JP6530925B2 - Submarine Mineral Mining Equipment and Submarine Mineral Mining System - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a seabed mineral mining apparatus and a seabed mineral mining system.

In recent years, the prices of useful metals, which are essential metals for producing various industrial devices and which have a small amount, are rising. Although useful metals are essential in the industry, not only low recoverable amount but also geopolitical risk exists due to the limited production country. Therefore, among the submarine minerals, useful metal-containing minerals existing under the sea floor are attracting attention.
Various surveys have revealed that there is a high concentration of useful metals in submarine minerals compared to minerals currently mined on the ground. Therefore, in recent years, exploration surveys have been conducted by various organizations, and various methods and systems for mining submarine minerals have been proposed (see, for example, Patent Document 1).

  Patent Document 1 discloses a mining system for seabed minerals. The mining system described in the same document comprises a seabed moving device having a grinding tool capable of grinding the surface of the seabed deposit. The seabed moving apparatus grinds the surface of the seabed deposit with an open grinding tool while moving on the seabed receiving power and control signals from the sea surface side source. The ground product produced by grinding is classified by a classification means so as not to exceed a predetermined size, and the classified ground product is transported to the sea.

JP, 2013-528726, A

  However, according to the technology described in Patent Document 1, since the surface of the seabed deposit is ground using an open grinding tool, the produced ground matter may fly up into the seawater and scatter. Therefore, there is a problem that seawater is suspended and the efficiency of mining operation is hindered. In addition, there are concerns about environmental problems due to the suspension of seawater. Furthermore, the ground product produced by surface grinding of the seabed deposit has a large variation in particle size. Therefore, there is a problem that classification needs to be performed when transporting the ground material to or near the sea.

The present invention, which was made in view of such problems, can prevent or suppress the scattering of seabed minerals mined in the sea, providing mining system undersea mineral mining apparatus and seabed mineral To be an issue.

In order to solve the above problems, a seabed mineral mining apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention comprises a mining section for mining a seabed mineral by forming a bottomed hole by drilling a hole in the seabed deposit, and mining at the mining section And a recovery unit for recovering the slurry generated by the slurry generation unit from the inside of the bottomed hole, the slurry generation unit converting the submarine mineral into a slurry inside the bottomed hole ; A cylinder, a hammer slidably fitted to the inside of the cylinder, a crushing tool for striking provided forwardly and backwardly forward of the hammer, a cylinder front chamber defined before and after the hammer, and A cylinder back chamber, a hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism for supplying and discharging high pressure water to the cylinder front chamber or the cylinder back chamber so as to move the hammer back and forth in the cylinder, the hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism Supply high A water supply pipe, and the slurry generation unit is provided in the bottomed hole with high-pressure water discharged through the hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism and a seabed mineral mined by a drilling hole by the crushing tool for striking And the recovery unit has a recovery pipeline communicating with the mixing channel and recovering the slurry in the mixing channel directly from the inside of the bottomed hole. Do.

  According to the seabed mineral mining apparatus according to one aspect of the present invention, the mining unit mines the seabed mineral by means of the borehole, so that the particle size of the mined seabed mineral becomes very fine and the particle size becomes uniform. Therefore, the mined submarine mineral can be easily slurried without classification. And since a slurry production part makes a seabed mineral mined by a drilling hole a slurry in a bottomed hole, there is a slurryed seabed mineral in a bottomed hole. Therefore, it is prevented or suppressed that the mined submarine mineral soars and disperses in seawater. Furthermore, since the recovery unit recovers the slurry generated in the slurry generation unit from the inside of the bottomed hole, it is possible to prevent or suppress the scattering into the seawater at the time of lifting or mining.

In addition, in order to solve the above problems, a system for mining submarine minerals according to one aspect of the present invention is a system for pumping mineral resources mined on the sea floor up to the sea, and the sea mining base placed on the sea Submarine minerals placed in the sea and erected on the sea floor, and the sea bottom minerals placed on the sea subterranean base and drilled in the bottom of the bottom deposit while making a bottom hole in the bottom deposit; Bottom mining equipment directly recovered from the bottom of the bottomed hole; and a pumping unit connecting the marine mining base and the underwater mining base so that the slurry recovered by the bottom mineral mining apparatus can be transferred to the marine mining base The underwater mining base includes a base frame, a plurality of support legs for supporting the base frame, and a moving frame provided on the base frame and movable by a moving mechanism, the seabed Things mining apparatus, characterized in that it is attached to the movable frame movably in at least one of X and Y directions along the base frame by driving the moving mechanism.

  According to the seabed mineral mining system according to one aspect of the present invention, the seafloor mining base is equipped with a seabed mineral mining device, and this seabed mineral mining device has the seabed mineral mined by the drilling of the bottomed hole by the borehole. It can be a slurry in the bottom hole. Therefore, it is possible to prevent or suppress the slurry-like seabed mineral from flying up and scattering in the sea water while easily making the extracted seabed mineral into a slurry without classification. Furthermore, since the pumping unit connects the marine mining base and the underwater mining base so that slurry-like seabed minerals mined by the seabed miner can be transferred from inside the bottomed hole to the offshore mining base, pumping to the offshore mining base is possible. Scattering into seawater can also be prevented or suppressed.

