Chapter 228 - 224: Creating a Shield Tunneling Machine Model
"The cutterhead can be improvised with existing materials, and both the steam engine and turbine can be used for the power system. That’s not a problem." Perfikot looked at the preliminary drawing and suddenly felt conflicted.
She bit into the second knuckle of her right index finger in deep thought because she had discovered a very fatal problem.
The issue was that the structure and working principle of the shield machine determined that it was a straight cylinder. Although structural adjustments could make it bend, making it dig out a spiral tunnel underground was still no easy task.
At least for Perfikot, there were just too many improvements needed on the blueprint.
The main part of the shield machine could be made into a curved pipe, and the drive shaft for transmitting power forward would need a universal joint installed. These were within the scope she could easily solve.
But how to make the shield machine advance in a spiral trajectory as planned was what made Perfikot feel troubled.
She needed to dig a spiral tunnel, and modifying the shield machine body into a curved tube was easy to understand and solve.
However, there was a critical part in the shield machine’s structure, which was the propulsion device used to push the shield machine forward.
This device is usually driven by hydraulic mechanisms, and pushing straight forward is simple; just all the hydraulic devices push together.
But spiral turning propulsion wasn’t a simple matter.