JP6739022B2 - Offshore resource lifting apparatus and offshore resource lifting method using the same - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for mining marine resources, and more particularly to an apparatus suitable for mining marine resources such as rare earth mud existing in the ocean and a method for mining marine resources using the same. ..

In 2012, mud containing extremely high concentrations of rare earth (hereinafter referred to as "rare earth mud") was discovered in the deep sea of the exclusive economic zone of Minamitorishima. Here, as the artificial oil extraction technology for seabed oil and the recovery technology for rare earth mud in the deep sea, there are a pump lift method in which high-lift multistage slurry pumps are connected in series at multiple locations, and a deep-water layer from an air compressor onboard. An air lift method is considered in which high-pressure air is injected into several places. As a pump lift system, for example, Patent Document 1 (turbo type) and Patent Document 2 (mixed flow type impeller) are disclosed.

Japanese Patent No. 5490582 JP-A-51-72902

However, the conventional pump lift system has a complicated structure of the device and it is difficult to reduce the weight.Therefore, there are many problems in ensuring stable operation, and reliability of the underwater equipment, especially in high pressure water depth. There is a problem with the durability and reliability of the shaft seal of the submersible motor. In addition, a large amount of energy is required for pumping mud from the deep sea in order to pump the head for the depth of water.
On the other hand, the air lift method is superior in reliability and durability to the pump lift method because it has extremely few underwater devices, but has a problem that the energy efficiency is poor and much more energy than the pump lift method is required.

Therefore, the present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an offshore resource landing apparatus that can improve energy efficiency and an offshore resource landing method using the same. And

In order to solve the above problems, among the present invention, the marine resource lifting apparatus according to the first aspect is a stirring chamber filled with seawater, a stirring unit having a stirring blade arranged in the stirring chamber, and A rare earth mud supply unit for supplying rare earth mud to the stirring chamber, an emulsion supply unit for supplying an emulsion having a specific gravity lower than that of seawater into the stirring chamber, and a specific gravity lower than seawater by combining the emulsion and the rare earth mud. And a mixture collecting section for collecting the mixture from the stirring chamber.

According to the marine resource exploration apparatus according to the first aspect of the present invention, the stirring chamber is filled with seawater, and the stirring chamber is supplied with rare earth mud from the rare earth mud supply unit and emulsion from the emulsion supply unit. Can be supplied. Since the stirring unit having the stirring blade is arranged in the stirring chamber, the emulsion and the rare earth mud can be mixed in the stirring chamber.
The emulsion supplied from the rare earth mud supply unit has a lower specific gravity than seawater, and the mixture of the emulsion and the rare earth mud also has a lower specific gravity than seawater. Therefore, according to the apparatus for excavating marine resources according to the first aspect of the present invention, the mixture in which the rare earth mud is adsorbed in the emulsion can be floated in the sea and recovered from the mixture recovery unit. Therefore, the energy efficiency can be improved as compared with the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 above.

Here, the quality of rare earth contained in the rare earth mud is in the ppm order. Therefore, it is more preferable to perform the beneficiation on the seabed before the lifting and remove the unnecessary gangue in advance, in order to drastically reduce the cost required for the lifting mud.
On the other hand, as the emulsion according to the present invention, it is preferable to use an emulsion in which a surfactant (for example, sodium dodecyl sulfonate) is mixed with oil (for example, kerosene). When such an emulsion is used, it has a specific gravity of 0.8 to 0.85 and is lighter than seawater. Therefore, it is suitable as an emulsion for floating the above mixture by itself.

In particular, according to research conducted in the course of completing the present invention, rare earth is adsorbed in high quality on apatite in the rare earth mud. Therefore, by adsorbing apatite to the above-mentioned emulsion, unnecessary gangue is removed from the rare earth mud, and the apatite on which the rare earth is adsorbed in a high quality can be efficiently liquid-liquid separated. Therefore, it is more suitable for improving energy efficiency.

Further, in order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, an offshore resource exploration apparatus according to a second aspect is a casing, a stirring chamber provided in the casing and having an opening at the bottom, and the stirring chamber. An agitation part having an agitation blade arranged in the agitation part, an excavation part provided so as to face the opening of the agitation chamber and guiding the rare earth mud into the agitation chamber, and an emulsion having a specific gravity smaller than seawater in the agitation chamber. And a mixture collecting unit that collects a mixture of the emulsion and the rare earth mud, which has a lower specific gravity than seawater, from the stirring chamber.

According to the marine resource exploration apparatus according to the second aspect of the present invention, the mixture in which the rare earth mud is adsorbed in the emulsion is levitated by the same mechanism as that of the marine resource exploration apparatus according to the first aspect. , Can be recovered from the mixture recovery unit. Therefore, energy efficiency can be improved.

In particular, according to the marine resource exploration device according to the second aspect, the stirring chamber provided in the casing has an opening at the bottom, and the excavation part facing the opening of the stirring chamber stirs while excavating the rare earth mud. Can be led indoors. Therefore, for example, if you use a submersible work machine with a boom that can be undulated, attach a casing to the boom tip, and drive the excavation part with the lower part of the casing pressed against the rare earth mud bed, the mud bed will be lifted while being excavated. Mining work can be continued.

Here, in the marine resource lifting apparatus according to the first or second aspect of the present invention, the emulsion supply unit and the mixture recovery unit mutually supply the emulsion to a lower position of the stirring chamber. However, it is preferable that the mixture collecting section collects the mixture from a high position of the stirring chamber.
With such a configuration, while supplying an emulsion having a lower specific gravity than seawater to a low position, the emulsion and the rare earth mud are combined to collect a mixture having a lower specific gravity than seawater from a higher position of the stirring chamber, It is more suitable for efficiently collecting the mixture that floats by itself.

Further, in order to solve the above problems, in the present invention, an offshore resource exploration apparatus according to a third aspect is defined in a casing, a shaft rotatably supported in the casing, and the casing. And a stirring chamber that is open at one end in the longitudinal direction, a stirring blade that is integrally provided in the stirring chamber with an intermediate portion of the shaft, and the shaft that is provided in the stirring chamber so as to face the opening. In the casing, a drill bit having a base end connected to the end of the casing, a fluid motor unit provided on the other longitudinal side in the casing to drive the shaft to rotate by the working fluid introduced into the casing, and And a pump unit that is provided between the stirring chamber and the fluid motor unit and that sucks the transfer fluid from the stirring chamber by the rotational driving force of the shaft by the fluid motor unit.

According to the offshore resource exploration device according to the third aspect of the present invention, the fluid motor unit and the pump unit have a simple structure integrated in the casing. Therefore, compared with the techniques described in Patent Documents 1 and 2 above. Thus, energy efficiency can be improved while ensuring stable driving performance. Therefore, it is excellent as a configuration of an offshore resource lifting device.

