JP2015202751A - Undersea elevator - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To arrange a wire, along which a lifting and lowering body is lifted and lowered, in a vertical state on a vertical line connecting a position where a mining machine performs mining on the sea bottom and a position where a lifting and recovery apparatus on the sea level performs lifting and recovery.SOLUTION: A lifting and recovery apparatus 5 capable of self-propelling is positioned on the sea level 3 vertically above a mining machine 4 on the sea bottom 1. Underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a comprising a propulsion unit are arranged at preset depths on a straight line connecting the mining machine 4 and the lifting and recovery apparatus 5. A wire 7 having an end connected to the underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a is connected to the mining machine 4 and the lifting and recovery apparatus 5. A lifting and lowering body 8 is lifted and lowered along the wire 7.

Description

  The present invention relates to an underwater elevator that is used when a necessary thing mined on the sea floor is lifted to the sea or when a necessary object is transported from the sea to the sea floor.

  It is known that mineral resources are abundant on the seabed of thousands of meters (for example, 3000 m or more) in the sea near our country.

  The development of seabed resources on the seabed where such mineral resources exist is an important theme in Japan, and various studies have been conducted so far.

  The exploration of mineral resources and the investigation of the natural distribution of mineral resources for the development of mineral resources on the ocean floor require mining and lifting the mineral resources on the ocean floor.

  Conventionally, an elevator system has been adopted as a means for lifting resources mined on the seabed to the sea.

  In the elevator system, a plurality of guide ropes are installed at a constant tension in the vertical direction between the base at the bottom of the sea and the base on the sea surface, and beside the transport capsule that moves up and down along each guide rope. A guide hardware that can be attached and detached is attached to each guide cable so that the transport capsule can be vertically moved along the guide cable through the side guide hardware, and the transport capsule is provided separately. There is an underwater elevator that is configured to wind up and down a cable for use (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  As another example, the upper part of a cage-shaped guide line whose lower end is fixed to the submarine base is attached to a floating body, and the cage-shaped guide line is planted in tension in the sea, and the top of the cage-like guide line There is an underwater transport device that attaches a floating body to the outer periphery of the middle part, and moves the transport body suspended from the offshore base up and down between the submarine base and the floating body along the inside of the cage guide line ( For example, see Patent Document 2.)

  Furthermore, as another example, the upper end portion of the central shaft portion arranged between the submarine base and the floating dock at sea is fixed to the floating dock and the lower end portion to the submarine base, respectively. There are work cavities provided at a plurality of positions in the vertical direction, and an elevator shaft can be lifted and lowered by an elevator shaft portion provided inside the central shaft portion so that an operator can move up and down ( (For example, see Patent Document 3.)

  However, what is described in the above-mentioned patent document 1 is to raise and lower the transport capsule between the sea floor and the sea surface with a water depth of about 30 m, and this is configured to raise and lower a deep sea floor of several thousand meters. This is not easy and is not suitable for use on deep seabeds.

  Moreover, the thing described in patent document 2 cannot adjust the depth and horizontal position itself of the floating body attached to the outer periphery of a cage-shaped guide line.

  Further, in the device described in Patent Document 3, the working cavity does not have a function as a wire relay point.

  Thus, what is described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 is not intended to adjust the position of resource recovery on the sea surface according to the mining position on the seabed.

  For example, when mining mineral resources on the seabed with a water depth of 3000 m, the equipment for transporting goods between the sea surface and the seabed should be simplified as much as possible and power consumption will be reduced. It is required to be small.

  However, those described in Patent Documents 1 to 3 cannot be said to have been considered in this respect.

JP-A-9-188295 Japanese Utility Model Publication 2-45895 Japanese Patent No. 5119056

  Therefore, according to the present invention, the object mined on the seabed can be lifted on the sea surface with a simple configuration, and the mining position on the seabed and the seafloor position on the sea surface are aligned in the vertical direction and arranged therebetween. An object of the present invention is to provide an underwater elevator in which a lifting body guide wire can be held in a vertical direction so that the lifting body can easily be lifted and lowered by itself.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the present invention provides a mining machine for mining the seabed according to claim 1 and a sea surface at a position vertically above a mining position by the mining machine, the position on the sea surface. A lifting device having an autonomous cruising function so as to be able to hold the water, and a seabed mining position disposed at a predetermined depth in the water between the seabed mining position of the mining machine and the lifting device. An underwater floating body provided with a propulsion device capable of adjusting a horizontal position to a position on a straight line connecting a position and the lifting device, a wire for connecting the mining machine, the underwater floating body and the lifting device, and the mining machine An underwater elevator having a configuration including a lifting and lowering body that moves up and down by itself along the wire.

