JPS5894594A - Apparatus for collecting manganese nodule - 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 is a method for collecting nodules such as manganese nodules existing on the seabed from a suction head provided at the tip of the ore collecting duct by a water flow generated in an ore collection duct while moving on the seabed. This invention relates to an ore collection device for manganese nodules, etc., which collects ores by suctioning them.

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, in order to mine this ore, it is necessary to collect the nodules distributed on the ocean floor 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.

Now, the seabed where manganese nodules exist is not necessarily flat, but there are undulations, upslopes and downslopes, and there are places where the seafloor changes in an arc shape or at a certain angle. Sometimes it forms a ridgeline.

Maximum 8/100 when designing manganese nodule concentrator
It is said that it is necessary to keep in mind the degree of seabed slope.

In addition, although seafloor sediments are generally soft, they are not uniform, and their bearing capacity ranges from 200 to 700 9/m2. For this reason, ore collectors are generally mounted on skis with a large contact area and supported on the seabed, but the amount of ski sinking varies depending on the softness of the seabed, and the difference can be as much as 30 crn. reach Furthermore, if the ski rides on the ridgeline of the above-mentioned seabed slope, a portion of the ski may sink into the seabed or become detached from the seabed.

As a result, if the suction head is too far from the seabed, it will only suck in seawater, and if the suction head sinks below the seafloor, it will suck in a large amount of seafloor sediment like a dredger.

The state of the manganese nodules on the seabed ranges from completely exposed, like a pole lying on the ground, to about half exposed above the seafloor, to almost completely sunk to the seabed, like an iceberg. It varies.

In addition, the size of manganese nodules varies, but due to the diameter of the ore lifting pipe, cost, etc., the size of manganese nodules is low, for example, 80 ~
Items with a diameter larger than 100 mm need to be sorted out and removed to prevent them from entering the suction head.

Considering the above-mentioned seabed topography, soil quality, and condition of manganese nodules, the suction head of the ore collecting device adjusts the relative height and inclination with the seabed surface, and the head is designed to adjust the relative height and inclination of the ore collector to the seabed surface, and to collect large-diameter nodules that exceed the predetermined ore nodules particle size range. It is necessary to operate while selecting and eliminating.

Conventional methods for adjusting the position and inclination of the suction head include:
A method has been proposed in which a bellows is installed between the ore collection duct and the suction head, and the bellows expands and contracts to follow changes in seabed height and slope. The length of the bellows becomes extremely long, and since the bellows has a thin wall, it is rapidly worn out by the nodules passing through the inside, shortening its life. Additionally, there are various problems such as the inability to reliably transmit the towing force from the mother ship to the suction head.

If the thickness of the bellows were increased to increase its strength, it would be difficult to follow the height and slope of the seabed.

In addition, as a so-called primary nodule sorting means for sorting out and eliminating large-diameter nodules that exceed the lifted ore grain size range, conventionally, a vertical sorting grid is installed in front of the suction head in a direction diagonal to the direction of travel, extending above and below the seabed surface. A method has been proposed in which the nodules that should be excluded are pushed outward using this sorting device, but in order for this sorting device to smoothly push out large diameter nodules outward, it is necessary to The disadvantage is that the angle must be quite acute, and the increased width of the suction head makes this sorting device very large.

This invention eliminates the above-mentioned drawbacks associated with the suction heads of conventionally proposed ore collectors, and allows the suction head to reliably follow the seabed height and slope with a simple configuration without using bellows. Another object of the present invention is to provide a manganese nodule collector capable of smoothly sorting and removing large diameter nodules using members much smaller than conventional ones.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to 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 hopper 1 substantially configured as a sealed container, a plurality of ore collecting ducts 2 (four in the figure) extending forward from the hopper 1, a suction head 3 attached to the hanging tip thereof, A mud water discharge pipe 4 extending rearward from the hopper 1 and opening into the open sea, an ore collection pump 5 and its drive motor 6 provided in the middle, and a mud water discharge pipe 4 which is connected to the nodule discharge port 1a at the bottom of the hopper and which is connected to the sea (not shown). The ore collecting device is towed by the mother ship, and an ore lifting connecting pipe 8 is connected to the ore lifting pipe 7 for lifting the ore nodules to the mother ship using an ore pump (not shown) installed on the way. They are mounted on one frame 9. Note that the ore lifting connecting pipe 8 and frame 9 are omitted in FIG. 2 to avoid complexity. frame 9
A bumper 10 is attached to the front end of the ore collecting device via a spring 11 in order to provide cushioning in the event that the ore collecting device collides with an obstacle while being towed.

