JP2012193578A - Mineral lifting system and method for sea-bottom mineral resource - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a mineral lifting system and method for sea-bottom mineral resources for enabling stable mineral lifting under severe deep-sea circumstances without closing a transfer pipe during mineral lifting, while reducing a power cost required for the mineral lifting.SOLUTION: The mineral lifting system for the sea-bottom mineral resources includes a mineral lifting base 11 disposed on a sea, a mineral lifting riser 13 and a returning riser 12 disposed between the mineral lifting base 11 and a sea bottom for transferring mineral resources M mined in the sea bottom to the mineral lifting base 11 together with sea water and for returning the sea water from which the mineral resources M are separated, to the sea bottom, respectively, a circulation pump 16 for delivering the sea water from which the mineral resources M are separated, into the returning riser 12, and hydro motors 22, 23, 24 disposed on the sea bottom and adapted to be actuated by the sea water returned by the returning riser 12, and a crushing device 25, a screw conveyor 26 and a submersible pump 27 adapted to be driven by the hydro motors 22, 23, 24 for grain-refining the mineral resources M, for carrying the grain-refined mineral resources M and for delivering the mineral resources M into the mineral lifting riser 13 together with the sea water, respectively.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to a pumping system and a pumping method for pumping mineral resources such as ore mined on the seabed to the sea, and in particular, pumping for transporting mineral resources to the sea using a transfer pipe such as a flexible riser together with seawater. The present invention relates to a system and a pumping method.

There are various mineral resources on the ocean floor. In particular, there are abundant precious metal resources such as manganese nodules and cobalt rich crust deposits at the depth of several thousand meters. For example, manganese nodules are mainly composed of oxides of manganese and iron and contain valuable metals such as copper, nickel, cobalt, etc., and manganese nodules distributed in the deep sea bottom of the Pacific Ocean at a depth of 4000-6000 m are rich in the above valuable metals. It is said to contain. Cobalt rich crust deposits are mainly composed of oxides of manganese and iron, and cover the crests and slopes of seamounts with a water depth of 500-3500 m in the form of crusts.

Technological development for mining the ocean floor and mining mineral resources has been continued, but there is only a track record of mining the ocean floor shallower than 100 m using an underwater bulldozer or dredger. There are no examples of unearthing mineral resources from the deep seas of 500-2000m.

On the other hand, a riser pipe type pumping system is known as a technique for pumping mineral resources mined on the seabed at a depth of 500 m or more (see, for example, Patent Document 1). The pumping system proposed in Patent Document 1 includes a pumping base installed in the pumping base, a U-shaped pipe placed between the pumping base and the deep sea floor, and a pump installed in the pumping base. And a collector that is disposed on the seabed and feeds the mined ore into the U-shaped pipe through a mineral supply hose, and transports seawater from one end of the U-shaped pipe to the other end by a pump. It is characterized by forming a circulating flow of seawater and slurry transporting the ore to the sea using this upward flow of seawater.

JP 2003-269070 A

In the technique described in Patent Document 1, mineral resources are fed into the U-shaped pipe from a collector through a mineral supply hose, but the accumulated mineral resources are composed of mineral resources of various sizes. For this reason, the U-shaped tube may be blocked. In addition, the riser pipe type pumping system has a problem that the power cost required to circulate seawater increases as the water depth increases.

The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and the transfer pipe is not clogged at the time of pumping, can be pumped stably even in the harsh environment of the deep sea, and the power cost required for pumping is reduced. It is an object of the present invention to provide a submarine mineral resource pumping system and method that can be reduced.

In order to achieve the above object, a first invention is a pumping system for pumping a mineral resource mined on the seabed to the sea,
A pumping base arranged on the sea; a transfer pipe for pumping that is disposed between the pumping base and the seabed and transports mineral resources mined on the seabed together with seawater to the pumping base; A return pipe disposed between the mine base and the seabed for returning the seawater from which mineral resources have been separated to the seabed; and seawater from the mineral base from which the mineral resources have been separated for return. A circulation pump that feeds the transfer pipe;
A plurality of hydromotors arranged on the seabed and operated by the pressure of seawater returned by the return transfer pipe, and arranged on the seabed and driven by the hydromotor to refine the mineral resources mined on the seabed. A crushing device, and a submersible pump disposed on the seabed, driven by the hydromotor, and sucking together with seawater the mineral resources finely divided by the crushing device and feeding them into the transfer pipe for pumping It is said.