Here, in the marine resource exploration device according to the third aspect of the present invention, the shaft is capable of introducing the working fluid after driving the shaft by the fluid motor unit and discharging the working fluid from the discharge port of the drill bit. It is preferable to have such a communication hole. Such a configuration is suitable for using the emulsion as a working fluid of the fluid motor section.

Further, in the offshore resource exploration device according to the third aspect of the present invention, the fluid motor unit is provided at one end of the shaft and has a first inner rotor having a male screw-shaped outer peripheral surface, and an outer portion of the first inner rotor. Is inserted and rotatably supported in the casing, and is arranged eccentric to the rotation axis of the first inner rotor by a predetermined distance, and has a female screw inner peripheral surface in the same winding direction as the screw winding direction of the first inner rotor. A first outer rotor having a second inner rotor having a screw-winding direction of the first inner rotor and a reverse-winding male screw-shaped outer peripheral surface, which is provided at the other end of the shaft, and the second inner rotor. And is rotatably supported in the casing and eccentrically arranged by a predetermined distance with respect to the rotation axis of the second inner rotor, and has a female screw-shaped inner portion in the same winding direction as that of the second inner rotor. And a second outer rotor having a peripheral surface.

Such a configuration is more suitable as the configuration of the marine resource lifting apparatus. That is, in the conventional pump lift system, when a submersible motor has been used to drive the pump shaft, the fluid motor unit having the above-described configuration has the first inner rotor centered on an axis lined in parallel at a predetermined distance from the rotation axis line of the first inner rotor. The outer rotor is rotatably supported, and the screw pump part is a screw opposite to the fluid motor part, and the second outer rotor is rotatably supported around an axis parallel to the rotation axis of the second inner rotor at a predetermined distance. Therefore, a universal joint, which requires a large space, is not required for each mechanism that rotates together, and the pump can be configured with an extremely simple structure in which the fluid motor unit and the screw pump unit are integrated.
Therefore, with such a configuration, it is possible to provide a highly reliable pump capable of stably pumping marine resources such as rare earth mud even under severe sea conditions such as deep sea. Further, compared to the air lift system, the adoption of the screw pump system has extremely high energy efficiency, and the running cost can be further reduced.

Here, in the offshore resource exploration apparatus according to the third aspect of the present invention, a set of the first inner rotor and the first outer rotor of the fluid motor unit, or the second inner rotor and the first of the screw pump unit. The two outer rotor sets include an outer rotor having an (N+1) female thread on the inner peripheral surface and an inner rotor having an N male thread on the outer peripheral surface, and the outer rotor is rotated together with the inner rotor at a rotation angle of N/(N+1). It is preferably configured to be drivable.

In this configuration, when N is a natural number of 2 or more, the fluid motor driving screw pump is composed of the inner rotor having two or more vertices and the outer rotor having three or more vertices, and therefore the transmission of the rotational force from the inner rotor to the outer rotor. This is more suitable for ensuring a more reliable and smoother subordinate rotation of the outer rotor and for ensuring more stable operation performance.

In addition, in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the method for excavating marine resources according to one aspect of the present invention comprises using the marine resource excavation device according to any one aspect of the present invention to excavate marine resources. Is characterized by.
According to the method for excavating marine resources according to one aspect of the present invention, the marine resource is expelled using the marine resource excavation apparatus according to any one of the aspects of the present invention. It is possible to reduce and lift off ocean resources with high energy efficiency.

As described above, according to the present invention, energy efficiency can be improved.

It is a figure explaining 1st embodiment of the marine resource lifting apparatus which concerns on 1 aspect of this invention, and shows the cross section along the axis line in the figure. It is a figure explaining 2nd embodiment of the marine resource lifting apparatus which concerns on 1 aspect of this invention, and the cross section along the axis is shown in the figure. It is a figure explaining 3rd embodiment of the marine resource lifting apparatus which concerns on 1 aspect of this invention, and shows the cross section along the axis line in the figure.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In each of the embodiments, as a technology for excavating marine resources such as rare earth mud existing in the deep sea, an offshore resource exploration apparatus and a method for excavating offshore resources using the same are used instead of the conventional pump lift method or air lift method. Here is an example.

The drawings are schematic. Therefore, it should be noted that the relationship between the thickness and the plane size, the ratio, and the like are different from the actual ones, and the drawings include portions where the dimensional relationship and ratio are different from each other. In addition, each of the embodiments described below exemplifies a device and a method for embodying the technical idea of the present invention, and the technical idea of the present invention is that the material, shape, structure, The arrangement and the like are not specified in the embodiments below.

[First embodiment]
First, a first embodiment of an offshore resource exploration apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1, the marine resource exploration device 10 of the first embodiment includes a long hollow cylindrical main body casing 11 and a shaft 40 rotatably supported in the main body casing 11. This marine resource lifting apparatus 10 is installed in the sea with the axis of the main body casing 11 as the vertical direction. A shaft support 45 having a plurality of bearings 43 built therein is provided at the upper end of the main body casing 11. The shaft support portion 45 is arranged so as to support the shaft 40 coaxially with the main body casing 11, and rotatably supports the upper end portion of the shaft 40 via a plurality of bearings 43.

Inside the main body casing 11, a lower part is a stirring chamber 70. The lower portion of the stirring chamber 70 is open, and this opening serves as a suction port 36 for the rare earth mud R. Further, a stabilizing chamber 37 for calming the stirring state is provided continuously with the stirring chamber 70 in the upper portion of the main body casing 11.

The stirring chamber 70 is provided with a stirring unit 80. The stirring unit 80 has two stirring blades 81 and 82 as a plurality of stirring blades. In the present embodiment, the two stirring blades 81, 82 are provided such that the central portions of the stirring blades are integrally provided with the shaft 40, respectively, and are vertically spaced apart from each other. Each stirring blade 81, 82 has a plurality of blades extending radially from the center of the shaft 40, and when driven to rotate in a predetermined direction, the first stirring blade 81 arranged above causes a downward flow. The second agitating blade 82 that is formed and arranged below forms an upward flow.

In the present embodiment, a bearing support cylinder 72 having an underwater bearing 71 mounted on the inner peripheral surface is provided between the upper and lower stirring blades 81 and 82, and the underwater bearing 71 rotatably supports the tip side of the shaft 40. ing. In the bearing support cylinder 72, a plurality of through holes penetrating along the axial direction are formed so as to be separated from each other in the circumferential direction, and have a substantially lotus root shape in a plan view, whereby the seawater W and the rare earth mud R are main body casing. It is configured to be movable in the axial direction of 11.

