JP2012245944A - Seabed exploration apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a seabed exploration apparatus capable of easily performing seabed exploration of a hadopelagic zone without requiring a large scale of the whole system.SOLUTION: This seabed exploration apparatus A includes: a spherical body 1 including a sealed space therein; a weight 2 for lowering the spherical body 1; and a separation device 3 for the weight 2. The spherical body 1 houses electronic equipment 7 to 10 for a research duty, a control device 4 for controlling the electronic equipment 7 to 10, and a secondary battery 5 which is a power supply for them and is capable of charging in a non-contact manner. The control device 4 includes transmission/reception means 4A performing transmission/reception of signals with the outside in a non-contact manner. The whole apparatus constitution including equipment on a ship is reduced in size and weight to easily perform seabed exploration of deep sea layers including the hadopelagic zone at low cost.

Description

  The present invention relates to an unmanned seafloor survey device, and more particularly to a free fall type seafloor survey device suitable for deep seafloor survey.

  Conventionally, as an unmanned undersea exploration device, there existed what was described in patent document 1, for example. The seafloor exploration device described in Patent Document 1 includes an off-line method including a plurality of self-floating seafloor observation devices submerged on the seabed, an on-line method including a plurality of cable-type seafloor observation devices levitated on the sea surface, and a cable. This is a combination of a land power supply unit connected to an underwater observation system.

  The above-mentioned seafloor exploration equipment transmits observation data from a self-floating seafloor observation device by means of acoustic communication means such as a transducer, and the observation data is transmitted to land or onboard via a cable-type seafloor observation device or anchor buoy on the sea surface. Receive at the equipment. In addition, manned or unmanned submersibles are well known as other submarine exploration devices.

JP 2001-337173 A

  However, although the conventional seafloor exploration apparatus as described above is preferable for long-term observation such as earthquake observation, the entire system including facilities on the ground and on the ship becomes large. For this reason, it is extremely difficult for the conventional seafloor exploration device to easily carry out the seabed exploration when it is desired to perform a seafloor exploration of an ultra deep sea layer exceeding a depth of 6000 m.

  In addition, when performing deep seabed exploration, in order to communicate offline between the exploration device and the ship, as with conventional seafloor exploration devices, high output and A sensitive communication device is required, which may increase the size and cost of the device. Furthermore, in order to communicate online between the exploration device and the ship (cable), a cable with a length that can sufficiently accommodate the depth is required, so the weight of the cable itself is considerable. Large vessels with special equipment such as observation vessels are required.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described conventional situation, and it is possible to reduce the size and weight of the entire apparatus configuration including on-board equipment, and to facilitate deep-sea layer seafloor exploration at low cost. The object of the present invention is to provide an undersea exploration device that can be used.

  The seabed exploration device of the present invention includes a sphere having a sealed space inside, a weight for lowering the sphere in the sea, and a weight separation device. The sphere includes an electronic device for exploration missions, and an electronic device. A control device that performs control and a secondary battery that is a power source and capable of non-contact charging are housed. The submarine exploration device is characterized in that the control device has transmission / reception means for performing transmission / reception of signals to / from the outside without contact.

  In the above configuration, the sphere serves as both a pressure vessel and a buoyant body, and forms a sealed space having no through-holes to the outside. Therefore, the transmission / reception means and the secondary battery of the control device accommodated in the sphere perform signal transmission / reception and charging in a non-contact manner through the wall of the sphere. Optical communication, acoustic wave communication, radio wave communication, and the like can be used for non-contact signal transmission / reception. For non-contact charging, an electromagnetic induction type, a radio wave reception type, a resonance type, or the like that supplies power from coil to coil can be used.

  The configuration of the transmission / reception means is not particularly limited. However, the transmission / reception means may have a short communicable distance and cannot transmit / receive between the deep sea layer and the sea surface. That is, the transmission / reception means may be any device that can transmit and receive signals between spheres connected to each other or an external transmission / reception device close to the sphere.

  According to the seabed exploration device of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the size and weight of the entire device configuration including on-board facilities and to obtain it at low cost, and to easily perform seabed exploration of deep sea layers including ultra deep sea layers at low cost. be able to. In addition, since the seafloor exploration device can retrieve and input data from electronic devices from the outside of the sphere and charge the secondary battery in a non-contact manner after collection, it can be re-injected into the sea quickly. Moreover, since the device configuration is simple, maintenance management is very easy.

