JPS58120993A - Collector for manganese nodule, etc. - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention has a method of removing nodules such as manganese nodules existing on the seabed from the opening at the tip of the duct by water flow generated in the ore collecting duct while moving on the seabed. Manganese nodules, etc. are sucked together and flowed into a separator, and the separator separates nodules to be lifted from seabed sediments and micronodules to be disposed of, and discharges the latter into external seawater together with seawater. Concerning a nodule collecting device.

The case of manganese nodules will be described below, but the present invention can also be applied to ore collectors similar to manganese nodules.

Manganese nodules, which are attracting attention as an inexhaustible mineral resource of nickel, cobalt, copper, manganese, etc., are found flatly on the seafloor sediments of the deep sea floor, as if laid out on boulders. Therefore, a trap for mining this ore must collect the nodules distributed on the seabed and then lift the ore to the sea.

As a manganese nodule collector, the so-called fluid dredge method mentioned at the beginning is superior because it has a simple mechanism and fewer breakdowns. However, with this method, not only the manganese nodules but also the muddy seabed sediment are sucked up together with the seawater flowing in through the opening of the ore collection duct, so this is lifted to the mother ship at sea using the ore lifting pipe, and the manganese nodules are collected at sea. If separated and disposed of in seawater, not only will the lifting efficiency decrease;
It is undesirable to contaminate seawater. Therefore, ore collection equipment is usually equipped with a device that separates manganese nodules to be lifted from seabed sediments and minute manganese nodules unsuitable for ore lifting, and the latter is disposed of in seawater on the seabed. ing.

Conventionally proposed separation equipment uses a mesh or lattice filter to physically separate the waste, but this method is prone to clogging and requires operation at depths of several thousand meters under the sea. In the case of an ore collecting device that does this, the device for unmanned removal of clogging becomes complicated, which is undesirable.

In addition, an ore collection duct is connected to the upper part of the side wall of a large tank, and the slurry of manganese nodules and seabed sediment is discharged into the ore collection duct, and the seawater is discharged from the other side of the tank to the open sea, and the inside of the tank is drained. Another proposed method is to slow down the flow rate of seawater in the tank, during which time manganese nodules with a predetermined particle size or higher fall to the bottom of the tank, suspending the sediment and micro nodules in the seawater, and discharging them into the open sea. In this case, the size and weight of the separation tank will increase, and when moving on a soft seabed supported by a sled, the sled will embed itself in the seabed surface, which is undesirable.

In addition, a separation device that uses centrifugal force, which is often used in land-based dust collectors, etc., can be considered, but in this device the hopper has a sharp angle, is tall compared to its diameter, and is When used in a moving ore collecting device, it has the disadvantage of poor stability.

This invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks of the previously proposed separation device for nodules and seabed sediments in the suction dredge type ore collecting device, and eliminates the clogging seen in devices using filters such as mesh. To provide a device for collecting manganese nodules, etc., which has a small, lightweight, and highly stable separation device that has no moving parts and is free from the risk of mechanical failure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS The present invention will be explained in detail below based on drawings showing embodiments thereof.

The ore collector according to the embodiment of the present invention shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 is as follows:
A separator 1, which will be explained in detail later, an ore collecting duct 2 extending forward from its upper part, a suction head 3 attached to the tip of the ore collecting duct 2 that hangs down to near the seabed, and a rear part of the separator 1 described above. A mud water discharge pipe 4 that extends to open to the open sea, an ore collection pump 5 installed in the middle of the pipe, and a nodule discharge port 6 at the lower end of the separation device are connected to each other, and the ore collection device is towed by a mother ship at sea (not shown). At the same time, it has an ore lifting connecting pipe 8 that connects an ore lifting pipe 7 for lifting nodules to a mother ship, and these devices are mounted on one frame 9.

A bumper 10 is provided at the front end of the frame 9 for cushioning when the ore collector collides with an obstacle while being towed. The above frame 9 has a plurality of spring supports 11
It is supported on a pair of left and right sleds 12 via a pair of left and right sleds 12. In addition,
In FIG. 2, the frame 9 and the frame support 11 are omitted to avoid clutter.