A drill bit 91 is attached to the tip of the shaft 40. The drill bit 91 has its base end portion connected to the tip end of the shaft 40 such that the tip end side thereof faces the suction port 36 which is the lower opening. As a result, when the shaft 40 is driven to rotate, the excavation bit 91 constitutes an excavation portion 90 that guides the excavated rare earth mud R into the stirring chamber 70 together with the seawater W while excavating the rare earth mud R when the shaft 40 is driven to rotate. It is a part.

A fluid motor unit 20 is provided in the upper center of the upper portion of the main body casing 11, and an emulsion supply pipe 13 and a mixture lifting ore pipe 14 communicating with the main body casing 11 are provided on the left and right sides of the fluid motor unit 20. There is.
The emulsion supply pipe 13 is a hollow cylindrical pipe line, and the upper end portion thereof is connected to the emulsion supply tank via an emulsion supply pump (not shown) to form an emulsion supply unit. The lower end portion 13s of the emulsion supply pipe 13 is extended to a position near the upper portion of the first stirring blade 81 inside the main body casing 11, and the tip portion 13s is located at a lower position of the stirring chamber 70 in the emulsion Em. It is a discharge port for supplying.

The mixture lifting ore pipe 14 is a hollow cylindrical pipe, and its upper end portion is connected to a lifting ore equipment having a riser pipe or the like to form a mixture recovery unit capable of lifting a mixture M described below to the sea. doing. The lower end portion of the mixture lifting ore pipe 14 is flush with the inner surface of the upper portion of the main body casing 11 so as to recover the mixture M from the higher position of the stirring chamber 70. The mixture collection port 14s communicates with the stable chamber 37.

The fluid motor unit 20 has a hollow cylindrical motor unit casing 21 coaxially mounted in the center of the upper portion of the main body casing 11. The shaft support portion 45 is provided at the connecting portion between the motor casing 21 and the main body casing 11. Sealing portions (not shown) are provided on both sides of each of the plurality of bearings 43 of the shaft supporting portion 45, and the outer peripheral surface of the shaft 40 and the motor casing 21 are sealed by the sealing portions. In the present embodiment, deep groove ball bearings are used as the plurality of bearings 43 that support the shaft 40, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various bearings can be used (similar to other bearings).

A cylindrical working fluid introduction pipe 23 is attached to the upper end of the motor casing 21 by the spigot fitting portion 12. The working fluid introducing pipe 23 has an introducing port 24 for introducing the working fluid S for driving the fluid motor unit 20. In addition, an outlet port 26 for leading out the working fluid S into the sea is provided on the lower side surface of the motor casing 21 to the side of the motor casing 21. In the first embodiment, high-pressure seawater is introduced as the working fluid S.

In the present embodiment, the fluid motor unit 20 is provided in the upper portion of the motor casing 21. The fluid motor unit 20 includes a stator 50 fixed in the motor casing 21 and a cantilevered rotor 41. The stator 50 includes a stator outer cylinder 51 made of metal and having a cylindrical shape, and a rubber stator inner cylinder 52 disposed inside the stator outer cylinder 51. A female screw-shaped spiral portion 50r is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the stator inner cylinder 52.

A male screw-shaped spiral portion 41r is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 41. The base end portion 41b of the rotor 41 extends linearly downward in the motor casing 21, is connected to the upper end of the shaft 40 via a universal joint (universal joint) 48, and transmits the rotational driving force to the shaft 40. It has become. Instead of the universal joint 48, it may be connected to the shaft 40 via a flexible joint.
The axis of the rotor 41 is arranged such that the axes of the rotor 41 are parallel to each other with respect to the axis of the stator 50 and are separated from each other by a predetermined distance between the axes. However, it revolves around the axis of the stator 50.

In the fluid motor unit 20 of the present embodiment, the spiral portion 41r of the rotor 41 is a left-handed double-threaded male screw, and the shape of the spiral portion 50r of the stator 50 is a triangular ring with a cross section having vertices at 120-degree intervals. The shape is a left-handed three-thread female thread. The spiral portion 41r on the outer peripheral surface of the rotor 41 is incorporated in the stator 50, and cavities that are independent closed spaces according to driving are defined in a plurality of axial positions in the mutual gaps.

Next, an operation of the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the first embodiment and a method for lifting a marine resource using the same will be described.
The above-mentioned ocean resource ore mining apparatus 10 uses, for example, an underwater working machine having a boom capable of undulating, and the main body casing 11 is attached to the boom tip of the underwater working machine for use. At the time of working, an underwater working machine equipped with the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 is arranged at a desired position of the rare earth mud bed in the sea. The main body casing 11 is disposed on the seabed in a posture in which the fluid motor unit 20 is on the upper side and the excavation bit 91 is on the lower side.

In the offshore resource lifting apparatus 10, the working fluid introducing pipe 23 is connected to a working fluid introducing unit (not shown) so that the working fluid S can be introduced. In this embodiment, it is connected to a pump that supplies high-pressure seawater. The mixture lifting pipe 14 is connected to a lifting equipment having an upper end portion such as a riser pipe. The upper end of the emulsion supply pipe 13 is connected to the emulsion supply tank via an emulsion supply pump (not shown). Each pipe is initially filled with seawater W when it is deployed on the seabed.

In the offshore resource exploration apparatus 10 arranged as described above, the high-pressure working fluid (seawater W) S is supplied to the fluid motor unit 20 from the upper inlet 24. As a result, the high-pressure working fluid S is sequentially introduced into the plurality of cavities defined in the space where the rotor 41 and the stator 50 face each other. The rotation axis of the rotor 41 of the fluid motor unit 20 starts to revolve around the axis of the stator 50 by the introduction pressure of the working fluid S acting on the cavity.

As a result, in the fluid motor unit 20, the introduction pressure of the working fluid S is converted into the rotational driving force of the shaft 40. The working fluid S introduced from the introduction port 24 is delivered to the sea from the derivation port 26. When the rotor 41 is rotationally driven by the fluid motor unit 20, the shaft 40 rotates via the universal joint 48, and the excavation bit 91 provided at the tip of the shaft 40 and a plurality of stirring blades provided above the excavation bit 91. 81 and 82 rotate together.

Next or at the same time, the emulsion supply pump is driven, whereby the emulsion Em in the emulsion supply tank is supplied to the emulsion supply pipe 13. In the present embodiment, kerosene is used as the oil, and sodium dodecylsulfonate is used as the surfactant to form the emulsion Em, and the emulsion Em is supplied to the emulsion supply pipe 13.