In the first invention, the mined mineral resources are refined to a size that can be transferred to the sea through a transfer pipe for pumping using a crushing device placed on the seabed, and then pumped together with seawater by an underwater pump. Since it is fed into the transfer pipe for mining, the transfer pipe will not be clogged during pumping. Moreover, the crushing device and the submersible pump are driven by driving the circulating pump installed on the ocean and feeding the seawater into the return transfer pipe to operate the hydromotor (turbine turbine). There is no need, and stable pumping can be achieved even in the harsh environment of the deep sea, and the power cost required for pumping can be reduced.

Further, in the submarine mineral resource pumping system according to the first aspect of the present invention, the carrier is disposed on the seabed, driven by the hydromotor, and transported to the submersible pump by the mineral resource finely divided by the crushing device. A conveyor may be provided.
In the said structure, since the mineral resource refined | miniaturized by the crushing apparatus is conveyed to the place of a submersible pump using the conveyance conveyor driven with a hydromotor, the quantitative cut-out of a mineral resource is attained. As a result, the mineral resource can be continuously pumped up by a certain amount, and overflow can be prevented and the mineral resource can be supplied stably.

In the submarine mineral resource pumping system according to the first invention, the valve unit having a function of adjusting the pressure and flow rate of each branched seawater in addition to the function of branching out and flowing out the seawater that flows in It may be provided in the middle of the return transfer pipe, and the valve unit and the plurality of hydromotors may be connected by the return transfer pipe.
While the crushing device, the conveyor, and the submersible pump have different driving forces, it is not realistic to provide a return transfer pipe for each device. Therefore, in this configuration, the returned seawater is branched by the valve unit, adjusted to seawater with a pressure and flow rate suitable for driving the crushing device, the conveyor, and the submersible pump, Supplied respectively.

Further, in the submarine mineral resource pumping system according to the first invention, the valve unit has a flow path switching function, and the valve unit bypasses the switching valve provided in the middle of the pumping pipe for the pumping. It may be connected with a pipe.
In this configuration, a switching valve is provided in the middle of the transfer pipe for pumping, and the valve unit is provided with a flow path switching function. In the event of a failure, the seawater returned to the seabed by the return transfer pipe is supplied to the uplifting transfer pipe via the bypass pipe, and the mineral resources staying in the uplifting transfer pipe are removed. It can be transferred to the pumping base.

The second invention is a method for pumping a seabed mineral resource using the seabed mineral resource pumping system according to the first invention,
Mining on the seabed by driving the circulating pump installed at the pumping base to drive seawater into the return transfer pipe and operating the hydromotors to drive the crushing device and the submersible pump After the refined mineral resource is refined by the crushing device, the refined mineral resource is fed together with seawater into the uplifting transfer pipe by the submersible pump.

Further, in the method for pumping submarine mineral resources according to the second invention, the submarine pump uses the transport conveyor that is arranged on the seabed and is driven by the hydromotor to remove the mineral resources refined by the crushing device. You may make it convey to a place.

In the present invention, the mined mineral resources are refined using a crushing device placed on the seabed, and then sent to the transfer pipe for uplifting with seawater by the submersible pump. Absent. In addition, the crushing device and the submersible pump are driven by driving the circulation pump installed on the ocean and operating the hydro motor by feeding seawater into the return transfer pipe, so it is stable even in the harsh environment of the deep sea. It can be pumped and the power cost required for pumping can be reduced.

1 is an overall configuration diagram of a submarine mineral resource pumping system according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a sectional side view of a crushing apparatus. It is a front view of a crushing apparatus. (A) is sectional drawing when a hydromotor is cut | disconnected by the plane parallel to the drive shaft, (B) is a perspective view of the runner which comprises a hydromotor. It is a sectional side view of a screw conveyor. It is sectional drawing when the hydromotor which drives a submersible pump and a submersible pump is cut | disconnected by the plane parallel to the drive shaft.

Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings for understanding of the present invention.

FIG. 1 shows the overall configuration of a submarine mineral resource pumping system 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.
A submarine mineral resource pumping system 10 (hereinafter, simply referred to as “pumping system”) according to the present embodiment includes a pumping base 11 disposed on the sea, and between the pumping base 11 and the seabed. Is disposed between the uplift base 11 and the seabed, and the mineral resources M extracted from the seabed are transferred between the uplift base 11 and the seabed. And a transfer pipe 12 for returning the seawater returned to the seabed.

