Can the shield machine’s cutterhead be replaced with a drill bit?
If soone else asked this question, the staff might not even bother to answer, simply rolling their eyes and dismissing it.
But since it was Chen Xin who asked, the staff had to seriously consider how to respond and explain so that Chen Xin would understand it’s impossible, while also saving his face.
However, even so, the staff still believed this idea to be impossible.
Although the shield machine’s cutterhead is akin to a massive drill bit, the staff understood that Chen Xin ant replacing the flat large cutterhead at the front of the shield machine with a pointed drill bit.
After all, in many people’s eyes, those pointed drill bits are highly efficient at boring holes, to the point where many cartoons or sci-fi works feature machines with large drill bits at the front to rapidly dig through soil.
Explaining the specific principle is quite wordy, but there is a relatively simple explanation, which is that if spiral drill bits were truly so effective, why doesn’t everyone use such drill bits for digging holes?
The answer is simple: they are not effective, which is why everyone does not use such drill bits.
In fact, anyone with a slight understanding of drill bits will find that the vast majority have a front structure that tends to be flat, with very few being extrely sharp.
This is mainly because drill bits are usually used to penetrate hard objects; if the drill tip is made too sharp, it will easily wear down, affecting the lifespan and effectiveness of the bit.
Therefore, most drill bits adopt as flat a head design as possible, crafted from hard tal to enhance durability.
And the shield machine’s cutterhead, that’s essentially a rotating chanism with grooves, equipped with nurous blades to cut through rock and soil layers. Although it can be considered a giant drill bit, that doesn’t an the shield machine’s cutterhead is truly a drill bit.
When the shield machine’s cutterhead works underground, it encounters various different strata, each with varying hardness, making the forces on the cutterhead very complex, unlike spiral drill bits that work in a uniform dium where force considerations can be ignored.
Thus, the machines with drill bits on the front as seen in cartoons and sci-fi are rely imaginative and cannot be applied in practice.
After hearing the staff’s explanation, Chen Xin naturally felt a bit embarrassed, realizing his idea was sowhat fanciful.
Yet his idea wasn’t entirely impossible, considering he possessed the system, Chen Xin could do many things others couldn’t.
Of course, even with the system as backing, Chen Xin wouldn’t blindly insist. Since current experts claid replacing the cutterhead with a drill bit was impractical, he wouldn’t stubbornly say it must be tried.
The most appropriate approach would still be to conduct an experint first, akin to when constructing do cities and ecosystems, performing a few simulation experints, naturally revealing feasibility.
Understanding this, Chen Xin didn’t continue troubling the staff and rely inford him that possibly a super-large shield machine would be needed for the task, then left the factory.
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Upon returning to his office, the first thing Chen Xin did was input the shield machine drawings he brought back from the factory into his wristwatch, then projected it using nanomolecules.
Gazing at the projected model of the shield machine, Chen Xin studied it while contemplating how to upgrade and modify it.
The principle of a shield machine, to put it simply, is continuous cutting at the front, while at the back, segnts are installed into the excavated tunnel, quickly constructing the tunnel.
Therefore, what affects the working efficiency of a shield machine is the cutting efficiency of the front cutterhead.
This is why Chen Xin wanted to replace the cutterhead with a drill bit, as he viewed the cutting efficiency of a drill bit undoubtedly superior to a cutterhead.
Although experts at the factory said it’s improbable, Chen Xin hasn’t entirely given up on the idea.
With a mindset to test it out, Chen Xin first upgraded the shield machine’s drawings, redesigning the front to take the form of a large drill bit.
Then he activated the virtual simulation system intending to simulate and test how this structure would perform in practical use.
However, the outco disappointed Chen Xin, because the drill bit was solid; in the process of underground drilling, continuous cutting and friction generated a lot of heat that couldn’t dissipate, eventually causing damage due to local high temperatures and wear before excavating far.
Clearly, this plan indeed was whimsical and impractical.
Thus, Chen Xin quickly adjusted his thought process.
If drill bits are impractical, what about modifying the cutterhead structure?
With this thought, Chen Xin once again upgraded the drawings, redesigning the original cutterhead of the shield machine into a slightly convex shape and optimized the structure.
This ti the effect was satisfactory, although there was not much improvent in excavation efficiency, the adjusted shield machine smoothly completed the excavation.
Such a result undoubtedly encouraged Chen Xin and clarified his understanding.
He abandoned the impractical idea of using a drill bit and instead turned to researching the cutterhead structure and working thod of the shield machine, aiming to improve its work efficiency.
The cutterhead of the shield machine primarily loosens, breaks, and excavates soil or rock underground; due to its enormous size, its working speed is not fast, even rather slow.
After all, if it were faster, the friction-induced heat would be considerable.
Chen Xin tried doubling the rotation speed of the shield machine’s cutterhead, but the result wasn’t enhanced work efficiency, rather the cutterhead’s blades lted and wore due to high temperatures, ultimately destroying the entire cutterhead.
This undoubtedly posed significant limitations, prompting Chen Xin to contemplate a more suitable solution.
Even though system upgrades can achieve the unachievable under normal circumstances, basic physical laws still must be adhered to; if Chen Xin cannot perfect a reasonable and feasible plan, then even with system upgrades, it would rely result in producing industrial waste without practical value.
Therefore, Chen Xin had to seriously devise a rational sche while also making breakthroughs beyond reason, an exceedingly formidable task for him.
Especially since he urgently needed to present a viable plan so that the military could begin implentation as soon as possible, saving ti.
"Sigh, looks like I’ll have to work overti again!" Chen Xin gave a wry smile, but wasn’t too disheartened; instead, he motivated himself and imrsed in his work.
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