The Development of a High-Speed Segment Erecting System for Shield Tunneling Machine

The present study is focused on developing an effective high-speed segment erecting system, which is specific for modern shield tunneling machine. The big steady-state error and large impact force caused by high motion speed and large inertia load are main restrictions for the conventional segment erector to realize high-speed segment erecting. To overcome the bottleneck, a new hydraulic system that is based on electrohydraulic proportional control technology is designed, the actuator speed of which is adjustable and controllable. The kinematic and dynamic models are established to determine the displacement of each actuator and calculate joint force, respectively. A combined motion law is then selected to reduce joint force during acceleration and deceleration stages. Furthermore, a superior control strategy that is able to precisely and smoothly control the segment erector at high speed is chosen by comparing the experimental performances of four different control strategies. Experiments are carried out on a segment erector test rig. The experimental results show exceptional performances of the speed and position compound control system in terms of accuracy and impact force. The maximum rotation speed of the new system can be increased to more than three times of that of the present erecting system. In addition, high steady-state accuracy can be achieved with the new system while its impact force is just about one-third of the position control system.