As a result, the rare earth mud R is excavated by the excavation bit 91, and the rare earth mud R and the seawater W guided by the rotation of the excavation bit 91 are fed into the stirring chamber 70 from the suction port 36. Further, since the second stirring blade 82 below the stirring chamber 70 forms an upward flow, the rare earth mud R guided to the lower portion of the stirring chamber 70 moves above the stirring chamber 70 while being stirred.

In the present embodiment, the feeding of the main body casing 11 in the axial direction of the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 associated with excavation is performed by the undulating operation of the boom of the undersea working machine, but the present invention is not limited to this and, for example, a slide guide. Various feeding methods such as using a feeding mechanism having a device can be adopted.

The emulsion Em supplied to the emulsion supply pipe 13 is discharged from the tip portion 13s of the emulsion supply pipe 13 to a position near the upper portion of the first stirring blade 81. Since the first stirring blade 81 above the stirring chamber 70 forms a downward flow, the emulsion Em above the stirring chamber 70 moves to below the stirring chamber 70 while being stirred.

As a result, the rare earth mud R and the emulsion Em supplied from above and below the stirring chamber 70 are mixed in the stirring chamber 70. When the rare earth mud R contacts the emulsion Em, the apatite in which the rare earth element is concentrated is adsorbed on the emulsion Em. As a result, an apatite adsorption emulsion is produced as the mixture M that has been liquid-liquid separated in the sea.

When the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 is continuously driven, the mixture M (apatite adsorption emulsion) in the stirring chamber 70 gradually fills the stabilizing chamber 37 above the stirring chamber 70. The force of the downward flow by the first stirring blade 81 becomes weaker as it goes from the stirring chamber 70 to the upper part of the stabilizing chamber 37. Therefore, the mixture M (apatite adsorption emulsion) that has moved from the stirring chamber 70 over a certain distance in the upper stable chamber 37 starts to float by itself due to the difference in specific gravity from the seawater W.
Further, the mixture lifting ore pipe 14 is connected to the upper portion of the main body casing 11 so as to communicate with the stabilizing chamber 37. Therefore, the mixture M that has started to float can be transferred to the ocean from the stabilizing chamber 37 via the mixture lifting ore pipe 14 and a recovery facility such as a riser pipe extended to the ship.

The emulsion Em that has adsorbed apatite has emulsion oil droplets coalesced in seawater, and the oil droplet diameter increases in the stabilizing chamber 37. However, due to the difference in specific gravity from the seawater W, if the oil droplet diameter becomes 1 mm, it will be below the sea floor. It floats naturally from 6000 m to the sea in about 13.6 hours, and it rises in 33 minutes when the oil drop diameter becomes 5 mm, and in 8 minutes when the oil drop diameter becomes 10 mm.

Next, the operation effect of the offshore resource lifting apparatus 10 of the first embodiment and the offshore resource lifting method using the same will be described.
As described above, according to the marine resource exploration device 10 of the first embodiment, as the seabed equipment, only one fluid motor unit 20 is provided, and by driving the fluid motor unit 20, the rare earth is provided by the excavation bit 91. While excavating the mud R, the rare earth mud R, the seawater W, and the emulsion Em can be mixed in the stirring section 80 above the excavation bit 91 to generate an apatite adsorption emulsion as the mixture M. Then, while stabilizing the sequentially generated mixture M in the stabilizing chamber 37, the mixture M is floated by the difference in specific gravity from the seawater W, and the mixture M can be lifted by the recovery pipe extending from the sea bottom to the ship.

Therefore, in the conventional pump lift method, a great amount of energy for pumping the depth of water is required for pumping mud from the deep sea, and in the air lift method, the energy efficiency is poor and much more energy than the pump lift method is required. However, according to the offshore resource lifting apparatus 10 of the first embodiment, stable operation performance can be secured, and energy required for lifting can be significantly reduced, so that energy efficiency can be improved. ..

Further, in the case of a turbo-type pump as described in Patent Document 1, since the equipment has a fairly complicated shape, under high pressure in the deep sea (for example, a water depth of 6000 m), the local shape and the thickness of each part have strength. Careful consideration is required. On the other hand, in the offshore resource exploration device 10 of the present embodiment, since the main body casing 11 and the motor part casing 21 have a simple cylindrical shape, the main body casing 11 and the motor portion casing 21 have a shape that is superior in strength correspondence under high pressure in deep sea. is there. Therefore, it is suitable for ensuring stable driving performance.

Further, in the case of the turbo type pump as described in Patent Document 1, since the equipment is considerably large and has a complicated shape, a large width is required for connecting a plurality of pumps to each other. On the other hand, in the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of this embodiment, since the main body casing 11 and the motor portion casing 21 are cylindrical pumps, simple pipe connection is possible.

It should be noted that the apparatus for excavating an ocean resource according to the present invention and the method for excavating an ocean resource using the apparatus are not limited to the above embodiments, and various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention. is there. Hereinafter, other embodiments will be described.

[Second embodiment]
For example, in the above-described first embodiment, an example has been shown in which the mixture M that is an apatite adsorption emulsion is floated up to the sea only by the levitation force of the mixture M itself due to the difference in specific gravity with the seawater W, but the invention is not limited thereto. For example, in addition to the floating force of the mixture M itself, a pumping force by a pump may be used together. A specific example is shown in FIG. 2 as a second embodiment.

In the second embodiment shown in the figure, in contrast to the first embodiment, the motor portion casing 21 is arranged in the stabilizing chamber 37 of the main body casing 11 and at the conduit portion of the mixture lifting ore pipe 14. A difference is that the pump is equipped with a fluid motor-driven lift pump 1 as an example of a pump. Since other configurations are the same as those in the first embodiment, differences will be described below, and configurations similar to or corresponding to those in the first embodiment will be designated by the same reference numerals and description thereof will be appropriately omitted.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 2, in the marine resource exploration device 10 of the second embodiment, the working fluid introduction pipe 23 for introducing the high-pressure seawater W as the working fluid S1 is directly connected to the upper end portion of the main body casing 11. In addition to being connected, the entire motor portion casing 21 is coaxially arranged in the stabilizing chamber 37 of the main body casing 11.
As a result, the portion where the motor casing 21 is located inside the main body casing 11 has a double pipe structure. The outlet 26 through which the working fluid S1 is led out is formed in a side surface of the main body casing 11 so that a pipeline extending to the side of the motor casing 21 can lead the working fluid S1 toward the sea.

The fluid motor driven lift pump 1 is installed in the conduit portion of the mixture lift pipe 14. The fluid motor driven pumping pump 1 has a hollow cylindrical pump casing 21P which is provided in place of the middle portion of the mixture pumping pipe 14 and is piped. A pump fluid motor unit 20B is provided above the pump casing 21P. The pump fluid motor unit 20B has a rotor 41B and a stator 50B that are configured similarly to the fluid motor unit 20 of the first embodiment.

