A cutting assembly for a rock excavation machine having a frame includes a boom and a cutting device supported on the boom. The boom includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion supported for pivotable movement relative to the frame. In some embodiments, the first portion includes a first structure extending along a longitudinal base axis and a second structure moveable relative to the first portion in a direction parallel to the longitudinal base axis, and at least one bearing supports the second portion for movement relative to the first portion. In some embodiments, the second portion is pivotably coupled to the first portion by a universal joint, and a suspension system including a plurality of biasing members may be coupled between the first portion and the second portion.

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.

An industrial machine including an actuator, a gear reducer, a cutter drum, a cutter bit, a sensor, and a controller. The gear reducer is configured to receive a first rotational energy from the actuator and output a second rotational energy. The cutter drum is supported by a chassis. The cutter drum is driven by the second rotational energy. The cutter bit is coupled to the cutter drum. The sensor is configured to sense a characteristic of the industrial machine. The controller, having a processor and memory, is configured to receive the characteristic of the industrial machine, determine a cutting efficiency based on the characteristic of the industrial machine, and output the cutting efficiency.

A cutting assembly for a rock excavation machine having a frame includes a boom and a cutting device supported on the boom. The boom includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion supported for pivotable movement relative to the frame. In some embodiments, the first portion includes a first structure extending along a longitudinal base axis and a second structure moveable relative to the first portion in a direction parallel to the longitudinal base axis, and at least one bearing supports the second portion for movement relative to the first portion. In some embodiments, the second portion is pivotably coupled to the first portion by a universal joint, and a suspension system including a plurality of biasing members may be coupled between the first portion and the second portion.

A device for advancing a cavity in underground mining, including a rotary drive, an axial shaft that is rotatable together with the rotary drive about a longitudinal axis, exactly one extraction drum that is rotatable about an drum rotational axis, and a connecting arrangement which is connected to the axial shaft and which supports the extraction drum, the connecting arrangement being configured in such a way that the drum rotational axis and the longitudinal axis lie in a plane, and are oriented at an acute angle with respect to one another in the advancing direction, in all operating positions during the advancement, characterized in that the extraction drum extends over at least an effective radius of the device in the radial direction of the device during advancement of the cavity.

The invention relates to a method (S10) for optimizing the characteristics of a tunnel boring machine, particularly a tunnel boring machine of the slurry pressure or VD type, said method comprising the following steps: S0: determining a ground/machine interaction model, S11: instantaneous measurement of the set of specific boring parameters of the tunnel boring machine, S13: determining the group of individuals corresponding to the boring parameters measured in step S11 by means of the ground/machine interaction model, S14: optimizing the characteristics of the tunnel boring machine as a function of the group of individuals thus determined.

A cutting assembly for a rock excavation machine having a frame includes a boom and a cutting device supported on the boom. The boom includes a first portion and a second portion, the first portion supported for pivotable movement relative to the frame. In some embodiments, the first portion includes a first structure extending along a longitudinal base axis and a second structure moveable relative to the first portion in a direction parallel to the longitudinal base axis, and at least one bearing supports the second portion for movement relative to the first portion. In some embodiments, the second portion is pivotably coupled to the first portion by a universal joint, and a suspension system including a plurality of biasing members may be coupled between the first portion and the second portion.

A cutting ring assembly for a tunnel boring machine includes a fixed axle, an inner ring rotationally fixed to the axle and having an inner raceway on a radially outer surface, a cutting ring having a radially inner surface forming an outer raceway, and a plurality of rolling elements between the inner raceway and the outer raceway supporting the cutting ring on the inner ring for rotation relative to the axle.

A Tunnel Extraction Machine (TEM) and its alternatives is a sustainable machine to excavate the tunnel or mine or dredge seabed in a rapid, efficient and cost-effective way as it allows large parts of the rock (or soil) to be extracted and pulled out of the tunnel or mine without necessity of digging or crushing them and with significantly reduced amount of the energy. Basically, it can excavate (cut) perimeter of the tunnel section in different shapes and sizes along with some other required longitudinal and transversal cuts and then extract and pull out the untouched and undug large portions of the rock or soil out of the tunnel.

A cutter head has a front surface formed with several transmitting ports, a protection plate mounted at an external-end hole of each port, several microwave generating mechanisms distributed in two manners: first, the generating mechanisms are uniformly arranged in the cutter head; second, the microwave generating mechanisms in the same number as hobbing cutters. Each generating mechanism includes a microwave source, a magnetron, a rectangular waveguide, a circulator and a microwave focus radiator, wherein the microwave source is connected with the magnetron, the magnetron is connected with one end of the waveguide, the other end of the waveguide is connected with a first port of the circulator, a second port of the circulator is connected with the microwave focus radiator, and a water load is connected to a third port of the circulator. The focus radiator includes a standard waveguide section, an impedance matching section and a compressed radiation section.