  Further, in the subsea elevator, in accordance with claim 2, the lifting device obtains its current position by GPS, adjusts its own current position to a target position on the sea surface, and holds the target position. To determine the current position of the underwater floating body based on the autonomous navigation function for making the current floating position and the relative position of the underwater floating body with respect to the lifting device obtained by measuring the position of the underwater floating body. The underwater floating body has a function of communicating with the underwater floating body, and the underwater floating body includes a signal of a current position of the underwater floating body communicated from the lifting device, and a preset signal of a target position set in advance. If there is a deviation between the current depth signal from the depth sensor and the preset target depth setting signal, there is a deviation between the function of giving a drive command to the propulsion device so that the deviation is eliminated. The deviation disappears A structure having a functionality designed to add sea urchin depth adjusting command.

  Further, in the above configuration, a plurality of underwater suspended bodies corresponding to claim 3 are arranged at different depths at positions on a straight line connecting a seabed mining position and a sea surface lifting device by a mining machine, The submerged floating body is determined by measuring the position of another submerged suspended body below the submerged suspended body and the relative position of the other submerged suspended body with respect to the submerged suspended body at the upper position. A configuration having a function of obtaining a current position of another underwater floating body in the lower position based on a current position of the underwater floating body in the upper position and communicating with another underwater floating body in the lower position; To do.

The underwater elevator according to the present invention has the following excellent effects.
(1) Since an underwater floating body is disposed on a vertical line that connects a mining position on the seabed by a mining machine and a lifting position by a lifting device, a wire disposed in the vertical direction via the underwater floating body Even if it is swept away by the tidal current, it is held just above the mining position by the underwater floating body.
(2) By (1), the raising / lowering body which raises / lowers along a wire can be raised / lowered in a perpendicular direction.
(3) By cutting the wire at the position of the underwater floating body and using the end portion coupled to the underwater floating body, the length of one wire can be shortened and less affected by external force. This makes it difficult to cut the wire, and even if it is cut, it is easy to recover.

It is the side view which showed typically the outline | summary of one Embodiment of this invention. It is a top view which shows the outline | summary of the underwater floating body in FIG. It is a block diagram which shows the function of the control part which the collection apparatus and submerged floating body in this invention have. FIG. 4 is an enlarged view taken along the IV-IV direction in FIG. An example of the relationship between the raising / lowering body and wire in this invention is shown, (a) is a side view, (b) is a top view, (c) is a top view which shows the driven wheel of (a).

  Hereinafter, embodiments for carrying out the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment in which the submarine elevator according to the present invention is applied when a mineral resource 2 mined on the seabed 1 is picked up on the sea surface 3. 1 and 2 show an outline for easy understanding of the description, and the size is not limited to the illustrated one.

  The underwater elevator according to the present invention includes a mining machine 4 for mining in order to explore and develop a mineral resource 2 that is considered to be abundant in the seabed 1 reaching several thousand meters (for example, 1000 to 3000 m) from the sea surface 3, and mining Are disposed at a plurality of points in the sea on the vertical line connecting the lifting device 5 and the mining machine 4 on the seabed 1 to store and store the mineral resources 2 collected and stored. A plurality of submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a that can be used as autonomous vehicles, the lifting device 5 and the uppermost submerged floating body 6, the submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a adjacent in the vertical direction, and the lowermost submerged floating body A wire 7 as a guide line for connecting the body 6a and the mining machine 4 respectively, and a lifting body 8 capable of moving up and down between the seabed 1 and the lifting device 5 on the sea surface 3 along the wire 7. It is set as the structure provided with.

  The pick-up device 5 is a storage for storing the picked-up mineral resources 2 on a work ship 9 that can navigate on the sea surface 3 and move to its target position with its own position on the earth. 10 is mounted. Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the work ship 9 receives the response signal from the acoustic positioning device 104 by transmitting it to the acoustic positioning device 104 installed on the floating body 6 located at the top, An acoustic positioning device 100 that can determine the relative position of the underwater floating body 6 with respect to the work ship 9 and a GPS receiver 101 that receives a signal from the GPS that detects the current position of the work ship 9 on the earth. And the current position signal C of the uppermost floating body 6 based on the relative position signal A of the floating body from the acoustic positioning device 100 and the current position signal B of the lifting device from the GPS receiver 101. An acoustic communication device configured to perform sound wave communication between the arithmetic device 102 for outputting and the signal C of the current position of the underwater floating body output from the arithmetic device 102 to the acoustic communication device 105 of the uppermost underwater floating body 6 03 there is a control unit provided.

  The underwater floating body is composed of an underwater floating body 6 positioned at the top and a plurality of underwater floating bodies 6a positioned below the underwater floating body 6, and each of the underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a is As shown in FIG. 2 as an example, a flat portion having a hollow portion 11 penetrating in the vertical direction in the central portion and having a circular planar shape.