A working fluid introduction pipe 23B is attached to the upper end of the pump casing 21P. The working fluid introducing pipe 23B has an introducing port 24B for introducing high-pressure seawater W as the working fluid S2. A discharge port 26B for discharging the working fluid S2 is opened on the side surface in the middle of the pump casing 21P so that the working fluid S2 can be discharged toward the sea.

Inside the pump casing 21P, a connecting shaft 40j supported by the shaft supporting portion 45j is provided. The shaft support portion 45j is provided in a central portion of the pump casing 21P and below the outlet 26B, and the connecting shaft 40j is rotatably supported by the shaft support portion 45j via a plurality of bearings 43j. There is.

A screw pump portion 20P is provided inside the pump casing 21P at a position lower than the connecting shaft 40j. The screw pump unit 20P has a rotor 41P and a stator 50P, which are configured similarly to the pump fluid motor unit 20B except that the winding direction of the screw-shaped spiral portion is opposite.

The lower end of the rotor 41B of the pump fluid motor unit 20B is connected to the upper end of the connecting shaft 40j via a universal joint (universal joint) 48B, and the upper end of the rotor 41P of the screw pump unit 20P is connected to the universal joint (universal joint) 48P. Is connected to the lower end of the connecting shaft 40j via.
A mixture hoisting pipe 14P for hoisting the mixture M is connected to a side surface of an intermediate portion of the pump casing 21P at a position where the rod portion of the universal joint 48P is located, and the mixture hoisting pipe 14P includes the pump casing 21P. The mixture M is laid out so that the mixture M can be drawn out to the upper side while protruding to the side.

According to the offshore resource exploration device 10 of the second embodiment configured in this manner, the same operational effects as the above-described first embodiment are achieved, and in addition to this, the fluid motor-driven excavation pump 1 is provided in the mixture recovery unit. Being equipped, the ore of the mixture M can be controlled more finely.

That is, in the first embodiment described above, although the stabilizing chamber 37 is provided as a means for controlling the oil droplet diameter of the mixture M, in the case of lifting by only the levitation force of the mixture M itself, the volume of the stabilizing chamber 37 and the riser pipes are used. Since the state of the mixture M and its oil droplet diameter may vary depending on many parameters such as loss due to line resistance such as, the amount of emulsion to be supplied, stirring efficiency, excavation speed of rare earth mud, etc. It may be difficult to control.
On the other hand, according to the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the second embodiment, the pumping of the mixture M from the mixture recovery port 14s is performed from the stopped state to the desired state by the drive control of the fluid motor driven lifting pump 1. It can be set to any pumping speed up to the maximum pumping speed of the equipment via the pumping speed corresponding to the oil droplet diameter.

[Third embodiment]
Next, a third embodiment will be described.
In the first and second embodiments, the uniaxial screw pump having the rotor and the fixed stator has been described as an example of the basic configuration of the fluid motor unit or the screw pump unit. However, the screw pump that can be used in the present invention is not limited to this. For example, instead of the fixed stator, a screw pump in which the outer rotor is driven together with the inner rotor can be adopted.

A specific example is shown in FIG. 3 as a third embodiment. In the third embodiment shown in the figure, a screw pump in which an outer rotor is driven together with an inner rotor is adopted as a basic configuration of a fluid motor unit and a screw pump unit, and an emulsion Em supplied for liquid-liquid separation is used as a fluid motor unit. In this example, the working fluid S is also used.

Specifically, as shown in FIG. 3, in the marine resource exploration device 10 of the third embodiment, a hollow cylindrical motor portion casing 21X is coaxially connected to the upper end portion of the main body casing 11. The lower end opening of the motor section casing 21X communicates with the mixture recovery port 14s above the stabilizing chamber 37. A drive shaft 40k, which is a second shaft, is rotatably supported in the motor casing 21X.
In the motor casing 21X, a fluid motor unit 20C is provided on one axial side of the drive shaft 40k (upper side in the vertical direction in this example), and a screw pump unit 20Q is provided on the other end side of the drive shaft 40k ( In this example, it is provided on the lower side in the vertical direction.

A shaft support portion 45k that rotatably supports the drive shaft 40k is provided at a position near the lower part of the middle portion of the motor portion casing 21X. The drive shaft 40k is rotatably supported by a plurality of bearings 43k of the shaft support portion 45k. Sealing portions are provided on both sides of each of the plurality of bearings 43k, and the outer peripheral surface of the drive shaft 40k and the motor portion casing 21X are sealed by the sealing portions. In the present embodiment, deep groove ball bearings are used as the plurality of bearings 43k that support the drive shaft 40k, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various bearings can be used (other than the inside of the motor portion casing 21X). Same for bearings).

An upper end of the motor casing 21X serves as an inlet 24C for introducing the high-pressure emulsion Em as the working fluid S, and a working fluid introducing pipe (not shown) is detachably attached. The drive shaft 40k is provided with an introduction port 13t for the communication hole 13 at a position above the shaft support portion 45k. The emulsion Em after driving the drive shaft 40k by the fluid motor unit 20C is introduced into the introduction port 13t of the communication hole 13.

The communication hole 13 extends downward from the position of the introduction port 13t, penetrates the center of the drive shaft 40k, and communicates with the lower end surface of the drive shaft 40k. Further, the communication hole 13 is formed so as to penetrate through the center of the shaft 40 connected to the lower end of the drive shaft 40k, and the emulsion Em is discharged from the discharge port 13s opened on the side surface of the drill bit 91 mounted at the tip of the shaft 40. It is provided so that it can be discharged, and this communication hole 13 constitutes an emulsion supply pipe.

Further, a discharge port 14t for discharging the mixture M is provided on the side surface in the middle of the motor casing 21X, and the base end of the mixture lifting ore pipe 14P communicates with and is integrally attached to the discharge port 14t. .. The mixture lifting ore pipe 14P is bent upward at the elbow portion on the base end side, and the linear pipe main body portion extends upward in parallel with the motor portion casing 21X.

The fluid motor unit 20C is provided in the upper portion of the motor unit casing 21X. The fluid motor unit 20C has a first outer rotor 50C and a first inner rotor 41C having a cantilever structure inside a motor unit casing 21X. A left-handed female screw-shaped spiral portion is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the first outer rotor 50C.

A left-handed male screw-shaped spiral portion is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the first inner rotor 41C. The base end portion 41k of the first inner rotor 41C extends linearly in the motor portion casing 21X, is integrally formed on the upper end of the drive shaft 40k without using a universal joint, and rotates integrally with the drive shaft 40k. It is like this.