It is a side view explaining one embodiment of the seabed exploration device of the present invention. It is the side view (A) before joining explaining the structure of a spherical body, and the side view (B) after joining. It is explanatory drawing which shows the operation | movement from injection | throwing-in of a seabed exploration apparatus to landing. It is explanatory drawing which shows operation | movement from the bottom of a submarine exploration apparatus to levitation.

Hereinafter, an embodiment of the seafloor exploration device of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.
The seafloor exploration device A shown in FIG. 1 includes a sphere 1 having a sealed space inside, a weight 2 for lowering the sphere 1 in the sea, and a weight 3 separation device 3. The sphere 1 contains an electronic device (7 to 10) for exploration missions, a control device 4 that controls the electronic device, and a secondary battery 5 that is a power source and can be contactlessly charged. It is.

  Specifically, the seafloor exploration apparatus A includes a plurality (three) of spheres 1 and connects these spheres 1 to each other with a joint 6, and each sphere 1 includes at least an electronic device (7 to 10) and The control device 4 is selectively accommodated. The three spheres 1 in the illustrated example are all made of transparent glass, and are arranged in one upper stage and two lower stages.

  Among the spheres 1, the upper sphere 1 accommodates a floating communication device 7 that transmits a signal after rising as an electronic device for exploration missions. A secondary battery 5 is accommodated. The sphere 1 on the lower one side (left side in the figure) contains an underwater position detecting device 8 for detecting a position in the sea and a video camera 9 as electronic devices. In addition to this, the control device 4 and A secondary battery 5 is accommodated. In the lower sphere 1 on the other side, a lighting device 10 for photographing is accommodated as an electronic device, and in addition, a control device 4 and a secondary battery 5 are accommodated. In the illustrated example, the video camera 9 and the illumination device 10 are disposed downward.

  Further, the seafloor exploration device A can include an onboard facility 50 in its configuration. The on-board facility 50 in the illustrated example includes a computer 51, a data recording device 52 that receives image data of the video camera 9 in a non-contact manner, and a charger 53 for a non-contact slave device, and the computer 51 transmits and receives signals. It has a transmission / reception means 51A that performs non-contact.

  The weight 2 has a weight for lowering the sphere group at a predetermined speed in the sea, and is connected to the lower joint 6 by a connecting rope 11. This weight 2 detaching device 3 combines the sphere 1 and the weight 2 with power supply means (3A.3B) for supplying power from the inside of the sphere 1 to the outside in a non-contact manner using the secondary battery 5 as a power source. In addition, there is provided a coupling / separating means 3C for separating by an electric erosion action by an electric current from the electrode supply means. The power supply means includes a power feeder 3 </ b> A disposed inside the sphere 1 and a power receiver 3 </ b> B disposed outside the sphere 1.

  The control device 4 has a function of controlling each electronic device (7 to 10), a function of storing various data acquired by the electronic device, and a transmission / reception unit that performs transmission / reception of signals to / from the outside without contact. 4A. The transmission / reception means 4A performs signal transmission / reception by any one of optical communication, acoustic wave communication, radio wave communication, and the like, and may be a simple one having a relatively short communicable distance.

  That is, the transmission / reception means 4 </ b> A only needs to be able to transmit and receive signals between the spheres 1 connected to each other and with an external transceiver close to the sphere 1. Therefore, in this embodiment, the control devices 4 having the transmission / reception means 4A are arranged to transmit and receive signals between the spheres 1. In the case of this embodiment, the external transceiver is the transmission / reception means 51A of the computer 51 that constitutes the aforementioned onboard equipment 50.

  The secondary battery 5 can be charged in a non-contact manner by the charger 53 constituting the above-described onboard equipment 50. For this non-contact charge, an electromagnetic induction type charging device that feeds power from coil to coil is used. Can be used.

  The levitation communication device 7 includes a known GPS receiver 7A, a satellite communication device 7B that transmits measurement data of the GPS receiver 7A, and a solar battery panel 7C that is a power source of the GPS receiver 7A and the sanitary communication device 7B. Yes. Further, the levitation communication device 7 may use a secondary battery 5 or a primary battery (not shown) housed in the same sphere 1 as a power source. The satellite communication device 7B is a so-called iridium satellite communication device. The solar cell panel 7C is arranged on the upper side in the sealed space of the sphere 1 so that it can receive sunlight efficiently when it rises.

  The undersea position detection device 8 is based on an accelerometer 8A that detects acceleration in at least two axes orthogonal to each other on a horizontal plane, a strain gauge 8B that is attached to the inner surface of the sphere 1, and detection data of the accelerometer 8A and the strain gauge 8B. And a calculation means 8C for calculating a three-dimensional position.