  The submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a are moved in the horizontal direction at a plurality of locations in the circumferential direction except for the central part of the submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a. The thrusters 12 as the propulsion devices are installed so as to have different propulsion directions. Further, a thruster 13 as a propulsion device for moving the submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a in the vertical direction is installed on the side surface of each submerged floating body 6 and 6a at a symmetrical position of 180 degrees.

  Each of the thrusters 12 and 13 is swivel so that the propulsion direction can be varied, and can be moved in any direction of the horizontal and vertical directions. Moreover, you may make it control a moving direction by attaching a rudder to the underwater floating body 6 and 6a, and controlling this rudder.

  Among the submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a, the submerged suspended body 6 located at the top returns a response signal to the acoustic positioning apparatus 100 as a response signal from the acoustic positioning apparatus 100 of the work ship 9, as shown in FIG. In addition to the acoustic positioning device 104 and the acoustic communication device 105 that receives the underwater suspended solids current position signal C by the sound wave communication from the acoustic communication device 103 of the work ship 9, the depth sensor 106 and the acoustic communication device 105 An attitude in which an underwater floating body current position signal C, an underwater floating body current depth signal D from a depth sensor 106, and a target position / target depth setting signal E are input and a drive signal F is given to the thrusters 12 and 13. And a control device 107. Further, the arithmetic device 102 ′, the acoustic positioning device 100 ′, and the acoustic communication device 103 ′ having the same function corresponding to the arithmetic device 102, the acoustic positioning device 100, and the acoustic communication device 103 included in the work boat 9. The current position signal C of the submerged floating body 6 is input to the arithmetic unit 102 ′ in correspondence with the signal B from the GPS receiver 101 in the work boat 9. Thereby, based on the relative position signal A ′ of the other underwater floating body 6 a positioned below the acoustic positioning apparatus 100 ′ with respect to the underwater floating body 6 positioned above and the current position signal C of the underwater floating body 6. Thus, the current position signal G of another underwater floating body 6a located below is sent to the acoustic communication device 103 ′.

  Of the submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a, the other submerged floating bodies 6a excluding the uppermost submerged floating body 6 have the same configuration as the uppermost submerged floating body 6 as shown in FIG. In addition, between the uppermost submerged floating body 6 and another submerged floating body 6a located below the uppermost submerged floating body 6a, another underwater floating unit located below is placed by the acoustic positioning device 100 'of the uppermost submerged floating body 6. The relative position of the body 6a with respect to the underwater suspended body 6 is obtained, and the lower position is determined based on the relative position signal A ′ of the underwater suspended body 6 from the acoustic positioning device 100 ′ and the current position signal C of the underwater suspended body 6. Is sent to the acoustic communication device 103 ', and the acoustic communication device 105 of the underwater suspension 6a located below the acoustic communication device 103' is sent to the current state of the underwater suspension 6a. A position signal G is sent.

  Similarly, between the submerged floating bodies 6a positioned below the uppermost submerged floating body 6, the acoustic positioning device 100 'of the submerged floating body 6a positioned below the submerged floating bodies 6a is provided below the submerged floating bodies 6a. The relative position of the submerged floating body 6a that is positioned with respect to the upper submerged floating body 6a is measured, and the current position of the lower submerged floating body 6a is calculated by the arithmetic unit 102 ′ from the upper submerged floating body relative position signal A ′. The position is obtained, and the underwater floating body current position signal G output from the arithmetic unit 102 ′ is communicated to the acoustic communication device 105 of the underwater floating body 6a located below the acoustic communication device 103 ′.

  The acoustic positioning device 100 ′ of the lowermost submerged floating body 6 a closest to the seabed 1 performs acoustic positioning of the mining machine 4 on the seabed 1 and obtains a relative position with respect to the lowermost submerged floating body 6 a of the mining machine 4. It is supposed to be able to

  The communication from the acoustic communication devices 103 and 103 ′ to the acoustic communication device 105 may be performed by wire.

  Next, the mining machine 4 mines the mineral resource 2 for the purpose of investigating the natural distribution of the mineral resource 2 existing on the seabed 1, exploring the mineral resource 2, etc. It can be collected.