Next, the configuration of the separation apparatus 1 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. This separating device includes a hopper portion 14 surrounded by an inverted conical wall 13 centered on a vertical line Z-Z,
An enlarged ore collection duct 15 is connected to the end of the ore collection duct 2 along the line and spreads out downward, and an enlarged ore collection duct 1 is connected to the upper peripheral part of the hopper part 14.
5, and an annular sludge drainage pipe 18 connected to the annular separation cylinder 16 through an opening 17a provided in the upper end partition plate 17 and connected to the muddy water discharge pipe 4. It is well structured.

The hopper wall 13, the enlarged ore collection duct 15, the annular separation cylinder 16, and the annular sludge drain pipe 18 are rotary bodies centered on the axis Z-Z, and are arranged concentrically. The angle between the hopper wall 13 and the vertical line Z-Z is quite large, approximately 45° in this embodiment.
The height of the dust collector is lower than that of centrifugal dust collectors, which are commonly seen, in relation to the diameter.

Since the muddy water discharge pipe 4 is connected to one point around the annular mud drainage pipe 18, the pressure inside the annular mud drainage pipe is low near the above-mentioned connection point and increases as it moves away from the connection. Annular separation cylinder 1
The opening 17a provided in the upper end partition plate 17 of 6 has a small opening at the connection part 1 and is separated from the connection part 1 so that the flow rate in each part of the annular separation cylinder 16 becomes uniform in accordance with the pressure distribution. The opening degree increases accordingly. opening 17
A may be a large number of circular holes arranged on the circumference, or may be a continuous slit. In the case of a circular hole, the diameter of each part can be changed, and in the case of a slit, the slit gap can be changed depending on the position to narrow the flow and make the flow rate uniform.

A connecting pipe 8 for lifting ore is provided at the nodule discharge port 6 at the lower end of the hopper 14.
A slurry concentration adjustment valve 22 is provided in a branch pipe 21 that opens to the open sea and is provided immediately downstream of the connecting portion of the installation pipe 8.

A storage amount limit switch 19 is provided at a predetermined position on the side surface of the hopper wall 13, and is activated when the peripheral portion of the upper surface of the nodules stored in the hopper exceeds this. Further, as shown in FIG. 1, a damper 20 for opening and closing an opening provided on the wall surface of the duct 2 is provided at a position above the suction head 3 at the tip of the ore collecting duct 2, and the damper 20 opens and closes an opening provided on the wall surface of the duct 2. It opens when a storage amount limit switch 19 provided in the storage amount limit switch 19 is operated.

Since this ore collector is constructed as described above, when the ore collector is lowered to the seabed where manganese nodules are present and towed by the mother ship via the ore lifting pipe 7, the ore collector pump 5 is operated. The seawater in the separator 1 is discharged from the muddy water discharge pipe 4, and the pressure in the separator is lower than the pressure in the open sea, so seawater continuously flows into the ore collection duct 2 through the opening of the suction head 3. Accompanying this, manganese nodules and seabed sediments existing on the seabed near the suction head are sucked into the suction head, become slurry, and flow into the separator 1 through the ore collection duct 2.

As shown in FIG. 3, an ore collection duct enlarged part 15 that widens downward and extends downward is connected to the lower end of the ore collection duct 2 on the side of the separation device l. It crosses over and reaches the lower part of the annular separation cylinder 16, then ascends inside the annular separation cylinder 16, and is discharged to the open sea through the opening 17a provided in the upper end partition plate 17 of the upper part through the annular mud drainage pipe 18 and the muddy water drainage pipe 4. be done. In this case, manganese nodules larger than a certain grain size have a larger inertia and gravity than water resistance due to their own mass, so seawater coming out of the ore collecting duct 2 spreads to the surrounding area and rises further. Regardless, the ore falls downward from the second exit of the collecting duct, slides down to the center along the sloping surface 13 of the hopper, and is deposited on both sides, with the surface surrounding it at a certain angle of repose, as shown in Figure 3. It has a conical shape that slopes downward toward the top. The angle of the hopper is 4
If the angle is set at about 5°, the manganese nodules can easily slide toward the center.