The first outer rotor 50C includes a rotor outer cylinder 51 made of metal and having a cylindrical shape, and a rubber inner rotor cylinder 52 arranged in the rotor outer cylinder 51. Both ends of the first outer rotor 50C are rotatably supported in the motor casing 21X via a plurality of bearings 53 spaced apart in the axial direction. A seal portion 54 is provided on each of the axially outer sides of the plurality of bearings 53, and the outer peripheral surface of the first outer rotor 50C and the motor portion casing 21X are sealed by the seal portion 54.

In the fluid motor unit 20C of the third embodiment, the spiral portion of the first inner rotor 41C is a left-handed double-threaded male screw, and the shape of the spiral portion on the inner peripheral surface of the first outer rotor 50C has apex at 120-degree intervals. The cross section has a left-handed triple-threaded female thread with a triangular ring shape.
Then, the spiral portion of the outer peripheral surface of the first inner rotor 41C is internally provided in the first outer rotor 50C having a female screw-shaped inner surface, and the axes of the first outer rotor 50C and the first inner rotor 41C have mutual axes. The first outer rotor 50C is rotatably supported by two parallel axes that are separated by a predetermined eccentric amount (distance between shaft centers), and the first outer rotor 50C rotates together with the rotation of the first inner rotor 41C.

Specifically, the spiral portion of each of the rotors 41C and 50C of the fluid motor unit 20C has an ellipse D2 having a major axis of 5E and a minor axis of 3E as the first inner rotor 41C when the basic distance is E (amount of eccentricity). A point distant from the axial center O1 by a distance E in the major axis direction of the inner rotor 41C is defined as an axial center O2, and an ellipse D2n obtained by rotating the ellipse D2 about the axial center O1 by an angle .omega. /3ω is formed such that the integrated contour D3 of the ellipse D2m when reversed is the contour of the first outer rotor 50C.

In addition, the spiral portion of each of the rotors 41C and 50C has the contour D3 as the contour of the first inner rotor 41C, and the axial center is a point distant from the axial center O2 by a distance E from the vertex to the bottom of the first inner rotor 41C. The contour D3n obtained by rotating the contour D3 about the axis O2 by the angle ω and the integrated contour D4 of the contour D3m obtained by reversing the angle 3/4ω about the axis O3 are the contours of the first outer rotor 50C. And is formed.

Further, in the spiral portion of each of the rotors 41C and 50C, the contour D4 is defined as the contour of the first inner rotor 41C, and a point away from the axis O3 by a distance E in the opposite vertex direction from the vertex of the first inner rotor 41C is the axis O4. The contour D4n obtained by rotating the contour D4 about the axis O3 by an angle ω and the integrated contour D5 of the contour D4m obtained by reversing the angle D/4ω about the axis O4 with the contour of the first outer rotor 50C. Is formed.

In the above manner, the spiral portion of each of the rotors 41C and 50C has the contour DN as the contour of the first inner rotor 41C in the same manner from the integrated contour D5 to the opposite vertex or bottom direction from the vertex of the first inner rotor 41C. A point distant from the axis center ON by a distance E as an axis center OM, and a contour DNn obtained by rotating the contour DN by an angle ω about the axis center ON is rotated by an angle N/(N+1)ω around the axis OM. It is formed so that the integrated contour D(N+1) of the contour DNm when the contour is made is the contour of the first outer rotor 50C.

Then, while rotatably supporting the contour D(N+1) of the first outer rotor 50C as the axis CL2 about the axis OM of the first outer rotor 50C as the rotation center, the contour ON is a distance E from the axis OM of the first outer rotor 50C. The axis CL1 of the first inner rotor 41C is set to the rotation center of the first inner rotor 41C, and the pitch of the first inner rotor 41C is set to N/(N+1) of the pitch of the first outer rotor 50C, where N is 2 or more (where N is a natural number). The left motor screw having the integrated contour of (1) is used as the first inner rotor 41C, and the left female screw having the integrated contour where N+1 is 3 or more is used as the first outer rotor 50C to configure the fluid motor unit 20C.

When the spiral portion of the first inner rotor 41C is inserted into the first outer rotor 50C, cavities that are independent closed spaces according to driving are defined in a plurality of axial positions in the mutual gaps. The minimum required length for the cavity of the fluid motor unit 20C to function in the present embodiment is the length at which the first inner rotor 41C rotates 540°. The reason is that a minimum length of 540° rotation is required to connect the inlet and outlet of the first outer rotor 50C with the seal line with the first inner rotor 41C.

On the other hand, the screw pump portion 20Q is provided in the lower portion of the motor casing 21X. The screw pump portion 20Q includes a second inner rotor 41Q having a cantilever structure in which a right-handed male screw-shaped spiral portion is formed on an outer peripheral surface in a motor portion casing 21X, and a right-handed female screw-shaped spiral portion is formed on an inner peripheral surface. Second outer rotor 50Q. The base end portion 41u of the second inner rotor 41Q extends linearly in the motor casing 21X, is integrally formed at the lower end of the drive shaft 40k without using a universal joint, and rotates integrally with the drive shaft 40k. It is like this.

The second outer rotor 50Q includes a rotor outer cylinder 61 made of metal and having a cylindrical shape, and a rotor inner cylinder 62 made of rubber arranged in the rotor outer cylinder 61. Both ends of the second outer rotor 50Q are rotatably supported in the motor casing 21X via a plurality of bearings 63 spaced apart in the axial direction. A seal portion 64 is provided on each of the axially outer sides of the plurality of bearings 63, and the outer peripheral surface of the second outer rotor 50Q and the motor portion casing 21X are sealed by the seal portion 64.

In the third embodiment, the lower end portion of the second inner rotor 41Q is extended to the inside of the stable chamber 37 through the mixture recovery port 14s, and is connected to the upper end portion of the shaft 40 at the upper position in the stable chamber 37 and integrally formed. It is designed to rotate. A bearing support cylinder 72B having an underwater bearing 71B mounted on an inner peripheral surface thereof is provided at a position near a connecting portion between the second inner rotor 41Q and the shaft 40. The underwater bearing 71B rotates the base end side of the shaft 40. It is supported freely.
Further, a bearing support cylinder 72A having an underwater bearing 71A mounted on the inner peripheral surface is provided between the upper and lower stirring blades 81, 82, and the tip end side of the shaft 40 is rotatably supported by the underwater bearing 71A. The bearing support cylinders 72A and 72B have a plurality of through holes penetrating along the axial direction and are formed so as to be spaced apart from each other in the circumferential direction, and have a substantially lotus root shape in plan view.