Further, on the sea floor, the hydromotors 22, 23, 24 that are operated by the pressure of the seawater returned by the return transfer pipe 12, and the mineral resources M that are driven by the hydromotors 22, 23, 24 and mined on the seabed The crushing device 25 for finely pulverizing, the submersible pump 27 for sucking the finely divided mineral resource M together with seawater and feeding it to the transfer pipe 13 for uplifting, and the mineral resource M pulverized by the crushing device 25 The screw conveyor 26 which is an example of the conveyance conveyor conveyed to the place of the submersible pump 27 is provided.

A ship anchored on the ocean or a platform constructed on the sea is used as the ore base 11. In the pumping base 11, a separator 17 is installed to separate the mineral resource M, which is slurry-transferred via the pumping pipe 13 for pumping, from seawater. The separator 17 is composed of a continuous sedimentation tank. While the seawater containing the mineral resource M overflows from the settling tank and moves to the adjacent settling tank, the mineral resource M naturally settles in the settling tank.

In addition, the pumping base 11 is provided with a circulation pump 16 that feeds the seawater from which the mineral resources M have been separated into the transfer pipe 12 for return. The circulation pump 16 is connected to a suction line 18 for sucking seawater in the last sedimentation tank and a suction line 19 for sucking seawater near the sea surface. The suction line 19 is for compensating the efficiency loss of the hydromotor 24 that drives the submersible pump 27, for example, and ensuring the entire circulation flow rate.

The transfer pipes 12 and 13 are comprised from the riser pipe | tube (flexible riser) which has flexibility. Hereinafter, for the sake of convenience, the transfer pipe for pumping will be referred to as a “lift riser”, and the transfer pipe for return will be referred to as a “return riser”.

In the present embodiment, a valve unit 14 is installed in the middle of the return riser 12. The valve unit 14 has a function of adjusting the pressure and flow rate of each branched seawater in addition to the function of branching out and flowing out the seawater that has flowed in. Seawater returned from the ore base 11 to the valve unit 14 by the first return riser 12a was adjusted to seawater having a pressure and flow rate suitable for driving the crushing device 25, the screw conveyor 26, and the submersible pump 27. Thereafter, they are supplied to the hydromotors 22, 23, 24 by the three second return risers 12b, 12c, 12d, respectively.

The valve unit 14 also has a flow path switching function, and is connected to a switching valve 15 such as a three-way valve provided in the middle of the ore riser 13 by a bypass pipe 21. Thereby, when the submersible pump 27, the hydromotor 24, etc. break down, the seawater returned to the seabed by the return riser 12 is supplied to the uplift riser 13 via the bypass pipe 21, thereby the uplift riser 13 The mineral resource M staying inside can be transferred to the pumping base 11.

Next, each device driven by the hydromotors 22, 23, 24 will be described in detail.
In the present embodiment, a single toggle type jaw crusher is used as the crushing device 25. A side sectional view and a front view of the crushing device 25 are shown in FIGS. The crushing device 25 is horizontally mounted between a rectangular frame 30 having a front frame 30a disposed on the front surface and a pair of side frames 30b disposed on both side surfaces, and an upper end portion of the pair of side frames 30b. The eccentric shaft 32, and the swing jaw 31 whose upper end portion is swingably attached to the eccentric shaft 32 and whose lower end portion is positioned forward of the upper end portion are provided.

A movable tooth 34 is mounted on the front surface of the swing jaw 31, and a fixed tooth 35 is mounted on the rear surface of the front frame 30 a facing the movable tooth 34. A space defined by the movable teeth 34, the fixed teeth 35, and the pair of side frames 30b becomes a crushing chamber 36 for crushing the mineral resources M. The crushing chamber 36 is V-shaped when viewed from the side, and the upper end surface is an inlet 36a for the mineral resource M, and the lower end surface is an outlet 36b for the mineral resource M.

An adjusting means 38 for adjusting the gap between the discharge ports 36b and a spring portion 40 that elastically holds the lower end portion of the swing jaw 31 are installed at the rear portions of the pair of side frames 30b. The adjusting means 38 is connected to the lower end portion of the swing jaw 31 via a toggle plate 37, and the spring portion 40 is connected to the lower end portion of the swing jaw 31 via a tension rod 39.

As shown in FIG. 3, a hydro motor 22 that applies a rotational force to the eccentric shaft 32 is provided at one end portion of the eccentric shaft 32, and the eccentric shaft 32 is smoothly rotated at the other end portion of the eccentric shaft 32. A flywheel 33 is attached.
When the eccentric shaft 32 is rotated by the hydromotor 22, the lower end portion of the swing jaw 31 swings so as to draw an elliptical orbit. With this movement, the movable teeth 34 reciprocate back and forth and up and down with respect to the fixed teeth 35, so that the mineral resources M are sequentially crushed. The crushed mineral resource M is discharged downward from the discharge port 36b.

