On January 20, the cutterhead of China's largest diameter mud-water balance shield machine "Canal", which was independently developed and manufactured by CCCC Tianhe, was successfully assembled.  It laid the foundation for the equipment debugging work .

The "Canal" shield machine has a diameter of 16.07 meters, breaking the record for the largest excavation diameter of a domestic shield machine and becoming the largest domestic shield machine. It is composed of cutter head, shield body and 6 trolleys. The total length of the whole machine is about 145 meters and the total weight is 4500 tons. The segment assembling machine in this project adopts the automatic segment assembling technology independently developed by CCCC Tianhe, and Luoyang Bearing Research Institute Co., Ltd. has developed an extra-large segment assembling machine slewing bearing for the project, with an outer diameter of 7.1 meters. This type of bearing product adopts a four-point contact ball structure, which not only has a high bearing capacity, but also ensures the accuracy and efficiency of automatic segment assembly through the integrated design of the bearing and high-precision gear, and improves the overall performance of the equipment.

The "Canal" is expected to complete the commissioning of the whole machine by the end of March 2021 and be ready for launch. Afterwards, the shield machine will start from the northern end of the tunnel, pass through important buildings and rivers such as Yunchaojian River, Metro Line 6, and the North Canal, and then reach the southernmost end of the shield tunnel, opening up the right line tunnel of the East Sixth Ring Road Reconstruction Project . Through cooperation with CCCC Tianhe, Luoyang Bearing Research Institute Co., Ltd. will continue to contribute to the improvement of Beijing's transportation service level, the promotion of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei regional transportation integration, and the construction of a comprehensive transportation system.