The seafloor sediments and fine nodules are suspended in seawater and are discharged to the open sea via an annular separation tube 16, an annular mud discharge pipe 18, and a mud water discharge pipe 4.

The nodules stored in the hopper 14 are discharged from the nodule discharge port 6 at the bottom to the ore lifting connection pipe 8, and are adjusted to a predetermined slurry concentration by adjusting the opening degree of the slurry concentration adjustment valve 22 provided in the branch pipe 22. The ore is adjusted and lifted inside the ore lifting pipe 7 to a mother ship on the sea.

When the amount of manganese nodules collected is greater than the amount of ore lifted, the amount of nodules stored in the hopper 14 gradually increases until the upper peripheral area exceeds the storage amount limit switch 19. Then, the switch is activated to open the damper 20 installed in the middle of the ore collection duct 2, and seawater flows in from this, reducing the amount of water flowing in from the suction head 3 and preventing the inflow of manganese nodules. decreases significantly. As a result, the amount of nodules stored in the hopper 14 decreases, and when the upper surface of the nodule falls below the switch 19, the switch 19 is turned off, the damper 20 closes, and nodules are collected from the suction head 3 again.

In this way, the height of the surface of the nodule stored in the hopper 14 does not exceed a predetermined limit, and the gap Q between the lower edge of the expanded part 15 of the ore collecting duct and the upper surface of the stored nodule is narrowed. If the flow rate of the seawater flowing through the pump is not high enough, it is possible to prevent erroneous operations in which nodules of a particle size that should originally settle are discharged without settling.

The rate of rise of seawater inside the annular separation tube 16 is kept constant by changing the opening degree of its upper opening depending on the location, so that only micro nodules and seafloor sediments with a predetermined particle size or less are suspended in the seawater and discharged into the open sea. be done. Note that since the size of the opening 17a is sufficiently large compared to the particle size of the micro nodules to be discharged, there is no risk of clogging.

By the way, as shown in Figure 5, the particle size distribution of manganese nodules varies greatly depending on the sea area (indicated by V, H, and C in the figure), but the weight percentage of particles with a particle size of 5ffill or less is However, it is less than 2%.

Therefore, even if the separation point of the separator is set to 5 particles in diameter, the loss of manganese nodules is at most 2 inches or less, which poses no practical problem.

The speed of the upward flow that can lift nodules of 5 mm or less in seawater, in other words, the settling speed of nodules of 5 mm in seawater can be determined from Figure 6.

This curve shows the results of an experiment on the relationship between sediment particle size and sedimentation rate conducted in port civil engineering, and it has been confirmed that almost the same results are obtained for manganese nodules. From this figure, the rising speed of the water flow for lifting manganese nodules with a grain size of 5 m may be set to 24 cm /s peak.

In the above embodiment, the annular separating tube 16 and the annular sludge draining pipe 18 are separated by the horizontal partition plate 17, but as shown in FIG. The annular separating cylinder 16 and the top plate 17 may be connected by a large number of pipes or a continuous annular passage 17b. Moreover, as shown in FIG. 8, instead of using the pipe wall of the ore collecting duct enlarged part 15 on the inner wall of the annular separation pipe 16, a vertical double straight cylinder is separately provided so that the water flow rises in the vertical direction. You can also do this.

Further, as shown in FIG. 9, an annular sludge draining pipe 18 can be provided through an upper horizontal plate 17 of an annular separating cylinder 16 formed of a double right cylinder.

In each of the above embodiments, an ore collection pump 5 is provided in the middle of the muddy water discharge pipe 4, and when the pressure inside the separation device 1 becomes lower than the pressure in the open sea, the nodule slurry is pumped through the ore collection duct into the separation device. Although the so-called vacuum type in which the slurry flows into the ore collector duct 2 is described above, in the case of the so-called pressure type in which the ore collector pump 5 is installed in the middle of the ore collector duct 2 and the nodule slurry is forced into the separation device from the ore collector duct 2, a slurry discharge pipe is used. 4 and the annular sludge removal pipe 18 are no longer necessarily necessary, and the annular separation pipe 6
The upper end of the can be opened directly to the open sea.