In the present embodiment, the second inner rotor 41Q has a right-handed two-thread male thread on the outer peripheral surface of the spiral portion, and the second outer rotor 50Q has a right-handed three-thread female screw spiral portion on the inner peripheral surface thereof. The details of the spiral portions of the rotors 41Q and 50Q of the screw pump portion 20Q are the same as those of the fluid motor portion 20C described above except that the spiral portion is wound in the opposite direction (that is, right winding). Since the configuration is similar to that of 20C, detailed description will be omitted.

With the above-described configuration, the spiral portion of the outer peripheral surface of the second inner rotor 41Q is housed in the spiral portion of the second outer rotor 50Q forming the internal surface of the female screw, and the axis of the second outer rotor 50Q and the axis of the second inner rotor 41Q are The two outer rotors 50Q are rotatably supported by two parallel shafts whose mutual axial centers are separated by a predetermined eccentric amount (axial center distance), and the second outer rotor 50Q rotates together with the rotation of the second inner rotor 41Q. Further, as the second inner rotor 41Q rotates, the shaft 40 connected to the lower end of the second inner rotor 41Q also rotates integrally.

Next, the operation of the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment will be described.
In the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the third embodiment configured as described above, when the high-pressure emulsion Em is supplied as the working fluid S from the upper inlet 24C to the fluid motor unit 20C, the high-pressure emulsion is obtained. Em is sequentially introduced into a plurality of cavities defined in the facing space between the first inner rotor 41C and the first outer rotor 50C.

As a result, in the fluid motor unit 20C, the first inner rotor 41C rotates due to the introduction pressure of the high-pressure emulsion Em acting on the cavity, and the first outer rotor 50C and the first inner rotor 41C rotate as the first inner rotor 41C moves. It rotates in synchronization with.
As a result, the introduction pressure of the emulsion Em is converted into the rotational driving force of the drive shaft 40k in the fluid motor unit 20C. Further, the emulsion Em is introduced into the introduction port 13t of the communication hole 13 that functions as an emulsion supply pipe, passes through the communication hole 13 formed in the axial direction from the center of the drive shaft 40k along the center of the shaft 40, and then the drill bit. It is delivered to the discharge port 13s opened on the side surface of 91.

Then, when the first inner rotor 41C is rotationally driven by the fluid motor unit 20C, the second inner rotor 41Q coaxially provided on the single drive shaft 40k rotates in the screw pump unit 20Q, and the second outer rotor 41Q rotates with the movement. 50Q also rotates in synchronization with the rotation of the second inner rotor 41Q.
Here, since the screw pump portion 20Q has a reverse thread to the fluid motor portion 20C, a seal line that cuts off the suction side and the discharge side at the tangent line between the second outer rotor 50Q and the second inner rotor 41Q is from the suction side. By continuously moving to the discharge side, the mixture M in the stable chamber 37 can be pressure-fed from the lower mixture recovery port 14s toward the upper discharge port 14t.

Therefore, in the case of the configuration of the third embodiment, the mixture M, which is an emulsion in which apatite is adsorbed, has a levitation force based on a difference in specific gravity between the water M and the seawater W, by the action mechanism similar to that of the first embodiment. It is possible to levitate to the sea, and in addition to its levitating force, the levitating force by the screw pump portion 20Q can assist the levitating.

Here, in the conventional pump lift system, the reliability of the equipment, especially the durability of the shaft seal of the submersible motor under high pressure water depth is a problem. On the other hand, the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the third embodiment includes the screw pump section 20Q driven by the fluid motor section 20C in the motor section casing 21X, and the screw pump at one axial end of the single drive shaft 40k. Can be used as a fluid motor, and the screw pump at the other end of one drive shaft 40k can be driven without the output shaft passing through a universal joint.

That is, in the conventional pump lift system, when the submersible motor has been used to drive the pump shaft, according to the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the third embodiment, as the fluid motor unit 20C used to drive the pump shaft, While the female screw-shaped first outer rotor 50C is rotatably supported about the parallel shafts that are separated from the axial center of the first inner rotor 41C by a predetermined distance, the screw pump portion 20Q is also predetermined from the axial center of the second inner rotor 41Q. Since the female screw-shaped second outer rotor 50Q is rotatably supported about the parallel shafts spaced apart from each other, both the fluid motor unit 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q have a structure in which the inner rotor and the outer rotor rotate together. It is possible to realize space saving and efficiently transmit the driving force of the fluid motor to the screw pump without using a universal joint that requires a large space for transmitting the rotational force to the screw pump.

Further, a left-handed male screw first inner rotor 41 is formed at one end of a shaft 40 rotatably supported by a bearing 43, and a right-handed male screw second inner rotor 42 is formed at the other end of the shaft 40. With a simple structure in which 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q are integrated, it is possible to construct a highly reliable offshore resource exploration device capable of excavating the mixture M containing rare earth mud even under severe conditions in the deep sea. Further, the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the present embodiment has extremely high energy efficiency as compared with the air lift method, and can reduce running costs.

Particularly, in the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the third embodiment, the lower end of the drive shaft 40k is connected to the upper end of the shaft 40 to drive the shaft 40 at the same time, so that the fluid motor unit 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q are connected to each other. In addition, the excavation section 90 and the stirring section 80 can be driven simultaneously. Therefore, the integrated simple structure is extremely excellent in constructing a highly reliable marine resource exploration device capable of excavating the mixture M even under severe conditions in the deep sea.

Further, in the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the third embodiment, in both the fluid motor unit 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q, the outer rotor has three female threads on the inner peripheral surface and the inner rotor has two male threads on the outer peripheral surface. Since it is a screw pump, the inner rotor has an elliptical shape with no eccentricity with respect to its own axis, and the inner rotor and the outer rotor have an inner rotor with two or more vertices and an outer rotor with three or more vertices, so that the rotational force is transmitted from the inner rotor to the outer rotor. This ensures a reliable, smooth subordinate rotation of the outer rotor, which is excellent for ensuring stable operation.

In particular, for example, in the case of a turbo-type pump as in the technique described in Patent Document 1 described above, it is necessary to increase the impeller diameter in order to secure a high lift, which is achieved by one blade having an outer diameter of 1000 mm. The pumping head is about 70 m (fresh water pressure 7 kgf/cm ² ). Therefore, in order to achieve a higher lift, it is necessary to increase the number of stages of the impeller, but in that case, the equipment becomes considerably large and complicated.
On the other hand, in the offshore resource exploration apparatus 10 of the third embodiment, by increasing the number of stages (1 pitch of the outer rotor is 1 stage) without changing the outer diameter of the equipment, high pressure can be achieved with a simple shape. .. In the marine resource lifting device 10 of the third embodiment, a discharge pressure of 100 kgf/cm ² (lifting 1000 m) or more can be achieved per unit.