Here, in the seabed mineral mining system according to one aspect of the present invention, the seabed mineral mining apparatus includes a guide shell fixed to the moving frame and extending in the vertical direction, and a advancing mechanism attached to the upper portion of the guide shell. And a mining device body connected to the advancing mechanism and moved up and down along the guide shell by driving the advancing mechanism, and connected to a rod of the mining device body to rotate the mining device body together with the rod It is preferable to have a rotating mechanism.

  Further, in the system for mining submarine mineral according to one aspect of the present invention, the support leg is fixed to the base frame via a jack mechanism capable of sliding the support leg up and down and holding the moving position thereof. Is preferred. Further, it is preferable that the base frame has a plurality of frames which are slidably combined with each other in the horizontal direction, and a moving mechanism which slides the plurality of frames in the horizontal direction.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent or suppress the scattering of the bottom mineral mined in the sea.

It is a schematic diagram explaining one Embodiment of the whole structure of the mining system of the seabed mineral concerning one mode of the present invention. It is a schematic explanatory drawing of the underwater mining base of the mining system of FIG. 1, the figure (a) is a planar view, (b) is a front view of one underwater mining base (however, the part of the seabed deposit is an image of the cross section ( The same applies to the following in a front view). It is a typical perspective view explaining one embodiment of the underwater mining base of FIG. It is a typical front view explaining the seabed mineral mining equipment with which an underwater mining base is equipped. It is explanatory drawing (hammer advancing state) of the mining apparatus main body of the seabed mineral mining apparatus of FIG. 4, and the figure shows the longitudinal cross-section including an axis. It is explanatory drawing (hammer retreat state) of the mining apparatus main body of the seabed mineral mining apparatus of FIG. 4, and the figure shows the longitudinal cross-section including an axis. It is explanatory drawing of the mining method of the seabed mineral by the mining system of FIG. 1, the figure (a) is a plain view of one underwater mining base, (b) has shown the plane view of a seabed deposit typically. It is explanatory drawing of the mining method of the seabed mineral by the mining system of FIG. 1, the figure (a) is a plain view of one underwater mining base, (b) has shown the plane view of a seabed deposit typically. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the modification of the seabed mineral mining device concerning one mode of the present invention. It is a typical top view ((a)-(c)) of the modification of the underwater mining base concerning one mode of the present invention.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings as appropriate. The drawings are schematic. Therefore, it should be noted that the relationship between the thickness and the plane dimension, the ratio, etc. is different from the actual one, and some parts have different dimensional relationships and ratios among the drawings. In addition, the embodiments described below illustrate apparatuses and methods for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention includes materials, shapes, structures, and arrangements of component parts. Etc. are not specified in the following embodiment.

First, the entire configuration of the mining system of the present embodiment will be described.
As shown in FIG. 1, this mining system has a mining mother ship 1 disposed on the sea SL as a marine mining base, and a mining station 20 and a pumping unit 4 disposed on the seabed SB. In this mining system, a plurality of mining stations 20 are used as underwater mining bases. Each mining station 20 is equipped with a plurality of submarine mineral mining devices 30 (hereinafter, also referred to as "mining devices 30").
Each mining device 30 is configured to be able to form a pit, which is a bottomed hole, by drilling the submarine deposit OD. In addition, each mining device 30 is configured to be able to mine the submarine mineral in the form of a slurry in a pit. And this mining system transfers the slurry-like seabed mineral mined by each mining device 30 to the submersible unit 4 in the sea through the suction pipe 5, and the submersion unit 4 receives the submersible pipe 6. It is configured to lift or mine the mine carrier 1.

  Specifically, in the example of the present embodiment, the mining mother vessel 1, the installation and arrangement mother vessel 2 and the carrier 3 are anchored on the sea SL in the target sea area. The installation and arrangement mother ship 2 is a mother ship for installation and arrangement for carrying the lifting unit 4 and the mining station 20 and for arranging and arranging these on the seabed SB. The installation arrangement mother ship 2 is equipped with a working machine 11 such as a crane for erecting and arranging the lifting unit 4 and the mining station 20 on the seabed SB. The installation arrangement mother ship 2 transports the mining station 20 to a predetermined position of the seabed deposit OD, and suspends the mining station 20 with the wire 11w of the working machine 11 to stand on the seabed SB. Also, in the same manner, the installation and arrangement host ship 2 arranges the lifting and mining unit 4 at an appropriate position on the seabed SB.

  The mining mother ship 1 is equipped with a generator 12 and a reservoir 13 and a control computer (not shown). The reservoir 13 is retrofitably mounted on the ship. The control computer and generator 12 are connected to the mining station 20 and the lifting unit 4 disposed on the seabed SB via the umbilical cable 8 and are necessary for the operation of the mining station 20 and the mining apparatus 30 and the lifting unit 4 Power and control signals can be supplied.

