead excavation bin and the main beam and dry dedusting system, which could effectively ensure the fresh air, smooth ventilation and appropriate temperature for the underground workers. In the process of rotary excavation by the cutterhead, the sprayed water mist could cover the entire excavation section, which could effectively suppress the generation of dust and sparks and played a safety role in the rock-breaking excavation process.

The full-section TBM used for coal mine rock roadway designed and developed by NHI is with capacity up to 5.4 meters/hour theoretically. Within 100MPa, the average monthly advance of full-section TBM with good surrounding rock integrity is close to or even more than 1000m/month. At the same time, it can also cope with the excavation of rock stratum up to 200MPa, and the comprehensive excavation efficiency can also reach 600m/month. Such working efficiency is 20 times of the traditional construction method, and the workers are free from the dangerous and heavy underground environment, which achieved the subversive revolution.