Unclogging of a discharge opening of a tunnel boring machine by ultrasonic waves
AssigneeBouygues Travaux Publics
InventorsAntoine Thierry Charles Surmont, Quentin Marie Christophe Bonnemaison, Pierre-Marie Pascal Tierce
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Abstract
The invention relates to a cutting wheel of a tunnel boring machine comprising at least one material discharge opening (5), said discharge opening (5) being delimited by a circumferential wall (10), the cutting wheel (3) being characterized in that it further comprises at least one ultrasonic emitter (6) configured to generate a mechanical vibratory motion in a range of ultrasonic frequencies, said emitter (6) being fixed against the circumferential wall (10) so as to transmit the mechanical vibratory motion to the vibrating circumferential wall (10) and to reduce its coefficient of friction.
Claims13
A cutting head of a tunnel boring machine comprising:
- a cutting wheel comprising at least one material discharge opening, said at least one material discharge opening being delimited by a circumferential wall, and
- a fixing ring, the fixing ring and the cutting wheel being joined by a plurality of arms and delimiting together a containment chamber, said containment chamber extending downstream of the at least one material discharge opening, and
- at least one ultrasonic emitter configured to generate a mechanical vibratory motion in a range of ultrasonic frequencies, wherein the at least one ultrasonic emitter is fixed against the circumferential wall of the at least one material discharge opening so as to transmit the mechanical vibratory motion to the circumferential wall and to reduce a coefficient of friction of the circumferential wall.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.