  The lift unit 4 includes a lift pump 25 and a classifier 27 having a cyclone device. The discharge side of the classifier 27 is connected to the suction side of the lift pump 25 inside the lift unit 4. The suction side of the classifier 27 is connected to the mining station 20 via the suction pipe 5. The suction pipe 5 is filled with seawater. One end of the discharge pipe 7 is connected to the classifier 27, and the other end of the discharge pipe 7 is piped to the return place of the mineral which is made unnecessary in the classification. Note that flexible pipes are used as the suction pipe 5, the lift pipe 6 and the discharge pipe 7.

  The lift pump 25 is connected to the mining mother vessel 1 via the lift pipe 6. The lift pipe 6 is a cylindrical pipeline having flexibility to lift the slurry-like minerals mined at the mining station 20 up to the mining mother vessel 1. Sea water is filled in the lift pipe 6. The upper portion of the lift pipe 6 reaches the mining mother ship 1 at sea SL and is connected to the reservoir 13 via the bottom of the mining mother ship 1. The reservoir 13 stores the slurry-like mineral that has been lifted ore by the lift pump 25 from the lift pipe 6. The carrier 3 replaces the reservoir 13 with the mining mother vessel 1 to transfer the seabed minerals lifted by the mining mother vessel 1 to a necessary place.

Next, the mining station 20 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 2, the mining station 20 has a base frame 21 in the form of a rectangular frame. In the base frame 21, the four corners of the frame are supported by a plurality of (four in this example) support legs 26. Each support leg 26 is fixed to the base frame 21 via a jack mechanism 49. The jack mechanism 49 has a motor, a speed reduction mechanism, and a rack and pinion mechanism (not shown). The rack is formed along the axial direction of the support legs 26. The jack mechanism 49 can slide the support leg 26 in the vertical direction (Z direction) and can hold its movement position by driving the rack and pinion mechanism with a motor via the speed reduction mechanism.

  In this example, as shown in FIG. 3, two moving frames 43 are extended along the X direction on the base frame 21. The moving frame 43 has, for example, a truss structure. Both ends of each moving frame 43 are supported by the base frame 21 via the moving mechanism 44 for Y direction. The Y-direction moving mechanism 44 has a motor, a speed reduction mechanism, and a rack and pinion mechanism (not shown), and drives the rack and pinion mechanism via the speed reduction mechanism to move the moving frame 43 along the base frame 21. Slide movement is possible in the Y direction.

  In each moving frame 43, a guide shell 48 is vertically disposed. The guide shell 48 constitutes a Z-direction feed mechanism of the mining device 30. The guide shell 48 is supported by the moving frame 43 via the X-direction moving mechanism 52. The X-direction moving mechanism 52 has a motor, a speed reduction mechanism, and a rack and pinion mechanism (not shown), and drives the rack and pinion mechanism via the speed reduction mechanism by the motor to move the guide shell 48 along the moving frame 43 It can slide in the X direction.

Further, the base frame 21 is provided with a power unit 45 and a suction chamber 51. The umbilical cable 8 is connected to the power unit 45. The power unit 45 controls the operation of the entire high-pressure water supply pump, a motor for driving the high-pressure water supply pump, and the entire operation of the mining station 20 to drive the mining station 20 and the mining apparatus 30. The department is built in.
Thus, each mining station 20 receives the supply of necessary power and control signals from the mining mother vessel 1 via the umbilical cable 8 to the power unit 45. The power unit 45 controls the attitude of the mining station 20 by driving the jack mechanism 49 based on the command of the control computer on the mining mother ship 1 side.
Furthermore, the guide shell 48 is moved in the X direction and the Y direction by driving the X direction moving mechanism 52 and the Y direction moving mechanism 44, and the extracted seawater is made high pressure water by driving the high pressure water supply pump. 30 and can drive the mining device 30 provided in the guide shell 48.

Next, the mining apparatus 30 equipped at the mining station 20 will be described in detail.
As shown in FIG. 4, the guide shell 48 is equipped with the mining device 30 via the slider 46. At the upper part of the guide shell 48, a slide movement mechanism 47 for sliding the slider 46 in the Z direction along the guide shell 48 is provided. The slide movement mechanism 47 has a motor, a speed reduction mechanism, and a rack and pinion mechanism (not shown), and drives the rack and pinion mechanism via the speed reduction mechanism by the motor to make the slider 46 along the guide shell 48 in the Z direction. Slide movement is possible.

  The mining device 30 has a housing portion 71 attached to the slider 46. The housing portion 71 incorporates a rotary drive mechanism and a swivel (not shown). The upper portion of the housing portion 71 of the housing portion 71 is connected to the high pressure water supply pump of the power unit 45 via the high pressure water supply pipe 9. Further, one end of a suction pipe 5 for sucking in the slurry-like mineral mined by driving of the mining device 30 is connected to the side surface of the housing portion 71. The other end of the suction pipe 5 is connected to the classifier 27 via the suction chamber 51.

Next, the configuration of the mining device body of the mining device 30 will be described in more detail.
As shown in FIG. 5 with a portion of the mining device body enlarged, the mining device 30 is equipped with the mining device body 10 at a portion forward of the double pipe rod 40. The mining device body 10 is provided with a cylindrical cylinder 31. A substantially cylindrical cylinder liner 33 is fitted on the inner peripheral surface of the cylinder 31. A water flow hole 32 is formed between the cylinder 31 and the cylinder liner 33 along the axial direction of the cylinder 31.