  The wire 7 serves as a guide rope for the lifting body 8 by connecting the work ship 9 of the lifting device 5 and the mining machine 4 on the seabed 1 via a plurality of underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a. The wire 7 includes a vertical interval between the work boat 9 and the uppermost submerged suspended body 6, a vertical interval between the plurality of submerged suspended units 6 and 6 a arranged in the vertical direction, and a lowermost submerged suspended unit. 6 and the mining machine 4 are used by being cut into lengths corresponding to the vertical intervals. Therefore, the wire 7 does not pass through the hollow portion 11 of each of the floating bodies 6 and 6 a, and is connected to the coupling points 14 and 15 at both the upper and lower ends at one circumferential direction of the inner peripheral surface of the hollow portion 11. The lower end and the upper end of the wire 7 are connected to each other so as to extend in the vertical direction through the respective underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a. The wire 7 having the lower end coupled to the uppermost submerged floating body 6 is fed out from a winder or the like in the work boat 9, and the lower end of the wire 7 having the upper end coupled to the lowermost submerged floating body 6a is a mining machine. 4 is attached. Thereby, the work ship 9 on the sea surface 3 and the mining machine 4 on the seabed 1 are configured to be connected by a wire 7 having a plurality of underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a as relay points.

  As described above, the wires 7 are divided in the longitudinal direction, and the ends of the wires 7 are connected to the wire connection points 14 and 15 at the upper and lower ends of the cavity 11 of each of the submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a. In the case of the configuration, in the hollow portion 11 of the underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a, the wire 7 as a guide rope for guiding the lifting and lowering of the lifting body 8 is discontinuous.

  Therefore, on the inner wall surface of the cavity portion 11, as shown in FIG. 4, a metal rail member 16 is arranged in the vertical direction between the ends of the wires 7 coupled to the wire coupling points 14 and 15 at both the upper and lower ends. It is attached to extend. The rail member 16 is not the same wire as the wire 7 as long as the lifting body 8 can be transferred from the end of one wire 7 and can be transferred to the end of the other wire 7. For example, a round bar shape may be used.

  Further, the elevating body 8 is used for transporting the mineral resources 2 mined by the mining machine 4 to the lifting device 5 on the sea surface 3 and transporting necessary supplies from the lifting device 5 to the seabed 1. However, it can be driven up and down along the wire 7 by an operation from the lifting device 5.

  That is, the elevating body 8 includes a transport capsule 17 that can accommodate materials to be transported such as the mined mineral resource 2 and a traveling unit 19 that is driven by a drive device (not shown). By driving a drive device that is fed through a power cable 18 led from a work ship 9 of the pick-up device 5, it can be driven up and down along the wire 7.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (b), the traveling unit 19 has a driving wheel 21 at the tip of two driving shafts 20 protruding in the same direction from a driving device installed inside the transport capsule 17. The drive wheel 21 is rotated by the power from the drive device inside the transport capsule 17 so that the wire 7 can be gripped by the frictional force and moved along the wire 7.

  For this purpose, the drive wheel 21 is made of resin, for example, and is elastic so that the two drive wheels 21 sandwich the wire 7 from the lateral direction so that it is difficult to separate from the wire 7. Further, in order to prevent the driving wheel 21 from being detached from the wire 7 during the lifting and lowering operation of the lifting body 8, as shown in FIGS. 5 (a) and 5 (c), the wire 7 is viewed from a direction different from the driving wheel 21 by 90 degrees. The driven wheel 22 is attached to the transport capsule 17 via the support frame 23 so that it can roll while in contact with the carrier. As a result, when the elevating body 8 is driven to move up and down along the wire 7 by the rotation of the driving wheel 21, the driven wheel 22 comes into contact with the wire 7 and rolls, while the interval between the wire 7 and the transport capsule 17 is made substantially constant. Try to keep it.

  The driven wheel 22 that suppresses the wire 7 from being displaced in the direction away from the transport capsule 17 passes through the end of the wire 7 coupled to the wire coupling points 14 and 15 of the submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a. I can't. Therefore, the support frame 23 of the driven wheel 22 can be bent in the horizontal direction as shown in FIG. It is.

  In addition, between the said pick-up apparatus 5 and the uppermost submerged floating body 6, between the uppermost submerged floating body 6 and each submerged floating body 6a located below it, a lowermost part is provided. The wires 7 arranged between the underwater floating body 6a and the mining machine 4 are supported by the lifting device 5 and the underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a located above. For this reason, the lifting device 5 and the submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a each have a weight detection device (not shown) for the wire 7 and a control device (not shown) for giving a drive stop command to the driving device for the elevating body 8. The control device and the weight detection device are controlled in the event that the wire 7 is cut and the weight detection device is activated by detecting the disconnection of the wire 7. A drive stop command is sent from the device to the drive device of the lifting body 8.

  In FIG. 1, reference numeral 24 denotes a composite cable that connects the mining machine 4 and the work ship 9 of the lifting device 5, and the mining machine 4 is operated by operating the mining machine 4 according to a command from the work ship 9. It is possible to move on the seabed 1, mine the mineral resource 2, and load the mined mineral resource 2 on the transport capsule 17 of the lifting body 8.