Further, in the case of the turbo type pump as described in Patent Document 1, the quantitative balance is poor and the flow has pulsation, so that it is difficult to balance the operation between the units during series operation. In addition, if the flow rate balance is lost, the flow inside the impeller or the casing is complicated, and partial negative pressure may occur, possibly resulting in damage to the equipment. On the other hand, in the offshore resource pumping apparatus 10 of the third embodiment, the screw pump is excellent in quantitativeness and the steady flow with extremely small pulsation allows stable operation.

Further, for example, in the case of the mixed flow type impeller pump described in Patent Document 2, the obtained head is even smaller than that of the turbo type pump, and the head obtained per impeller is 30 m or less. On the other hand, the offshore resource pumping apparatus 10 according to the third embodiment has a capacity of 100 kgf/cm ² (fresh water pumping height of 1000 m) or more per unit, and therefore is extremely small in the case of pumping from the deep sea. It is possible to pump up in multiple units.

Further, the turbine-pump set described in Patent Document 2 has a structure in which the turbine is arranged on the outer periphery of the pump impeller, and therefore the outer diameter is necessarily increased. On the other hand, in the marine resource lifting apparatus 10 of the third embodiment, the discharge pressure can be increased by increasing the number of stages (one pitch of the outer rotor is one stage) without changing the outer diameter of the equipment. Therefore, high pressure can be achieved with the small diameter shape.

In the third embodiment described above, as an example of the fluid motor unit 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q, an outer rotor having three female threads on the inner peripheral surface and an inner rotor having two male threads on the outer peripheral surface are provided. Has been described as an example in which it can be driven together with a rotation angle of 2/3, but the invention is not limited to this.

That is, in the offshore resource exploration device illustrated in the third embodiment, the outer rotor having the (N+1) female thread on the inner peripheral surface is the fluid motor unit 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q that can be driven together with the inner rotor. And an inner rotor having an N-thread male screw on the outer peripheral surface, and a structure in which the outer rotor can be driven together with the inner rotor at a rotation angle of N/(N+1) (where N is a natural number of 1 or more). it can.

Specifically, the configuration of the fluid motor unit 20C and the screw pump unit 20Q is, for example, a casing, an outer rotor rotatably supported in the casing and having two female threads on the inner peripheral surface, and inserted in the outer rotor. In addition, an inner rotor having a single-thread male screw on the outer peripheral surface and being rotatably supported may be provided, and the outer rotor may be driven together with the inner rotor at a rotation angle of 1/2.

1 Fluid Motor Driven Lifting Pump 10 Ocean Resource Lifting Equipment 11 Main Body Casing 12 Inlay Fitting 13 Emulsion Supply Pipe (Emulsion Supply)
14 Mixing ore pipe (mixture collecting part)
20 Fluid Motor Section 21 Motor Section Casing 23 Working Fluid Inlet Tube 24 Inlet Port 26 Outlet Port 36 Suction Port 37 Stable Chamber 40 Shaft 41 Rotor 43 Bearing 45 Shaft Support 48 Universal Joint (Universal Joint)
50 Stator 51 Stator Outer Cylinder 52 Stator Inner Cylinder 70 Stirring Chamber 71 Underwater Bearing 72 Bearing Support Cylinder 80 Stirring Part 81 First Stirring Blade (Stirring Blade)
82 Second stirring blade (stirring blade)
90 Excavation section (rare earth mud supply section)
91 Drilling Bit S Working Fluid Em Emulsion M Mixture (Transfer Fluid: Apatite Adsorption Emulsion)
R Rare earth mud W Seawater

Claims (7)

A stirring chamber filled with seawater,
A stirring unit having a stirring blade disposed in the stirring chamber,
A rare earth mud supply unit for supplying rare earth mud to the stirring chamber,
An emulsion supply unit that supplies an emulsion having a specific gravity lower than that of seawater into the stirring chamber,
A mixture recovery unit for recovering from the stirring chamber a mixture in which the emulsion and the rare earth mud are combined to have a specific gravity smaller than seawater.
An offshore resource exploration device comprising: A casing,
A stirring chamber provided in the casing and having an opening at the bottom,
A stirring unit having a stirring blade disposed in the stirring chamber,
An excavation unit that is provided so as to face the opening of the stirring chamber and guides the rare earth mud into the stirring chamber while excavating the rare earth mud
An emulsion supply unit that supplies an emulsion having a specific gravity lower than that of seawater to the stirring chamber,
A mixture recovery unit for recovering from the stirring chamber a mixture in which the emulsion and the rare earth mud are combined to have a specific gravity smaller than seawater.
An offshore resource exploration device comprising: The emulsion supply unit and the mixture recovery unit are mutually
The emulsion supply unit supplies the emulsion to a lower position of the stirring chamber,
The offshore resource exploration device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the mixture recovery unit recovers the mixture from a higher position of the stirring chamber. A casing,
A shaft rotatably supported in the casing,
A stirring chamber defined in the casing and opened at one end in the longitudinal direction,
A stirring blade integrally provided with the middle part of the shaft in the stirring chamber,
A drill bit provided in the stirring chamber so as to face the opening and having a base end connected to an end of the shaft,
A fluid motor unit provided on the other side in the longitudinal direction within the casing to drive the shaft to rotate by the working fluid introduced into the casing;
A pump unit which is provided between the stirring chamber and the fluid motor unit in the casing, and which sucks the transfer fluid from the stirring chamber by the rotational driving force of the shaft by the fluid motor unit;
An offshore resource exploration device comprising: The marine resource exploration device according to claim 4, wherein the shaft has a communication hole into which the working fluid after driving the shaft by the fluid motor unit is introduced and which can be discharged from a discharge port of the drill bit. The fluid motor unit is provided at one end of the shaft and has a male screw-shaped outer peripheral surface, a first inner rotor externally inserted into the first inner rotor and rotatably supported in the casing, and the first inner rotor. A first outer rotor having a female screw-shaped inner peripheral surface which is arranged eccentrically with respect to the rotation axis of the first eccentricity and is arranged in the same winding direction as the screw winding direction of the first inner rotor,
The pump portion is provided at the other end of the shaft and has a second inner rotor having a screw-winding direction of the first inner rotor and a male screw-like outer peripheral surface of reverse winding, and is externally inserted to the second inner rotor and rotatable in the casing. A second outer rotor that is supported on the second inner rotor and is eccentric to the rotation axis of the second inner rotor by a predetermined distance, and that has a female screw-shaped inner peripheral surface in the same winding direction as the screw winding direction of the second inner rotor. The offshore resource lifting apparatus according to claim 4 or 5. A method for reclaiming marine resources, which comprises reclaiming marine resources using the apparatus for reclaiming marine resources according to claim 1.

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