  In the cylinder liner 33, a substantially cylindrical hammer 34 is slidably held reciprocally. The rear end of the cylinder 31 is connected to the double pipe rod 40 of the mining device 30 via a connecting member 35. The double tube rod 40 is composed of a double tube having an outer cylinder 40 a and an inner cylinder 40 b coaxially. A water supply passage 40c is formed in the gap between the outer cylinder 40a and the inner cylinder 40b. The upstream side of the water supply passage 40 c is connected to the high pressure water supply pipe 9 via the swivel of the housing portion 71. The high pressure water supply pipe 9 is connected to the discharge side of a high pressure water supply pump provided in the power unit 45 of the mining station 20. The downstream side of the water supply passage 40 c is in communication with the water supply passage 35 c in the inside of the connection member 35.

  A cylinder bush 36 is inserted between the rear end side of the cylinder 31 and the front end surface of the connecting member 35. A ring 39 for forming a cylinder rear chamber 42 is inserted on the front side of the cylinder bushing 36. Thereby, a cylinder rear chamber 42 is defined between the ring 39 and the rear portion of the hammer 34. A communication hole 36c communicating with the water supply passage 35c is provided in the cylinder bush 36 along the axial direction.

  At the front end of the cylinder 31, a bit 50, which is a crushing tool for striking, is mounted. A cylinder front chamber 41 is defined between the rear end of the bit 50 and the front portion of the hammer 34. The bit 50 closes the front side surface of the cylinder front chamber 41 and receives the striking force from the hammer 34 at its rear end, and is mounted so as to be able to reciprocate by a predetermined stroke in the axial direction. A plurality of control grooves 34 a and 34 c and a communication flow passage 34 b are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the hammer 34.

  In the cylinder 31, a first water inlet 31b is formed between the front side of the cylinder bush 36 and the ring 39. The first water inlet 31 b communicates the communication hole 36 c of the cylinder bush 36 with the communication hole 33 e at the rear end of the cylinder liner 33. The communication hole 33 e of the cylinder liner 33 is in communication with the water flow hole 32. The water flow holes 32 communicate the control grooves 34a and 34c of the hammer 34 with the communication holes 33a to 33d of the cylinder liner 33 at predetermined positions according to the position of the hammer 34 in the axial direction. In order to move the hammer 34 back and forth in the cylinder 31, a hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism for supplying and discharging high pressure water to the cylinder front chamber 41 or the cylinder rear chamber 42 is configured.

Furthermore, in the cylinder 31, a cylindrical sleeve 38 is provided coaxially with the cylinder 31. In the sleeve 38, a suction hole 38t is formed in the inside along the axial direction. The sleeve 38 has a step formed at its rear portion, which is inserted into the cylinder bushing 36 and the ring 39 so that the axial position is maintained. The rear end of the suction hole 38 t of the sleeve 38 is in communication with the front end of the suction hole 40 t of the inner cylinder 40 b of the double tube rod 40 via the suction hole 35 t of the connecting member 35.
The middle portion of the sleeve 38 is inserted through the communication hole 34d formed through the hammer 34 with a gap, and the front end portion of the sleeve 38 is separated from the communication hole 50d formed through the bit 50. Has been inserted. The sleeve 38 has a radial gap portion inserted into the hammer 34 and the bit 50 as a drainage passage 38 a from the cylinder front chamber 41 and the cylinder rear chamber 42.

  In the sleeve 38, a discharge hole 38g is bored at a position on the tip end side of the drainage passage 38a. The discharge hole 38g is inclined rearward from the outer periphery of the sleeve 38 toward the central suction hole 38t and in the direction of the double tube rod 40. A flexible check valve 37 for preventing the intrusion of dirt and the like into the cylinder front chamber 41 is attached to the outlet of the discharge hole 38g in the suction hole 38t of the sleeve 38.

  At the front end of the bit 50, a water suction hole 50k communicating with the suction hole 38t at the center of the sleeve 38 is opened. As a result, the mining apparatus 30 generates a negative pressure in the water absorption holes 50k by the flow velocity of the high pressure water discharged rearward from the discharge holes 38g toward the suction holes 38t, and the submarine mineral sucked from the water absorption holes 50k is It is designed to be mixed with seawater in the suction hole 38t.

  Therefore, according to this mining device 30, the submarine minerals crushed by the borehole can be sucked into the interior of the mining device 30 by the drainage flow, and mixed with seawater inside the suction holes 38t to generate a slurry. Moreover, according to this mining device 30, the generated slurry can be recovered from the suction hole 40t of the inner cylinder 40b of the double-pipe rod 40. Furthermore, the lift pump 25 is connected to the upper end of the inner cylinder 40b of the double-pipe rod 40 via the suction pipe 5 and sucks in the seabed mineral crushed by the drilling hole from the water absorption hole 50k of the bit 50 It is possible to lift and lower on the mine carrier 1.

