The gigantic component is the largest TBM main bearing produced by Liebherr to date. Weighing more than 47 small city cars, the 44t roller bearing has been made for Shanghai Tunnel Engineering – a Chinese provider of TBM systems.
Fitted behind the cutterhead, the bearing will be an integral component to help the machine bore a tunnel the height of a five-story building. A statement from Liebherr said that this was possible due to ‘double rollers in the bearing track, an extremely precise internal gearing, as well as due to 20 pinions that drive the bearing on the inner ring’.
In addition, for the same TBM, the company is also making the 7.3m-diameter erector bearing. Weighing in at 5.7t, it will play a key role during the segment positioning process.
Working in Fushan City in southern China, the mega-TBM will bore an 8km-long, 15.5m-high twin-deck road tunnel that will have three lanes of traffic on each level.
