EPB (Earth Preasure Balance) SHIELD that means tunnel boring machine that keeps the pressure on the front.
In other words, the EPB machines uses the excavated material to fill the excavation chamber to maintain pressure on the front
to avoid subsidence on the surface.
The extraction of the excavated material from the extraction chamber is done via a screw conveyor. Acting on the rotatary speed
and on the pressure of the pushing cylinders the EPB shield can keep drilling with a constant pressure on the front.
Building a tunnel without any disturbance in the infrastructure of the surrounding area.
The EPB shields have been used with great success in the construction of numerous tunnels: Subway, rail, roads, collectors,
using mostly with segmetn lining as a tunnel support. But this system of drilling EPB can also be used with pipe jacking technic.
In the following link, we show an schematic diagram with the main components of our tuneladora EPB for segmental lining.
Diagram EPB shield
