An experimental study on energy saving potential for cutterhead drive of shield Tunneling machine using variable-speed hydraulic system

An energy saving drive technique for cutterhead of shield tunneling machine was proposed in this paper with a variable speed pump-controlled-motor hydraulic system, in order to reduce the energy loss resulting from the cutterhead system normally operating under low speed conditions. To compare with the conventional cutterhead hydraulic drive system, theoretical analysis and experiments are carried out on a test rig with different working conditions. Base on a group of tunneling parameters in three typical types of soil layers and the kinematic similarities between the cutterhead drive system and the variable speed pump-controlled-motor system, energy saving potential was investigated experimentally. The results showed that the energy efficiency of the proposed system is largely increased, irrespective of the cases in clay, sandy and gravel soils. With speed ranging from 0.5r/min to 1.25r/min, the new cutterhead drive system can save nearly 50% energy neglecting the mechanical transmission efficiency of the cutterhead.