  As a more preferable configuration, the accelerometer 8A is arranged on a stable platform held by a gimbal mechanism and a gyro so as to maintain a constant direction, and detects acceleration generated in the horizontal direction. The arithmetic device 8C calculates the speed by integrating the acceleration detected by the accelerometer, and further calculates the distance by integrating this. By performing such calculation in the biaxial direction, the self position (coordinates) in the horizontal direction (X, Y direction) can be obtained with reference to the initial position.

  The strain gauge 8B detects the amount of strain generated in the sphere 1 during descent in the sea. In other words, as the sphere 1 descends, the water pressure acting on the sphere 1 increases, thereby increasing the strain amount of the sphere 1, so that the strain amount can be converted into depth. The arithmetic unit 8C can obtain the depth, that is, the self-position in the vertical direction (Z direction) from the characteristics of the sphere 1 set in advance and the strain amount detected by the strain gauge 8B.

  In this way, the arithmetic unit 8C calculates its own three-dimensional position in the three axial directions (X, Y, Z directions) orthogonal to each other. The underwater position detection means 8 can also use an accelerometer that detects acceleration in three axial directions. In this case, the own three-dimensional position can be obtained without using the strain gauge 8B. .

  As the video camera 9, for example, a small and light CCD camera can be used. The video camera 9 in the illustrated example has a transmitter 9A that transmits image data in a non-contact manner to the data recording device 52 that constitutes the onboard facility 50 described above. The image data of the video camera 9 can also be transmitted to the outside from the transmission / reception means 4A of the control device 4.

  For example, LED lighting with low power consumption can be used as the lighting device 10. Although not shown, the lighting device 10 may be operated by sensing the approach of a deep-sea creature with a small light.

  Here, the sphere 1 does not have any through-holes, has a sealed space inside, and serves as both a pressure vessel and a buoyant body. As shown in FIG. Body 1A. 1A can be configured. The sphere 1 can accommodate each of the above-described devices, and can accommodate a frame (not shown) to hold each device, and then the hemispheres 1A are joined together. At this time, the sphere 1 is prepared by smoothing the joining surface of the hemisphere 1A in advance and attaching a band 55 made of raw rubber or the like to the outside of the joining surface as shown in FIG. 2B. Prevent the deviation. Thereby, the sphere 1 can maintain the joined state between the hemispheres 1A without using an adhesive or the like, and after being dropped into the sea, the hemispheres 1A are in close contact with each other by water pressure, thereby being waterproof. To maintain.

  Note that the sphere 1 is made of glass and, as an example, has a diameter of 300 mm and a thickness of 13 mm, and can withstand high water pressure at a depth of 9000 m. Moreover, when the sphere 1 joins the hemispheres 1A and 1A, it is effective to enclose the dried gas inside. Thereby, when throwing into the deep sea layer which is a low temperature, generation | occurrence | production of dew condensation inside can be suppressed and an electronic device can be protected.

  Further, the seafloor exploration device A includes a mud collecting device 21 for collecting seabed mud and a bait for collecting deep sea organisms or a deep sea organism capturing device. In the example of illustration, the capture device 22 which set food 22A inside is provided. The mud collecting device 21 and the capturing device 22 are connected to the lower joint 6 via respective connecting lines 12 and 13. In order to prevent the devices 21 and 22 from getting entangled with the weight 2 and its connecting rope 11 during the descent in the sea, a resistance plate or the like that acts to separate the device from the weight 2 during the descent is provided. Is also effective.

Next, the operation of the seafloor exploration apparatus A having the above configuration will be described.
In the seafloor exploration device A, the programs of the electronic devices (7 to 10) are input in advance to the respective control devices 4, and as shown in FIG.

  This submarine exploration device A is composed of three spheres 1, a weight 2, a mud collecting device 21, and a catching device 22, so that it is clearly smaller than conventional submarine exploration devices and submersibles. And lightweight. Moreover, since the onboard equipment 50 is comprised with the computer 51, the data recording device 52, and the charger 53, it is small and lightweight, and can be conveyed manually. For this reason, the seafloor exploration apparatus A does not need to use a large ship such as an observation ship having special equipment, and can be sufficiently operated by a small number of people using a small ship such as a fishing boat.

  In this way, the seabed surveying apparatus A is an apparatus in which the entire apparatus configuration including the onboard equipment 50 is reduced in size and weight. And the seafloor exploration device A is a free fall type that freely descends in the sea as a single unit, and does not communicate with the ship 101 until it ascends, so it does not depend on the depth and exceeds the depth of 6000 m. Submarine exploration of ultra deep sea layers is also possible. In addition, it is naturally applicable to the seabed exploration of the deep sea layer (layer of 200 m or less) generally called.