  When the submarine elevator according to the present invention having the above configuration is installed between the sea surface 3 and the seabed 1, the mining machine 4 is placed at the target position of the seabed 1 where the mineral resource 2 found on the map in advance is considered to exist. Try to position.

  When the mining machine 4 dropped into the sea from the work ship 9 of the lifting device 5 is lowered to the target position on the seabed 1, it is transported using a separately prepared transfer means, for example, an unmanned submersible robot. To do.

  When the mining machine 4 is lowered to the target position on the seabed 1, it stops at that position. The mining machine 4 is configured to be able to move the seabed 1 but is fixed without being moved and positioned as a terminal. At that position, a facility 25 such as an elevator hall indicated by a two-dot chain line in FIG. May be moored at.

  When the mining machine 4 is lowered toward the target position of the seabed 1 and stopped, the lifting device 5 is positioned above the target position, that is, above the mining position of the seabed 1 by the mining machine 4. To do. Next, in accordance with the position of the lifting device 5 arranged at the target position, the current position is set to the target position and the target depth in order from the submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a located above the plurality of submerged floating bodies 6 and 6a. Try to fix it.

  More specifically, the mining machine 4 is lowered to a target position on the seabed that has been obtained in advance. Although it is not known whether or not the position where the mining machine 4 is actually lowered is the target position, it can be easily inferred from the recent technology for installing equipment on the seabed 1 that it is the target position or its vicinity. .

  After installation of the mining machine 4 on the seabed 1 is finished, on the sea surface 3, the target position to be the mineral resource mining position of the sea floor 1 is obtained by the latitude and longitude on the map, and the sea surface 3 immediately above the position is obtained. The lifting device 5 is moved. In this case, while observing the current position of the work boat 9 of the lifting device 5 with the position signal from the GPS receiver 101, the propulsion device is operated in the target direction so that the work boat 9 is navigated.

  When the lifting device 5 reaches a target position on the sea surface 3 by the work ship 9, the work ship 9 is held at that position.

  Next, each submerged suspended body 6, 6 a is automatically adjusted to the target depth and target position set for each submerged suspended body 6, 6 a.

  In this case, first, the uppermost submerged floating body 6 is acoustically measured from the lifting device 5, the relative position of the submerged floating body 6 with respect to the lifting device 5 is obtained, and the obtained submerged floating body 6 is lifted. The signals A and B of the relative position with respect to the collecting device 5 and the position of the lifting device 5 obtained by the GPS receiver 101 are input to the computing device 102 of the lifting device 5, and the computing device 102 makes the floating in the water. The current position of the body 6 is obtained.

  The acoustic positioning for positioning the uppermost underwater floating body 6 by the acoustic positioning apparatus 100 of the lifting device 5 is a conventionally performed method, and the underwater floating body from the acoustic positioning device 100 of the lifting apparatus 5 is used. 6 is received by the acoustic positioning device 104 of the underwater floating body 6, and the response signal from the acoustic positioning device 104 is received by the acoustic positioning device 100 of the lifting device 5, The relative position of the body 6 with respect to the lifting device 5 is obtained.

  When the current position of the underwater floating body 6 is obtained by the arithmetic unit 102 of the lifting device 5, the underwater floating body current position signal C is sent from the acoustic communication device 103 equipped in the lifting device 5 to the uppermost underwater. The underwater floating body current position signal C is transmitted to the acoustic communication device 105 mounted on the floating body 6.

  The underwater floating body current position signal C sent to the acoustic communication device 105 of the underwater floating body 6 is input to the attitude control device 107 provided in the underwater floating body 6. As shown in FIG. 3, the posture control device 107 is preliminarily input with a setting signal E as a signal of the target position / target depth of the underwater floating body 6. Further, the underwater suspended body 6 is equipped with a depth sensor 106, and a current depth signal D from the depth sensor 106 is also input to the attitude control device 107.

  Thereby, the posture control device 107 obtains a deviation between a preset target position of the underwater floating body 6 and the current position, and a deviation between a preset target depth of the underwater floating body 6 and the current depth. It is supposed to be.

  If there is a deviation between the target position of the underwater floating body 6 and the measured current position, the drive signal F from the attitude control device 107 is transmitted to the drive unit of the thruster 12, and the thruster 12 is driven to move underwater. The floating body 6 is propelled to the target position, and the current position of the underwater floating body 6 is corrected to the target position. At this time, the current position signal C of the underwater floating body 6 is transmitted from the acoustic communication device 103 of the lifting device 5 to the acoustic communication device 105 of the underwater floating body 6 and input to the attitude control device 107. Therefore, if there is no deviation from the target position obtained by the posture control device 107, the current position of the underwater floating body 6 has reached the target position.

