Tunnel boring machine

• US 10,808,532 B2
• Filed: 04/24/2017
• Issued: 10/20/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 05/17/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Komatsu Ltd.
• Inventors: Kawai, Kazunari, Terada, Shinichi, Morioka, Eiichi
• Primary Examiner(s): Kreck, Janine M
• Assistant Examiner(s): Goodwin, Michael A
• Application Number:
  US16/090,331
• Publication Number:
  US 20190112924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,275 Days
• CPC Class Codes: E21D 9/003 Arrangement of measuring or indicating devices for use during driving of tunnels, e.g. for guiding machines
• CPC Class Codes: E21D 9/1006 with rotary cutting tools for cutting simultaneously the whole cross-section E21D9/11; drill bits E21B10/00
• CPC Class Codes: E21D 9/104 Cutting tool fixtures devices with percussive tools E21D9/106
• CPC Class Codes: E21D 9/11 with a rotary drilling-head cutting simultaneously the whole cross-section, i.e. full-face machines
• CPC Class Codes: E21D 9/112 by means of one single rotary head or of concentric rotary heads E21D9/111 takes precedence

Abstract

Provided is a tunnel boring machine that can detect a wear condition of a disc cutter with a highly reliable configuration. The tunnel boring machine includes a measurement device. The measurement device is disposed behind the disc cutter mounted on a cutter head. The measurement device has a function as an acquisition unit that acquires cutting edge position data indicating a position of a cutting edge part of a cutter ring in the disc cutter. The tunnel boring machine further includes a DC discrimination unit that discriminates which one of a plurality of disc cutters is the disc cutter the cutting edge position data of which is acquired by the measurement device and a wear amount calculator that calculates a wear amount of the cutting edge part of the discriminated disc cutter.

Claims

1. A tunnel boring machine comprising:

a main body, the main body being a non-rotating body;

a cutter head that is disposed in front of the main body and is rotatable with respect to the main body;

a plurality of disc cutters rotatably mounted on the cutter head, each of the disc cutters including a cutter ring that is exposed to a front surface of the cutter head while exposed to a back surface of the cutter head, the cutter ring including a cutting edge part;

an acquisition unit that is attached to the main body behind the cutter head and disposed behind the plurality of disc cutters to acquire cutting edge position data indicating a position of the cutting edge part of one of the disc cutters;

a discrimination unit for discriminating which one of the plurality of disc cutters is the disc cutter for which the cutting edge position data is acquired by the acquisition unit; and

a calculator for calculating a wear amount of the cutting edge part of the disc cutter discriminated by the discrimination unit based on the cutting edge position data acquired for the disc cutter.

2. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit includes at least one of a stereo camera that can capture an image of the disc cutter or a laser scanner that scans the disc cutter, and acquires the cutting edge position data from image data captured by the stereo camera or acquires the cutting edge position data by measurement with the laser scanner.

3. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit includes the stereo camera and the stereo camera captures the image of the disc cutter during the rotation of the cutter head.

4. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 2, wherein the acquisition unit includes the stereo camera and the stereo camera simultaneously captures images of at least two disc cutters of the plurality of disc cutters.

5. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 1, wherein the acquisition unit includes a distance measurement device that measures a distance from the acquisition unit to the cutting edge part of the disc cutter, and the acquisition unit acquires the cutting edge position data for the disc cutter by measurement with the distance measurement device.

6. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 1, further comprising a temperature detector for detecting a temperature in the cutter head,

wherein the temperature detector can detect abnormal temperature rise in the cutter head.

7. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 1, wherein the discrimination unit detects distance from a center of the cutter head to the cutting edge part of each of the plurality of disc cutters and uses the detected distances to discriminate the disc cutter for which the cutting edge position data is acquired.

8. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 1, wherein the discrimination unit discriminates the disc cutter for which the cutting edge position data is acquired by detecting a rotation angle of the cutter head with respect to the main body.

9. A tunnel boring machine comprising:

a main body, the main body being a non-rotating body;

a cutter head that is disposed in front of the main body and is rotatable with respect to the main body;

a plurality of disc cutters rotatably mounted on the cutter head, each of the disc cutters including a cutter ring that is exposed to a front surface of the cutter head while exposed to a back surface of the cutter head;

an acquisition unit that is attached to the main body behind the cutter head and disposed behind the plurality of disc cutters to acquire rotation data indicating presence or absence of rotation of one of the disc cutters with respect to the cutter head, wherein the rotation data is acquired by imaging or scanning the disc cutter; and

a discrimination unit for discriminating which one of the plurality of disc cutters is the disc cutter for which the rotation data is acquired by the acquisition unit.

10. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 9, wherein the acquisition unit includes at least one of a stereo camera that can capture an image of the disc cutter or a laser scanner that scans the disc cutter, and acquires the rotation data from image data captured by the stereo camera or acquires the rotation data by measurement with the laser scanner.

11. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 10, wherein the acquisition unit includes the stereo camera and the stereo camera captures the image of the disc cutter during the rotation of the cutter head.

12. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 10, wherein the acquisition unit includes the stereo camera and the stereo camera simultaneously captures images of at least two disc cutters of the plurality of disc cutters.

13. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 9, wherein an alarm is output when the rotation data acquired by the acquisition unit indicates that the disc cutter does not rotate.

14. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 9, further comprising a temperature detector for detecting a temperature in the cutter head,

wherein the temperature detector can detect abnormal temperature rise in the cutter head.

15. The tunnel boring machine according to claim 9, wherein the discrimination unit discriminates the disc cutter for which the rotation data is acquired by detecting a rotation angle of the cutter head with respect to the main body.

16. A tunnel boring machine comprising:

a main body, the main body being a non-rotating body;

a cutter head that is disposed in front of the main body and is rotatable with respect to the main body;

a plurality of disc cutters rotatably mounted on the cutter head, each of the disc cutters including a cutter ring that is exposed to a front surface of the cutter head while exposed to a back surface of the cutter head, the cutter ring including a cutting edge part;

an acquisition unit that is attached to the main body behind the cutter head and disposed behind the plurality of disc cutters to acquire (i) cutting edge position data indicating a position of the cutting edge part of one of the disc cutters and (ii) rotation data indicating presence or absence of rotation of the one disc cutter with respect to the cutter head;

a discrimination unit for discriminating which one of the plurality of disc cutters is the disc cutter for which the cutting edge position data and the rotation data are acquired by the acquisition unit; and

a calculator for calculating a wear amount of the cutting edge part of the disc cutter discriminated by the discrimination unit based on the cutting edge position data acquired for the disc cutter.