  After entering the sea, the seafloor exploration device A freely descends through the sea by the weight 2 and reaches the bottom as shown by the arrow in FIG. During this time, the underwater position detection device 8 detects its own three-dimensional position, and the control device 4 stores the position that continuously changes with time. From the detection data of the underwater position detection device 8, the wake from the drop position to the landing position, the ocean current velocity, and the like can be obtained.

  In addition, since the seafloor exploration device A is provided with the weight 2 via the connecting rope 11, the descent ends when the weight 2 reaches the bottom, and each sphere 1 is positioned at the position corresponding to the length of the connecting rope 11 from the seabed. Keep levitating. In this state, the seabed exploration device A collects the seabed mud with the mud collection device 21 and captures the deep sea organisms with the capture device 22, and also photographs the seabed and the deep sea life with the video camera 9 and the illumination device 10.

  At this time, the seafloor exploration device A can synchronize the start and stop of the video camera 9 and the illumination device 10 by transmitting and receiving signals between the spheres 1 by the transmission / reception means 4A of each control device 4. . In addition, since the ocean bottom exploration device A does not reach the ultra deep sea layer, the operation of the floating communication device 7 using the solar cell panel 7C as a power source can be stopped.

  Next, after a predetermined time has elapsed, the seafloor exploration device A separates the weight 2 by the separation device 3 using a timer or an external signal (for example, a signal from the control device 4 accommodated in the adjacent sphere 1). As shown in FIG. 4, it rises with its own buoyancy. Then, as the seafloor exploration device A ascends to the sea surface as shown in FIG. 4, the ascending communication device 7 accommodated in the upper sphere 1 is automatically activated.

  That is, the levitating communication device 7 starts power generation by the solar cell panel 7C, supplies power to the GPS receiver 7A and the sanitary communication device 7B, measures its own position by the GPS receiver 7A, and transmits the measurement data to the satellite. Transmitted by the communication device 7B. The measurement data is received on the ship 101 side through the artificial hygiene 102. Thereby, the floating position of the seafloor exploration device A is confirmed, and the device is recovered.

  Further, after the seafloor exploration device A collects the data in the ship 101, it transmits and receives signals in a non-contact manner between the computer 51 of the onboard equipment 50 and each control device 4, and the data acquired by the underwater position detection device 8. Is input to the computer 51, or a new program is output from the computer 51 to the control device. Further, the image data of the video camera 9 is recorded by the data recording device 52 by non-contact communication, and the rechargeable battery 5 is contactlessly charged by the charger 53. Any of these operations can be performed without opening the sphere 1. And if the functional part 3A, the connection cable 11, and the weight 2 of the separation apparatus 3 are newly attached, the seafloor exploration apparatus A can be used for the next seabed exploration.

  As described above, the seafloor exploration device A according to the above embodiment can obtain the entire device configuration including on-board equipment in a small size and light weight and at low cost, and even for deep sea layers including ultra deep sea layers, The seafloor exploration can be easily performed at low cost. In addition, since the seafloor exploration device A can collect and input data of electronic devices and charge the secondary battery 5 from the outside of the sphere 1 after collection, the sphere 1 needs to be disassembled. If a new weight 2 is attached, it can be re-introduced into the sea quickly, and the device configuration is simple, and maintenance management is also easy.

  Since the above-mentioned seafloor exploration device A can be re-introduced many times, it is effective, for example, in collecting deep-sea submarine microorganisms. That is, it is known that submarine microorganisms are not distributed over a wide range but are present in a specific narrow range. Therefore, the seafloor exploration apparatus A has a very effective function for acquiring new seabed microbes at a low cost.

  Further, the seafloor exploration device A is configured to connect a plurality of spheres to each other and to transmit and receive signals between the spheres so that more devices can be mounted. Can be automatically controlled. For example, when the video camera 9 and the illumination device 10 are employed as electronic devices, the arrangement and angle thereof can be set optimally, and good image data can be acquired.

  Furthermore, since the seafloor exploration device A employs a transparent glass sphere 1 and the sphere 1 is composed of a pair of hemispheres 1A, the high water pressure of the ultra deep sea layer is extremely simple. Stress concentration does not occur even if it is applied, it can sufficiently withstand the high water pressure, and can easily accommodate and remove various devices.

  Further, since the seafloor exploration device A includes the levitation communication device 7, it is possible to easily perform recovery after levitation. In particular, by adopting a floating communication device comprised of a GPS receiver 7A, a satellite communication device 7B, and a solar cell panel 7C, no power is required in the sea, which can contribute to further miniaturization and weight reduction of the device configuration. Even when the ascent position is predicted over a wide range due to reasons such as ocean currents, the device can be quickly discovered and recovered.