Therefore, the pressure outside the upper end opening 17a of the annular separation cylinder 16 is the same everywhere, so if each member of the separation device 1 is arranged concentrically as a rotating body with one vertical line as its axis, Even if no upward flow equalizing means is specifically provided at the upper end of the annular separation cylinder 16, the velocity of the upward flow within the annular separation cylinder 16 becomes uniform as a matter of course. Furthermore, it is also possible to eliminate the top plate 17 at the upper end of the annular separating cylinder 16.

Furthermore, in each of the above embodiments, the separation device 1 was explained as being composed of a rotating body consisting of a combination of a cone, a cylinder, etc., but it does not necessarily have to be a rotating body, and it may be a regular polygonal pyramid or a regular polygonal pyramid. It is also possible to configure it with a polygonal tube or a combination of a rectangular pyramid and a rectangular tube.

Even in such a case, the upward flow inside the annular separation cylinder can be easily made uniform by partially changing the opening degree of the upward flow equalizing bump provided at the upper end of the annular separation cylinder. This makes it possible to provide the separator with sufficient throughput even when the width of the ore collector is limited.

As described above, according to the present invention, there is no fear of clogging or mechanical failure, and the collection of manganese nodules has a small, lightweight, stable, low-cost, and low-friction separation device. You can get mining equipment.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a side view including a partial cross section of an embodiment of an ore collecting device to which the present invention is applied, Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof with some members omitted, and Fig. 3 is a separation device according to the present invention. 4 is a plan view thereof, FIG. 5 is a curve diagram showing an example of particle size distribution of manganese nodules, and FIG. 6 is a relationship between particle size and sedimentation rate of nodules such as manganese nodules. FIGS. 7 to 9 are cross-sectional views showing other embodiments of the present invention. 1... Separation device 2... Ore collection duct 3.
...Suction head (ore collection duct tip opening) 4...
Mud water discharge pipe 5...Ore collection pump 6...Nodule discharge port 13...Hopper side wall 14...Hopper
15... Enlarged collection and expansion pipe part 16... Annular separation tube 17a... Upper end of the annular separation tube, opening (upward flow equalization throttle) 18... Annular sludge removal tube 19... Storage amount limit switch 20. ...Damper r-d Fig. 4. Rate 4C Figure 5 Figure 6 hJ('')

Claims (4)

[Claims] (1) Nodules such as manganese nodules existing on the seabed are sucked in from the opening at the tip of the duct by the water flow generated in the ore collection duct without moving on the seabed, and flow into the separation device along with seafloor sediments. The separator separates the nodules to be lifted from the seabed sediments and micronodules to be disposed of, and the seabed sediments and micronodules are collected together with seawater and manganese nodules, etc., which are discharged into external seawater. In the ore equipment, the separation device includes a portion of the hopper, an expanded portion of the ore collection duct that is connected to an end of the ore collection duct and opens downwardly toward the end above the portion of the hopper; An annular separation cylinder connected to the upper peripheral part of the hopper, surrounding the enlarged part of the ore collecting duct, and having an opening extending to the open sea at the upper part thereof, and means for equalizing the speed of the water flow rising inside the annular separation cylinder at each part. An ore collecting device comprising: (2) A patent claim characterized in that the above-mentioned upward flow equalization means in the annular separation cylinder is a throttle mechanism that sets the degree of opening of each part of the upper part of the annular separation cylinder in accordance with the pressure of seawater outside the annular separation cylinder. The ore collecting device according to item 1. (3) The expanded part of the ore collecting duct x, the hole/%- and the annular separation cylinder are configured as a rotating body that is provided concentrically with respect to one vertical line, and this configuration itself allows the upward flow in the i-shaped separation cylinder to be balanced. 2. The ore collector according to claim 1, further comprising: - conversion means. (4) A nodule storage amount limiting switch is provided in the above hopper, and a switch is provided in the ore collection pipe wall to open and close the opening leading to the open sea, and 2. The ore collector according to claim 1, wherein the damper is controlled to open and close based on a nodule storage amount detection signal.