The hydromotor 22 is also referred to as a water turbine, and is a device that obtains a rotational force by rotating the water turbine by a water flow. 4A and 4B show an example of the hydromotor 22. In the present embodiment, a reaction water turbine is used. The hydromotors 23 and 24 are the same as the hydromotor 22.
The hydromotor 22 includes a spiral (cochlear) casing 41 in which an inlet (not shown) is connected to the second return riser 12b, a runner 43 that rotates by the pressure of seawater that flows into the casing 41, and a runner The drive shaft 44 which comprises the rotating shaft of 43, the guide vane 45 arrange | positioned around the runner 43, and the outflow port 42 which opens to the central-axis direction of the runner 43, and the inflowing seawater flows out are provided.
As shown in FIG. 4B, the runner 43 has a disk part 43a whose central part protrudes in a cone shape, and a blade part 43b which is arranged on the disk part 43a and whose tip part is curved.

Seawater returned by the second return riser 12 b flows into the spiral casing 41. Seawater that has flowed into the casing 41 is guided by the guide vanes 45, flows into the runner 43 from the tangential direction of the runner 43, and acts on the blade portion 43b to rotate the runner 43. The drive shaft 44 rotates with the rotation of the runner 43 to rotate the eccentric shaft 32 of the crushing device 25.
On the other hand, the seawater that has flowed into the center of the runner 43 is discharged from the outlet 42 into the sea.

FIG. 5 shows a side cross section of the screw conveyor 26. The screw conveyor 26 is generally composed of a screw 48 having spiral blades 48b formed on the peripheral surface of a shaft 48a, a casing 47 for housing the screw 48, and a hydromotor 23 connected to one end of the shaft 48a. . In addition, on the upper surface of the casing 47, an inlet 49 into which the mineral resource M is introduced is provided at one end, and an outlet 50 from which the mineral resource M is discharged is provided at the other end.
When the seawater returned by the second return riser 12c flows into the hydromotor 23, the screw 48 connected to the drive shaft 44 of the hydromotor 23 rotates. Along with this, the mineral resource M input from the input port 49 is continuously conveyed to the discharge port 50 side by a predetermined amount by the spiral blade 48b.

FIG. 6 shows a cross section of the submersible pump 27 and the hydromotor 24 that drives the submersible pump 27. The submersible pump 27 is connected to the drive shaft 44 of the hydromotor 24 and rotates. The casing 51 houses the impeller 52 and has an outlet (not shown) connected to the pumping riser 13. And an inlet 53 for seawater including
When the seawater returned by the second return riser 12d flows into the hydromotor 24, the impeller 52 connected to the drive shaft 44 of the hydromotor 24 rotates. Along with this, seawater containing mineral resources M is sucked into the casing 51 from the inlet 53 and transferred to the ore base 11 through the ore riser 13.

Then, the procedure (the method of pumping seabed mineral resources) of pumping the mineral resources M from the seabed using the pumping system 10 will be described.
(1) First, using the crane (not shown) installed in the ore base 11 with the return riser 12 and the ore riser 13 connected to the crushing device 25 and the hydromotors 22, 23, 24, etc. These devices are submerged in the sea and placed on the seabed.

(2) Next, the circulation pump 16 installed in the pumping base 11 is driven to feed seawater into the return riser 12.
(3) The seawater returned from the ore base 11 to the valve unit 14 by the first return riser 12a is pressure suitable for driving the crushing device 25, the screw conveyor 26, and the submersible pump 27 in the valve unit 14. And the flow rate of the seawater is adjusted to be supplied to the hydromotors 22, 23, and 24 by the three second return risers 12b, 12c, and 12d, respectively.
(4) When the seawater is supplied, the hydromotors 22, 23, and 24 operate, and the crushing device 25, the screw conveyor 26, and the submersible pump 27 are driven.

(5) On the other hand, on the seabed, the mineral resource M is mined and collected by a ROV (Remotely Operated Vehicle) (not shown) and is introduced into the inlet 36a of the crushing device 25.
(6) The mineral resource M input to the input port 36a is finely divided by the crushing device 25 into a size that can be transferred to the ore base 11 through the ore riser 13 and discharged downward from the discharge port 36b. The

(7) The mineral resource M discharged from the discharge port 36 b of the crushing device 25 is inserted into the screw conveyor 26 from the input port 49 of the screw conveyor 26 and conveyed to the position of the discharge port 50.
(8) The mineral resource M conveyed to the position of the discharge port 50 of the screw conveyor 26 is sucked into the casing 51 from the inflow port 53 by the submersible pump 27 and transferred to the ore base 11 together with seawater by the ore riser 13. The
(9) From the seawater transferred to the ore base 11, the mineral resource M is separated from the seawater by the separator 17. Seawater from which the mineral resource M has been separated is sent to the return riser 12 by the circulation pump 16 and supplied as drive water for the hydromotors 22, 23 and 24.

Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the configuration described in the above-described embodiment, and is within the scope of matters described in the claims. Other possible embodiments and modifications are also included. For example, in the above embodiment, a single toggle type jaw crusher is used as the crushing device, but a double toggle type jaw crusher may be used, or a crusher other than the jaw crusher may be used. Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the screw conveyor is used from the crushing apparatus to the submersible pump, other types of conveyance conveyors, such as a slat conveyor and a bucket conveyor, may be sufficient (it is more preferable that it is a conveyance conveyor which can be supplied quantitatively). ). In short, it may be a crusher and a conveyer driven by a hydromotor.

10: pumping system, 11: pumping base, 12: return riser (transfer pipe for return), 12a: first return riser (transfer pipe for return), 12b, 12c, 12d: second return riser (Transfer pipe for return), 13: pumping riser (transfer pipe for pumping), 14: valve unit, 15: switching valve, 16: circulation pump, 17: separator, 18, 19: suction line, 21: Bypass pipe, 22, 23, 24: Hydro motor, 25: Crushing device, 26: Screw conveyor (conveyor), 27: Submersible pump, 30: Frame, 30a: Front frame, 30b: Side frame, 31: Swing jaw, 32: eccentric shaft, 33: flywheel, 34: movable tooth, 35: fixed tooth, 36: crushing chamber, 36a: inlet, 36b: outlet, 37: toggle plate 38: adjustment means, 39: tension rod, 40: spring part, 41: casing, 42: outlet, 43: runner, 43a: disk part, 43b: blade part, 44: drive shaft, 45: guide vane, 47: Casing, 48: screw, 48a: shaft, 48b: blades, 49: inlet, 50: outlet, 51: casing, 52: impeller, 53: inlet, M: mineral resources

Claims (6)

A pumping system that pumps mineral resources mined on the sea floor to the sea,
A pumping base arranged on the sea; a transfer pipe for pumping that is disposed between the pumping base and the seabed and transports mineral resources mined on the seabed together with seawater to the pumping base; A return pipe disposed between the mine base and the seabed for returning the seawater from which mineral resources have been separated to the seabed; and seawater from the mineral base from which the mineral resources have been separated for return. A circulation pump that feeds the transfer pipe;
A plurality of hydromotors arranged on the seabed and operated by the pressure of seawater returned by the return transfer pipe, and arranged on the seabed and driven by the hydromotor to refine the mineral resources mined on the seabed. A crushing device, and a submersible pump disposed on the seabed, driven by the hydromotor, and sucking together with seawater the mineral resources finely divided by the crushing device and feeding them into the transfer pipe for pumping A submarine mineral resource pumping system. 2. A submarine mineral resource pumping system according to claim 1, further comprising a transport conveyor that is disposed on the sea floor, is driven by the hydromotor, and transports the mineral resources refined by the crushing device to the submersible pump. A submarine mineral resource pumping system. 3. A submarine mineral resource pumping system according to claim 2, wherein a valve unit having a function of adjusting the pressure and flow rate of each branched seawater in addition to the function of branching out and flowing out the inflowing seawater. A submarine mineral resource pumping system provided in the middle of a transfer pipe, wherein the valve unit and the plurality of hydromotors are respectively connected by the return transfer pipe. 4. The submarine mineral resource pumping system according to claim 3, wherein the valve unit has a flow path switching function, and the valve unit is connected to a switching valve provided in the middle of the transfer pipe for the pumping by a bypass pipe. A submarine mineral resource pumping system characterized by A submarine mineral resource pumping method using the submarine mineral resource pumping system according to claim 1,
Mining on the seabed by driving the circulating pump installed at the pumping base to drive seawater into the return transfer pipe and operating the hydromotors to drive the crushing device and the submersible pump A method for pumping a submarine mineral resource, comprising: finely pulverizing the mineral resource with the crushing apparatus; and then feeding the refined mineral resource together with seawater to the transfer pipe for pumping using the submersible pump. 6. The method for pumping a submarine mineral resource according to claim 5, wherein the mineral resource refined by the crushing device is transported to the submersible pump using a transport conveyor disposed on the seabed and driven by the hydromotor. A method for pumping submarine mineral resources.

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