Next, the above-described mining system will be used to explain the procedure for lifting minerals from the submarine deposit OD, and the operation and effects of the mining system for this submarine mineral and the mining method of the submarine mineral by the mining apparatus 30.
First, as shown in FIG. 1, the mining mother vessel 1 and the installation and arrangement mother vessel 2 are anchored on the sea SL in the sea area. Next, using the working machine 11 such as a crane installed on the installation and arrangement mother ship 2, the mining station 20 and the lifting unit 4 are lowered into the sea, and these equipments are arranged as shown in FIG. Install in the appropriate position. Before or after the installation of these materials, necessary piping and wiring such as the suction pipe 5, the lift pipe 6 and the discharge pipe 7, and the umbilical cable 8 are performed, and seawater is filled in each pipe.

  After installing the equipment, supply necessary power and control signals to the power unit 45 and the pumping unit 4 from the mining mother vessel 1 through the umbilical cable 8 and drive the mining station 20, the mining device 30 and the pumping unit 4 The seabed mineral is crushed while drilling the borehole VH which is a bottomed hole in the seabed deposit OD. In the present embodiment, when the mining station 20 is disposed on the submarine deposit OD, the support legs 26 at the four corners of the base frame 21 are jacked so that the posture of the base frame 21 becomes horizontal according to the uneven shape of the submarine SB. It is slid vertically by the mechanism 49.

Here, the high pressure water supplied from the high pressure water supply pump provided in the base frame 21 of the mining station 20 is, as shown in FIG. 5, between the inner cylinder 40b and the outer cylinder 40a of the double pipe rod 40 of the mining device 30. From the water supply passage 35c of the connecting member 35 through the water supply passage 40c, it enters the water passage hole 32 from the first water inlet hole 31b through the communication hole 33e.
The high pressure water that has entered the water flow hole 32 is introduced into the hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism. In the hammer reciprocating movement switching mechanism, high-pressure water in the hammer forward state passes through the communication hole 33b to the control groove 34a to the communication hole 33c to 32L to 33d of the cylinder liner 33 and enters the cylinder front chamber 41 at the front end of the hammer 34. At this time, the control groove 34 c is blocked by the communication hole 33 a and the outer peripheral surface of the hammer 34. Thereby, the hammer 34 retracts (moves upward in FIG. 5).

  Due to the backward movement of the hammer 34, the seawater in the cylinder rear chamber 42 at the rear of the hammer 34 passes through the drainage passage 38a and is discharged from the discharge hole 38g to the suction hole 38t through the check valve 37.

Next, as shown in FIG. 6, when the hammer 34 reaches the reverse limit, the water flow holes 33 b formed in the cylinder liner 33 are blocked at the outer peripheral surface of the hammer 34. On the other hand, the water flow hole 33a communicates with the control groove 34c formed on the outer peripheral surface of the hammer 34. Therefore, high pressure water from the water flow hole 32 of the cylinder 31 flows into the cylinder rear chamber 42 on the rear side of the hammer 34.
Due to the inflow of high pressure water into the cylinder rear chamber 42, the hammer 34 shifts from reverse to forward and strikes the rear end face of the bit 50 at an expected striking position. In the hit bit 50, the tip 50b of the tip exerts an impact force on the hole surface to break the submarine mineral.

By continuing to supply high-pressure water from the high-pressure water supply pump to the mining apparatus 30, the hammer 34 repeatedly strikes the rear end face of the bit 50 by the above-described reciprocating movement. Then, along with striking the drilling surface with the bit 50, the feed device 47 provided in the guide shell 48 drives the mining device 30 to advance, and the rotation mechanism of the housing portion 71 rotates the mining device 30. Is done.
Therefore, according to this mining device 30, it is possible to continue the mining of the seabed mineral while forming the pits VH by drilling the seabed deposit OD. And according to this mining apparatus 30, since the mining apparatus main body 10 of self exists in the well hole VH, it is possible to advance the drilling hole while closing the opening side of the well hole VH. Therefore, it is prevented or suppressed that the crushed powder of the seabed mineral flows out into the sea. Therefore, the suspension of seawater is prevented or suppressed (corresponds to the mining department and mining process).

  And according to this mining device 30, the water absorption hole 50k communicating with the suction hole 38t of the sleeve 38 is opened at the front end of the bit 50, and the suction hole 38t is directed to the direction of the double pipe rod 40. Since it is opened along the inclined discharge hole 38g, negative pressure is generated in the water suction hole 50k by the flow velocity of high pressure water passing through the suction hole 38t. Thereby, the seabed mineral crushed by the drilling hole can be sucked from the water absorption hole 50k of the bit 50, and the sucked seabed mineral can be mixed with seawater in the suction hole 38t.

  Here, if it is a drilling hole by impact force, the crushed submarine mineral produced by the drilling hole has a very small particle size and uniform particle size. Therefore, according to this mining apparatus 30, the crushed submarine minerals produced by the borehole can be sucked by the action of the drainage flow, and can be made a slurry mixed with the seawater inside the suction holes 38t of the mining apparatus 30 (slurry generation Part, corresponding to the slurry production process).