  In addition, since the underwater floating body 6 is a neutral float and its target depth is determined, the depth does not change basically, but there is a possibility that the depth changes due to disturbance. As described above, the posture control device 107 of the underwater floating body 6 inputs the current depth signal D from the depth sensor 106, obtains a deviation from the target depth setting signal E, and if there is a deviation, A drive signal F is sent to the propulsion thruster 13.

  Therefore, when it becomes necessary to compensate for the above-described depth change of the underwater floating body 6, the vertical thruster 13 is driven so that the depth of the underwater floating body 6 is maintained at the target depth.

  When the uppermost submerged suspended body 6 is held at the target position and target depth in this way, the acoustic positioning device 100 ′ of the uppermost submerged suspended body 6 is actuated, and the top 2 located from below is The signal A ′ of the relative position of the second underwater floating body 6a relative to the uppermost underwater floating body 6 obtained by transmitting and receiving signals to and from the acoustic positioning device 104 of the second underwater floating body 6a Based on the current position signal C of the uppermost submerged floating body 6, the arithmetic unit 102 ′ of the submerged floating body 6 obtains the current position of the second submerged floating body 6 a from the top, and the current position signal G is sent to the acoustic communication device 105 of the underwater floating body 6a below the acoustic communication device 103 ′.

  The second submerged floating body 6a from which the current position signal G is received by the acoustic communication device 105 is the posture control device 107 provided in the interior, and the target position setting signal E inputted in advance and The deviation from the received current position signal G is observed. If there is a deviation, a drive command is given to the thruster 12 to move the underwater suspended body 6a in the direction of the target position, and the current position of the underwater suspended body 6a is corrected to the target position.

  Thereafter, the same control is repeated so that the position of the underwater floating body 6a positioned below the target position is sequentially adjusted to the target position by the underwater floating body 6a whose current position is corrected to the target position.

  In this way, each submerged suspended body 6, 6 a is placed at the target position, and each submerged suspended body 6, 6 a is positioned in the vertical direction between the lifting device 5 on the sea surface 3 and the mining position of the seabed 1. Then, the position of the mining machine 4 is determined by positioning the mining machine 4 on the seabed 1 with the acoustic positioning device 100 'of the lowermost floating body 6a.

  As a result, if the position of the mining machine 4 is deviated from the position immediately below the lowermost submerged floating body 6a, the position of each submerged floating body 6, 6a is adjusted to the position of the mining machine 4. What should I do?

  When the underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a as the relay points are adjusted to the target positions in accordance with the positions of the mining machine 4 and the lifting device 5 on the sea surface 3 as described above, the minerals of the seabed 1 For the exploration of the resource 2, the mineral resource 2 is mined and lifted to the lifting device 5.

  In this operation, after a necessary amount of the mined mineral resource 2 is collected, it is accommodated in the transport capsule 17 of the lifting body 8 so that the lifting body 8 is raised to the sea level 3 and transported.

  The lifting body 8 is provided with driving wheels 21 on the upper end side and the lower end side, respectively, and sandwiches the wire 7 from the side so as to bite the wire 7, so that the driving device built in the lifting body 8 is operated. By rotating the drive wheel 21 in this manner, the drive wheel 21 can be raised by frictional force along the wire 7 and without detaching from the wire 7. Further, as shown in FIGS. 5A and 5C, the driven wheel 22 at the tip of the support frame 23 is connected to the wire 7 to roll, and the wire 7 and the lifting body 8 are lifted while the lifting body 8 is being lifted. Since the distance from the transport capsule 17 is not increased, the drive wheel 21 can be more reliably prevented from being detached (derailed) from the wire 7.

  Thereby, the raising / lowering body 8 can rise reliably along the wire 7 in the state which accommodated the mineral resource in the conveyance capsule 17. FIG. When the elevating body 8 reaches the lowermost floating body 6a, it passes through the hollow portion 11 at the center of the floating body 6a and is further raised along the upper wire 7.

  In the above, when the elevating body 8 is allowed to pass through the hollow portion 11 of the underwater floating body 6a, the support frame 23 is tilted as shown by a two-dot chain line in FIG. 5C so as not to interfere with the underwater floating body 6a. Keep it.