  Further, since the seafloor exploration device A includes the undersea position detection device 8, it is possible to determine the wake during descent, the accurate seafloor exploration position, the ocean current velocity, and the like after collection. In particular, by adopting the underwater position detection device 8 constituted by the accelerometer 8A, the strain gauge 8B, and the calculation means 8C, it is possible to determine the accurate three-dimensional track and the seabed exploration position.

  Further, the seafloor exploration device A is equipped with the mud collecting device 21 and the deep-sea organism capture device 22 to collect seabed mud and deep-sea organisms, and to study minerals and microorganisms contained in the seabed mud, and deep-sea organisms. Can contribute.

  The configuration of the seafloor exploration device according to the present invention is not limited to the above embodiment, and the details of the configuration can be appropriately changed without departing from the gist of the present invention. For example, the seafloor exploration device can have a number of spheres other than three, or can accommodate various observation devices such as seismometers and radiometers as electronic devices for exploration missions. The sphere may be made of glass or ceramics. Further, the weight separating device may employ a mechanism for mechanically separating and coupling.

  In addition, the seafloor exploration device can set the number and arrangement of spheres, the arrangement of various devices inside and outside the sphere, and the weight, number and arrangement of weights in consideration of the exploration attitude and balance. In addition to this, it is also effective to provide a display device such as a flag that serves as a mark when ascending, a frame for holding multiple spheres, a cover for reducing resistance during ascent and descent in the sea, or a stabilizing wing. It is.

  Furthermore, the sphere may not be transparent depending on the equipment to be accommodated. This sphere may have a configuration partially using a transparent material, but considering the high water pressure of the ultra deep sea layer, it is desirable to form it with a single material as much as possible, and it is a single material such as glass or ceramics. This is advantageous both in terms of structure and cost.

A Submarine exploration device 1 Sphere 2 Weight 3 Disconnect device 4 Control device 4A Transmission / reception means 5 Secondary battery 7 Levitation communication device 7A GPS receiver 7B Sanitary communication device 7C Solar panel 8 Underwater position detection device 8A Accelerometer 8B Strain gauge 8B Calculation Device 9 Video camera 10 Illumination device 21 Mud collection device 22 Capture device 22A Feed 50 Shipboard equipment 101 Ship 102 Artificial satellite

Claims (11)

A sphere having a sealed space inside, a weight for lowering the sphere in the sea, and a weight separation device,
In the sphere, an electronic device for exploration mission, a control device that controls the electronic device, and a secondary battery that is a power source and can be contactlessly charged,
The seafloor exploration device, wherein the control device has transmission / reception means for performing transmission / reception of signals to / from the outside without contact. A plurality of the spheres, and connecting the spheres to each other;
The seafloor exploration device according to claim 1, wherein each sphere includes at least an electronic device and a control device, and the control devices are arranged to transmit and receive signals to and from each other. At least one of the spheres is made of transparent glass;
The seafloor exploration device according to claim 2, wherein a video camera and a lighting device are housed in the transparent sphere as electronic devices.   The seafloor exploration device according to claim 3, wherein the transparent sphere is composed of a pair of hemispheres.   The separation device includes a power supply unit that supplies power from the inside of the sphere to the outside in a non-contact manner, and a coupling / separation unit that couples the sphere and the weight and separates the sphere and the weight by an electric erosion action using a current from the electrode supply unit The seabed exploration device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:   The seafloor exploration device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein a floating communication device that transmits a signal after rising is accommodated in the sphere as an electronic device. The sphere is made of transparent glass;
The seafloor exploration according to claim 6, wherein the levitation communication device includes a GPS receiver, a satellite communication device that transmits measurement data of the GPS receiver, and a solar cell panel that is a power source thereof. apparatus.   The undersea exploration device according to claim 1, wherein an underwater position detection device that detects a position in the sea is housed in the sphere as an electronic device.   The underwater position detection device detects a three-dimensional position based on at least an accelerometer that detects acceleration in two axial directions orthogonal to a horizontal plane, a strain gauge that is attached to the inner surface of the sphere, and detection data of the accelerometer and the strain gauge. The seafloor exploration device according to claim 8, further comprising a calculation unit that calculates.   The seabed exploration apparatus according to any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising a mud collection apparatus for collecting seabed mud.   The seabed exploration device according to any one of claims 1 to 10, further comprising a bait for collecting deep-sea organisms or a device for capturing deep-sea organisms.

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