  Furthermore, according to the mining device 30, the suction hole 38t of the sleeve 38 is directly introduced into the suction pipe 5 through the suction hole 40t of the inner cylinder 40b of the double tube rod 40, and the lifting unit 4 is the mining device 30. The slurry-like mineral mined in the above can be sucked from the suction pipe 5 together with the seawater. Therefore, it is possible to prevent or suppress the slurry-like submarine mineral soaring and scattering in the seawater (corresponding to the recovery unit and the recovery step).

Then, the slurry-like mineral sucked by the suction pipe 5 is transferred to the classifier 27. The classifier 27 separates the desired mineral from the unnecessary mineral by centrifugal force according to the specific gravity difference of the mineral particles. As shown in FIG. 1, minerals that are made unnecessary in classification are led to the bottom of the seabed via a discharge pipe 7 connected to a classifier 27.
On the other hand, among the separated slurry-like minerals, a mineral having a desired specific gravity is sent to a lift pump 25 and lifted to the reservoir 13 of the mining mother vessel 1 through a lift pipe 6. In the mining mother ship 1, when stored in the reservoir 13, the slurry-like mineral is separated from the seawater, the submarine mineral is stored inside the reservoir 13, and the separated seawater is discharged into the sea.

After each mining station 20 has mined to the maximum drilling depth of each of the mining devices 30, after retracting the mining device 30, the mining device 30 is moved in the XY plane, as shown in FIG. 7 (b), X Drill holes sequentially to scan the entire Y-plane. The movement in the XY plane and the drilling after movement may be performed automatically by a computer as in this embodiment, or the operator manually operates the operator while monitoring the status of each mining station 20. You may go by.
In particular, according to the mining apparatus 30 and the method of lifting and mining by a bottom mineral system including the same, the scattering of the bottom mineral into the sea water is prevented or suppressed when the operator performs manual operation while monitoring. Is suitable for improving the efficiency of mining operations.

Here, the mining station 20 can simultaneously mine a wide area using a plurality of machines as in the above embodiment, but the diameter of the mounted bit may be various from small to large. Can be used.
For example, as shown in FIG. 7 (a), after mining at the mining station 20 equipped with the small diameter bit 50, another region equipped with the large diameter bit 50B as shown in FIG. Further mining can also be done at the mining station 20, or the same mining station 20, which is converted to the large diameter bit 50B.

  As described above, according to the pumping method by the mining apparatus 30 and the mining system of the seabed mineral including the same, since the slurry-like seabed mineral is in the pit VH, the seabed mineral soars and disperses in the seawater. Can be prevented or suppressed. Furthermore, the mining system of the present embodiment directly introduces slurry-like seabed minerals mined by the mining apparatus 30 from the inside of the well hole VH into the suction pipe 5, thereby preventing or suppressing scattering into seawater during lifting and mining. be able to.

  In addition, the mining method of the seabed mineral according to the present invention, and the seabed mineral drilling apparatus and the seabed mineral mining system are not limited to the above embodiment, and various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Of course it is possible.

For example, in the above embodiment, although the mining mother ship 1 has been described as an example of the marine mining base, the present invention is not limited to this, and it may be, for example, a platform built on the sea if it functions as a marine lifting base.
Also, for example, in the above embodiment, although the example of transporting the slurry-like mineral to the reservoir 13 provided in the mining mother ship 1 has been described, the present invention is not limited to this. Direct transportation from the inside of a certain well hole VH may perform lifting or storage or classification near the sea or below the sea level (for example, providing a reservoir near the bottom of the ship).
Further, for example, in the above embodiment, although the example in which the hole VH is pierced is described as an example of the bottomed hole, the direction of the axis of the bottomed hole according to the present invention is not limited to the vertical direction. That is, according to the present invention, it is sufficient that the bottomed hole is formed by the drilling hole, the submarine mineral is made into a slurry inside the bottomed hole, and the slurry can be recovered from the inside of the bottomed hole. Therefore, the bottomed hole according to the present invention may be a horizontal hole whose axis is horizontal, or the axis may be oblique.

  Also, for example, in the above embodiment, the lift unit 4 has the classifier 27 and shows an example of classifying the slurry-like mineral in the sea by the classifier 27, but the invention is not limited thereto. According to the mining apparatus, the mined mineral is in the form of slurry, and the particle size is very small and the particle size is uniform, so the slurry-like submarine mineral may be lifted without classification.

Also, for example, in the above embodiment, the mining device 30 has been described as an example having the double pipe rod 40 having the outer cylinder 40a and the inner cylinder 40b, but is not limited thereto. For example, as shown in FIG. A mining device may be configured using a single tube rod.
That is, as shown to this figure, this mining apparatus 130 has the rod 57 of single pipe | tube, and the mining apparatus main body 100 is mounted ahead of the rod 57. As shown in FIG. The mining device body 100 has a cylinder 56 connected to the tip of a rod 57 by a tapered screw 56 a. A check valve 51, a hammer 54 and a bit 50 are installed in the cylinder 56 sequentially from above, and a cylinder front chamber 52 and a cylinder rear chamber 53 are defined before and after the hammer 54.