  In this state, the drive wheel 21 is transferred from the upper end position of the wire 7 whose upper end is coupled to the lowermost underwater floating body 6a to the metal rail member 16 fixed to the inner wall surface of the cavity 11. . In this case, first, the left and right drive wheels 21 on the upper end side of the elevating body 8 are transferred from the wire 7 to the rail member 16. Next, the left and right drive wheels 21 on the lower end side of the elevating body 8 are transferred from the wire 7 to the rail member 16. Thereafter, the left and right drive wheels 21 on the upper end side of the lifting body 8 are transferred from the rail member 16 to the lower end portion of the upper wire 7. Similarly, the left and right drive wheels 21 on the lower end side of the lift body 8 are moved to the rail member 16. Is moved to the lower end of the upper wire 7 so that the elevating body 8 passes through the cavity 11 of the underwater floating body 6a.

  In this manner, the elevating body 8 is sequentially lifted using the wire 7 and the rail members 16 of the submerged floating bodies 6 and 6 a so that the mineral resources of the transport capsule 17 are transported to the lifting device 5. Along with this, the power cable 18 to the elevating body 8 may be wound up sequentially on the work boat 9.

  In the above, the wire 7 is divided into a plurality of parts in the length direction, and the plurality of submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a are coupled between the lifting device 5 and the mining machine 4, so that each wire 7 has a length. Is not easily affected by external force, and therefore the wire 7 is less likely to be cut. If it is cut, it is installed in the lifting device 5 and the floating bodies 6 and 6a as described above. Since the wire weight detection device that detects the wire breakage stops the lifting / lowering drive of the lifting body 8 and the wire breakage point can be specified, the unmanned submersible robot is mounted on the work boat 9. There is an advantage that the wire 7 can be easily restored by UUV (Unknown Underwater Vehicle) or ROV.

  Further, when the elevating body 8 rises to the lifting device 5 and transports the mineral resource 2 to the lifting device 5, the mineral resource 2 is stored in the storage 10 of the lifting device 5 and stored strictly. To keep. When it is necessary to transport the necessary goods from the lifting device 5 to the seabed 1, the necessary goods are accommodated in the transport capsule 17 of the lifting body 8 and the operation of raising the lifting body 8 is reversed. What is necessary is just to make it fall sequentially along the wire 7 by operation.

  Next, when the mining machine 4 is moved to another location for the exploration of the mineral resources 2 in the state shown in FIG. 1, the lifting device is adjusted in accordance with the position of the mining machine 4 after the movement. 5 and each underwater floating body 6, 6a are moved horizontally. In this case, as in the case described above, the work ship 9 of the lifting device 5 is moved horizontally to a new target position. This horizontal movement uses the propulsion device that it has. When the work boat 9 of the lifting device 5 reaches a new target position, the lifting device 5 measures the underwater floating body 6 immediately below and obtains the current position of the underwater floating body 6. And the difference between the target position and the target position are moved horizontally by the thruster 12 so that the underwater suspended body 6 is adjusted to the target position.

  Thereafter, in the same manner, the submerged suspended bodies 6 may be sequentially adjusted to the target position while repeating the same operation as described above.

  The embodiment of the underwater elevator according to the present invention has been described above. For example, the lifting body 8 can be supplied with power through the power cable 18 led from the work ship 9 of the lifting device 5, and the lifting body 8 is supplied to the lifting body 8. Instead of the configuration in which the installed drive device is operated, the electric power that can be raised and lowered between the seabed 1 and the lifting device 5 on the sea surface 3 is provided in the elevating body 8, for example. As a configuration in which a rechargeable battery having a capacity that can be covered is mounted, the power cable 18 may be unnecessary.

  If the elevating body 8 is configured such that such a battery is mounted, the elevating body 8 can be lowered by itself onto the seabed 1 along the wire 7 by being charged on the work boat 9. From the seabed 1 to the lifting device 5 on the sea surface 3, the elevating body 8 can ascend along the wire 7 by itself. As a result, the lifting body 8 does not need to be supplied with power by the power cable 18, so that the power cable 18 used in the embodiment can be dispensed with and the winding device for the power cable 18 is also omitted. The effect that can be obtained.

  Moreover, instead of the configuration in which the power cable 18 is connected to the lifting body 8 in the above-described embodiment shown in FIG. 1 so that power can be supplied to the lifting body 8 through the power cable 18, for example, the power cable 18 May be stretched along the wire 7 between the work boat 9 on the sea surface 3 and the seabed 1 and supplied to the lift 8 using a pantograph provided on the lift 8, or A power cable may be incorporated in the wire 7, while the lifting body 8 may be equipped with a non-contact power feeding device so that the lifting body 8 is fed in a non-contact manner in water.

  In this way, there is an effect that it is possible to eliminate the winding and feeding of the power cable 18 in FIG.

