NHI Headlines

Fangda Group North Heavy Industry: Tunnel equipment from the localization to the world's leading leap

Published:2025-04-07

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, North Heavy Industry Group Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as "NHI"), with scientific and technological innovation as a strong driving force, made full efforts in the field of tunnel boring equipment and achieved a series of far-reaching breakthrough results.

From the successful development of the first domestic Φ5.93 meters hard rock double shield tunnel boring machine in 2006, to break through the domestic shield machine "last mile", until the completion of 100% domestic shield machine construction verification, and then to the appearance of "Endeavour" TBM, Northern Heavy Industry with a " The Pillars of a Great Power”", writing a brilliant chapter of China's equipment manufacturing industry.

Breaking monopolies: The rise of localized shield machines

TBM is known as the "king of the world construction machinery" reputation, its core technology has long been firmly controlled by foreign enterprises. Since the successful development of Φ5.93 meters hard rock double shield tunnel boring machine in 2006, the domestic shield machine has embarked on a difficult journey from introduction, digestion and absorption to independent innovation.

During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, relying on the deep technical precipitation of the State Key Laboratory, Northern Heavy Industry cooperated with the Institute of Metal Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to successfully develop China's first 100% domestic shield machine. This shield machine, which condensed countless efforts, realizes the localization of key components such as main bearings, tools, hydraulic electric control, and so on, and reaches the international leading level in design life and excavation efficiency. This achievement marks that China's shield machine technology has entered a new stage of independent development, and provides a solid and reliable equipment support for China's infrastructure construction.

Tunneling legend: “Endeavour” TBM world record

On September 26, 2024, the "Endeavour" TBM independently developed by Northern Heavy Industries successfully broke through a project in Xinjiang, setting a world record with a single-machine drilling of 26.52 kilometers.

"Endeavour" TBM is a hard rock boring machine with a design life of more than 33 kilometers, and its super-large diameter of 7.83 meters and efficient drilling ability have attracted much attention. By improving the tool parameters and optimizing the sealing structure design, the scientific research team of the North Heavy Industry has greatly improved the equipment performance, increased the equipment utilization rate to 42%, reached 96%, and also created the highest monthly footage of 752 meters and the highest daily footage of 40.3 meters. In the complex and changeable geological conditions, "Endeavour" TBM with excellent adaptability and reliability, successfully overcome many problems such as broken fault zones, fault sudden surge mud and water, and successfully completed the excavation task. This achievement consolidated the leading position of the North Heavy Industry in the global shield machine market, and injected a strong " Northern Heavy’s Force " into the Chinese-style modernization.

Mining New chapter: Breakthrough of solid potash mining machine

In the field of mining, NHI has also achieved remarkable results. In view of the long-term technical problems faced by solid potash mining, the North Heavy Industry has successfully developed the first full-section mining machine for solid potash mining in China. This equipment integrates many functions such as excavation, support and slag removal, which can efficiently complete the task of mining the layer and fill the technical gap in this field in China.

Compared with the traditional mining method, the full-section mining machine of solid potassium salt mine not only improves the mining efficiency, but also reduces the labor cost and reduces the safety risks. The successful application of the equipment has opened up a new technical path for the development of potassium salt resources in China, and set a model for the intelligent and green development of the mining industry.

Shaft pioneer: The development of the reaming boring machine

In the field of shaft drilling, the reaming deep shaft super-hard rock full section boring machine developed by North Heavy Industry performs well. The equipment has a strong adaptability, can work under complex geological conditions, through the innovative reaming technology to achieve efficient drilling, widely used in the field of pumped storage power station construction.

At present, the North Heavy Industry is manufacturing deep shaft super-hard rock full section boring machine, used in the construction of domestic pumped storage power station, the advanced technology into a new quality of productivity, to help the construction site to achieve underground unmanned construction in addition to the anchoring and spraying system, improve construction safety. At the same time, through automatic control and intelligent monitoring, the drilling process can improve the accuracy and quality of construction, especially for the construction of super-hard rock formations and ultra-deep shafts.

Looking to the future: Continuous innovation and expansion of unlimited possibilities

From the realization of localization to occupy the world's leading position, Northern Heavy Industry has vividly interpreted the core strength of Chinese manufacturing with a " The Pillars of a Great Power ".

In the future, the North Heavy Industry will continue to focus on the cross-scene application of shield technology, actively expand the multi-dimensional tunneling market, and fully promote the innovative breakthrough of efficient tunneling technology, and will continue to take scientific and technological innovation as the engine, in the journey of Chinese-style modernization, contribute "Northern Heavy’s Force" and continue to write a brilliant chapter.