  The high pressure water for driving the mining device 130 is supplied to the housing portion 71 at the upper end of the rod 57 from the high pressure water supply pump through the high pressure water supply pipe 9 as in the above embodiment. The supplied high-pressure water is transferred to the cylinder front chamber 52 or so that the hammer 54 is moved forward and backward in the cylinder 56 by the hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism formed on the inner and outer peripheral surfaces of the cylinder 56 and the hammer 54 as in the above embodiment. It is supplied to and discharged from the cylinder rear chamber 53. Also, the rod 57 is rotated and fed by the feed mechanism 47 mounted on the guide shell 48 and the rotation mechanism of the housing portion 71 as in the above embodiment.

  Here, the digging device 130 is provided in the cylinder 56 so that the foot pad 58 can be pressed toward the drilling hole side and can slide along the axial direction so as to surround the drilling hole. There is. Connected to the upper side surface of the foot pad 58 is a suction pipe 5 for mining the slurry as a submarine mineral resource.

In this mining apparatus 130, high pressure water passes through the check valve 51 at the upper part, is supplied and discharged to the cylinder front chamber 52 and the cylinder rear chamber 53 by the hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism, and drives the hammer 54 back and forth. Drill a pitted hole VH which is a bottomed hole in the seabed deposit OD by the impact of striking the bit 50 (corresponds to the mining section and the mining process).
The high-pressure water after impact passes through the suction hole 50a provided at the axial center of the bit 50 and comes out to the tip of the bit, but the seabed mineral mined in the drilling hole is mixed with seawater in the well hole VH to form a slurry (slurry Generation section, corresponding to the slurry generation process).

  Then, the slurry generated in the well hole VH is a gap between the outside of the cylinder 56 and the drilling inner wall VHn, or the rod 57 extended in the seawater in contact with the drilling inner wall VHn and the drilling inner wall VHn Through the clearance between the foot pad 58 and the suction hole 5 directly from the inside of the foot pad 58 (corresponding to the recovery portion and recovery step). Therefore, even if it is a structure like this mining device 130, scattering of the mining mineral in the sea can be prevented or suppressed.

  Further, for example, although the mining station 20 has been described as an example in which the mining station 20 does not move in the above embodiment, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, as shown in FIG. You can also. That is, as shown to the figure (a), this mining station 120 is comprised by three base frames which consist of the 1st base frame 21A, the 2nd base frame 21B, and the 3rd base frame 21M. ing.

The first base frame 21A and the second base frame 21B are formed of U-shaped frames. In the first and second frames 21A and 21B, support legs 26 are respectively provided at the two U-shaped corner portions via a jack mechanism 49 as in the above embodiment.
The U-shaped width of the first base frame 21A is narrower than the U-shaped width of the second base frame 21B. The first base frame 21A and the second base frame 21B are disposed to face each other so that the U-shaped opening portions of the frames 21A and 21B can be combined with each other. The lateral frames of the mutual frames 21A and 21B are engaged at opposing surfaces via a first slide and pinion mechanism such as a first rack and pinion mechanism (not shown) and a first slide guide such as a linear guide. By driving the first rack and pinion mechanism by the motor, relative sliding movement is possible in the X direction.

  The third base frame 21M is configured in an I shape from a vertical frame extending in the Y direction. The third base frame 21 </ b> M is provided with supporting legs 26 at both ends of the I-shaped via the jack mechanism 49 as in the above embodiment. The third base frame 21M has a Y direction moving mechanism and a guide shell 48, and can slide the guide shell 48 in the Y direction along the moving frame 43. The guide shell 48 is equipped with a mining device similar to the above embodiment.

  The third base frame 21M is disposed in a direction perpendicular to the horizontal frame with respect to the first base frame 21A and the second base frame 21B. The third base frame 21M is opposed to the lateral frames of the first and second frames 21A and 21B through a second rack and pinion mechanism (not shown) and a second slide guide device such as a linear guide. , And the second rack and pinion mechanism is driven by a second motor (not shown) to be relatively slidable in the X direction.

  When moving at the mining station 120, as shown in FIG. 2B, first, the jack mechanism 49 of the first base frame 21A is driven to move the two support legs of the first base frame 21A. 26 is moved upward to be in an unsupported state. Next, the first rack and pinion mechanism is driven by the first motor, whereby the first base frame 21A is slid relative to the second base frame 21B in the positive direction of the X direction. After the slide movement, the first motor is stopped, and the jack mechanism 49 is driven to move the two support legs 26 of the first base frame 21A downward to be in the support state.

  Next, as shown in FIG. 6C, first, the jack mechanism 49 of the second base frame 21B is driven to move the two support legs 26 of the second base frame 21B upward to be unsupported. It will be in the state. Next, the first rack and pinion mechanism is driven by the first motor, whereby the second base frame 21B is slid relative to the first base frame 21A in the positive direction of the X direction. After the slide movement, the first motor is stopped, and the jack mechanism 49 is driven to move the two support legs 26 of the second base frame 21B downward to be in the support state.