  Next, in the above-described embodiment, the wire 7 is connected between the lifting device 5 and the uppermost submerged suspended body 6, between each submerged suspended body 6, 6 a, and the lowermost submerged suspended body 6 a In each part between the mining machines 4, one wire 7 is arranged in the vertical direction, and the lifting body 8 is moved up and down using this one wire 7. A plurality of wires, for example, two wires are arranged in parallel in each of the portions, and the widths of the driving wheels 21 on the upper end side and the lower end side of the elevating body 8 correspond to the two wires 7 respectively. A pair of dimensions may be provided on the left and right, and the elevating body 8 may be moved up and down along the two wires 7.

  When the lifting / lowering body 8 is lifted / lowered along such a plurality of wires 7, even if the wire 7 is twisted, the lifting / lowering body 8 can be lifted / lowered without changing its posture and is more stable. There is an advantage that it can be moved up and down.

  When a plurality of wires 7 are used, the wire coupling points 14 and 15 provided in the hollow portions of the submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a are of course a plurality according to the number of wires.

  In addition, although the connection method of the edge part of the wire 7 to the wire connection points 14 and 15 of the said underwater floating bodies 6 and 6a is arbitrary, for example, as shown in FIG. In the case of a ring-shaped locking portion such as the head of the wire 7, a hook-shaped hook is attached to the end of the wire 7, so that the end of the wire 7 is connected to the wire coupling points 14, 15. Can be easily attached and detached, and the wire 7 can be easily exchanged.

  In the above embodiment, the case where the wire 7 is used has been exemplified. However, instead of the wire 7, a transport pipe may be used. That is, a flexible transport pipe is arranged so that the inside of the capsule circulates in place of the wire, and the underwater suspended bodies 6 and 6a are respectively connected to the transport pipe at a target depth. However, necessary materials can be stored in the capsule and conveyed by the capsule by the conveying tube.

  The transport pipe is preferably a series of pipes, but it is also possible to use a pipe cut in the middle. In this case, the cut portion may be used by being connected in communication with an elastic member such as a bellows.

  Furthermore, the submerged suspended bodies 6 and 6a are set with target depths, and basically there is no change in depth, but when the depth changes due to disturbance, the thruster 13 is operated to increase the depth. Although the case where it makes it control is shown, depth control can be similarly performed as a structure by the rudder of a thruster or a buoyancy regulator, for example, without using the thruster 13. As the buoyancy adjuster, for example, the underwater suspended bodies 6 and 6a may be lowered by ballast, while being raised by discharging the ballast and injecting compressed air.

  Furthermore, the submarine elevator according to the present invention has been described for the case where it is used on the seabed, for example, having a length of 3000 m.

  Of course, various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Seabed, 2 Mineral resources, 3 Sea surface, 4 Mining machine, 5 Lifting device, 6, 6a Underwater floating body, 7 Wire, 8 Lifting body, 12, 13 Thruster (propulsion device), 100, 100 'Acoustic positioning device, 101 GPS receiver, 102, 102 ′ arithmetic device, 103, 103 ′ acoustic communication device, 104 acoustic positioning device, 105 acoustic communication device, 106 depth sensor, 107 attitude control device

Claims (3)

A mining machine to mine the seabed;
On the sea level in the vertical direction above the mining position by the mining machine, a lifting device having an autonomous navigation function so that the position on the sea level can be maintained,
The horizontal position is adjusted to a position on a straight line that connects the seabed mining position and the lifting device, and is located at a predetermined depth in the water between the seabed mining position of the mining machine and the lifting device. An underwater suspension with a propulsion device capable of
A wire for connecting the mining machine, the underwater floating body and the lifting device;
An underwater elevator characterized by comprising a lifting body that moves up and down by itself along the wire between the mining machine and a lifting device. The pick-up device obtains its own current position by GPS, adjusts its own current position to a target position on the sea surface, and also has an autonomous cruise function for holding the target position, and its own current position. And determining the current position of the submerged suspension based on the relative position of the submerged suspension with respect to the lifting device, and communicating with the submerged suspension. ,
In addition, if there is a deviation between the signal of the current position of the underwater floating body communicated from the lifting device and the preset signal of the target position, the underwater floating body is set in the propulsion device so that the deviation is eliminated. If there is a deviation between the function to give the drive command and the current depth signal from the depth sensor and the preset target depth setting signal, the depth adjustment command is made so that the deviation disappears The underwater elevator according to claim 1, wherein the underwater elevator has a function. Place multiple underwater floating bodies at different depths at different positions on the straight line connecting the seabed mining position with the mining machine and the sea surface lifting device,
The position of the submerged floating body in the upper position is determined by measuring the position of another submerged floating body below the submerged floating body and the relative position of the submerged floating body relative to the submerged floating body in the upper position. The present invention has a function of obtaining a current position of another underwater floating body in the lower position based on a current position of the underwater floating body in the upper position and communicating with another underwater floating body in the lower position. Underwater elevator.

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