Then, the jack mechanism 49 of the third base frame 21M is driven to move the two support legs 26 of the third base frame 21M upward to be in the non-supporting state. Then, the second motor drives the second rack and pinion mechanism, whereby the third base frame 21M is relative to the first and second base frames 21A and 21B in the positive direction of the X direction. Slide to move. After the slide movement, the second motor is stopped, and the jack mechanism 49 is driven to move the two support legs 26 of the third base frame 21M downward to be in the support state. As a result, all of the three base frames 21A, 21B, and 21M move in the positive direction of the X direction by the amount of slide movement, and the state shown in FIG.
Therefore, according to this mining station 120, the entire mining station 120 can be moved in the X direction by moving the three base frames 21A, 21B, 21M sequentially as described above. During the slide movement, the base frames 21A and 21B overhang in a cantilever state, but since they are engaged with each other at the opposing surface via the slide guide device, the horizontal posture is maintained.

The third base frame 21M has a Y-direction moving mechanism as in the above embodiment, and can slide the guide shell 48 in the Y direction along the moving frame 43. The guide shell 48 Since the mining device 30 similar to the above embodiment is equipped, the mining device 30 can be driven while appropriately moving in the Y direction at timing when the third base frame 21M is not moved.
Therefore, even with such a configuration, it is possible to move in the X direction and Y direction, and by drilling a bottom hole that is a bottomed hole, while drilling a submarine mineral and making the bottom mineral into a slurry in the bottom hole. And the slurry can be directly recovered from the inside of the well.

1 Mining mother ship (sea mining base)
DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 2 installation arrangement mother ship 3 carrier ship 4 pumping unit 5 suction pipe 6 pumping pipe 7 discharge pipe 8 umbilical cable 9 high pressure water supply pipe 10 mining equipment body 11 working machine 12 generator 13 reservoir 20 mining station (undersea mining base)
Reference Signs List 21 base frame 25 pumping pump 26 support leg 27 classifier 30 mining device 31 cylinder 32 water flow hole 33 cylinder liner 34 hammer 35 connecting member 36 cylinder bushing 37 check valve 38 sleeve 39 ring 40 double pipe rod 41 cylinder front chamber 42 cylinder rear chamber 43 moving frame 45 power unit 48 guide shell 49 jack mechanism 50 bit 71 housing part SL offshore SB submarine OD submarine deposit VH hole (bottomed hole)

Claims (5)

  A mining section for mining a bottom mineral by forming a bottomed hole in a bottom deposit by drilling holes, a slurry generating section for making the bottom mineral mined in the mining section slurry in the bottomed hole, and the slurry And a recovery unit for recovering the slurry generated in the generation unit from the inside of the bottomed hole,
  The mining unit includes a cylinder, a hammer slidably fitted to the inside of the cylinder, a crushing tool for striking provided forwardly and backwardly forward of the hammer, and a front and back of the hammer defined. Front and rear cylinder chambers, a hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism for supplying and discharging high pressure water to the cylinder front chamber or the rear cylinder chamber so as to move the hammer back and forth in the cylinder, and the hammer reciprocating motion switching mechanism A high pressure water supply pipe for supplying the high pressure water to the
  The said slurry production | generation part has a mixing flow path which mixes the high pressure water discharged | emitted through the said hammer reciprocation movement switching mechanism, and the seabed mineral mined by the drilling hole by the crushing tool for the said impact in the said bottomed hole. ,
  The above-mentioned recovery part has a recovery pipeline which communicates with the above-mentioned mixing channel and recovers the slurry in the above-mentioned mixing channel directly from the inside of the above-mentioned bottomed hole, A seabed mineral mining device characterized by things.   A system for pumping mineral resources mined on the seabed to the sea,
  A marine mining base placed on the sea, a marine mining base placed on the sea and standing on the seabed, and a seabed mineral placed on the marine mining base and drilled while drilling a bottom hole in the seabed ore deposit A bottom mineral drilling apparatus for making a slurry inside a bottomed hole and recovering it directly from within the bottoming hole, and the above-mentioned marine mining base and the above-mentioned underwater mining base so that the slurry collected by the bottom marine mining device can be transferred to the marine mining base And a pumping unit to connect
  The underwater mining base includes a base frame, a plurality of support legs supporting the base frame, and a moving frame provided on the base frame and movable by a moving mechanism.
  The seabed mineral mining system is mounted on the moving frame so as to be movable in at least one of the X direction and the Y direction along the base frame by driving the moving mechanism. The submarine mineral mining apparatus is connected to the advancing mechanism fixed to the moving frame and extending in the vertical direction, the advancing mechanism mounted on the upper part of the guiding shell, and the advancing mechanism and driven by the advancing mechanism. The mining system for seabed minerals according to claim 2 , comprising: a mining device body vertically moving along the guide shell; and a rotation mechanism connected to a rod of the mining device body to rotate the mining device body together with the rod. . The seabed mineral mining system according to claim 2 or 3 , wherein the support leg is fixed to the base frame via a jack mechanism capable of sliding the support leg up and down and holding its movement position. The submarine mineral mining system according to claim 4 , wherein the base frame comprises a plurality of frames slidably combined in a horizontal direction with each other, and a moving mechanism for sliding the plurality of frames in a horizontal direction with each other. .

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