4 at the position immediately in front of the part of the frame 9 that fixes the ore collection duct 2, that is, at the position directly above the suction head filter.
One end of the arm 12 is pivotally supported between the two suction heads and at five locations on both outer sides so that the arm 12 can swing in a vertical plane parallel to the direction of movement of the ore collector.
A seabed height detection wheel 13 is rotatably supported at the other end of the wheel 2 so as to be rotatable about a horizontal horizontal axis. The specific gravity of the wheel 13 is adjusted to be slightly higher than that of seawater by filling the interior with a buoyancy material, etc., so that when the ore collecting device moves forward, it does not sink into the seabed sediment surface and does not bounce up due to reaction etc. Always in contact with the seabed surface without
It is now able to roll.

A plurality of guide tubes 14 are vertically arranged in four rows on the lower surface of the frame 9, and correspondingly, a column 16 whose lower end is pivotally supported on the upper surface of the ski 15 is loosely fitted into the guide tube 14. are doing. A compression spring 17 is provided around the column 160, and the weight of the frame 9 and the device mounted thereon is equal to the spring 1.
It is supported by skis 15 via 7. The skis 15 are made of a flexible steel plate, etc., and bend to follow the seafloor topography, so the skis do not partially sink into the seabed sediments or come loose from the seafloor surface.
Expansion and contraction of frame 7 also prevents excessive force from being applied to frame 9.

Next, details of the suction head will be explained with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4. The tip of each suction head 3 was gradually waved in the lateral direction as shown in FIG. A support shaft 20 provided in the front and back direction on the center line of the front and rear walls at the lower end of the ore collecting duct 2 having a rectangular cross section has a predetermined angle range (i.e., the seabed slope 8
/100) is pivotably supported. This swing range is limited by a Lareta stopper 20' attached to the side wall of the ore collecting duct.

The suction head 6 is connected to a rectangular frame-shaped suction head neck member 21 that is pivotally supported by the support shaft 20 and surrounds the end of the ore collecting duct 2 with a slight clearance, and to both side plates of the member. Suction head front and rear blades 23 and 24 are pivotally supported by the suction head side plates so that their upper ends can swing so as to be connected to the lower ends of the front and rear walls of the lower member 21, respectively.
has. The height of the suction head opening, which is surrounded by the inner surfaces of the pair of suction head side plates 22 and the front and rear blades 23, 24, relative to the frame 9 changes depending on the swinging position of the front and rear blades 25 and 24. Front and rear blades 21.
A slight clearance is provided between both side edges of the suction head 24 and the suction head side plate 22.

As shown in FIG. 5, the suction head side plate 22 extends above and below the seabed surfaces BL and BL' at the high and low positions, and extends to a certain range before and after the range of the front and rear blades 23, 24, and its lower edge is at the front end. Approximately 30 meters from a point on the seafloor to the horizon
The neck member 21 is tilted toward the rear with an inclination of about °.
It points horizontally to the rear from just below.

Between the side plates 22, a plurality of flat pars 25 are arranged in parallel with the lower edges thereof at intervals of the maximum diameter of the lifted ore nodules, forming a grid for sorting the -order nodules.

This device is configured as described above.

This is lowered to the seabed, and the ore collection pump 5 is towed by the mother ship.
When the hopper 1 is operated, the pressure inside the hopper 1 is lower than the pressure in the open sea, and seawater flows through the opening formed by the side plates 22 of the suction head 30 and the tip edges of the front and rear blades 23, 24, and drains the manganese nodules and other nearby manganese nodules. It flows into the ore collection duct 2 with seabed sediments, enters the hopper 1, and when the flow rate decreases, the nodules fall to the bottom of the hopper 1 under their own weight and accumulate, and the seafloor sediments are suspended in seawater. The muddy water is discharged into the sea from the muddy water discharge pipe 4. The nodules accumulated at the bottom of the hopper are sequentially supplied to the ore lifting connecting pipe 8 through the lower opening 1a, and become a slurry together with seawater flowing in through the nodule slurry concentration adjustment valve 19, and the ore is transported inside the ore lifting pipe 7 to the mother ship on the sea for unloading. be done.

The height of the seabed immediately before the suction head 6 (relative height to the frame 9) and the horizontal cross-sectional shape of the seabed are determined by the included angle θ between the arm 12 and the frame 9, which changes with the vertical movement of the five seabed height detection wheels 13. Detection can be easily performed with sufficient accuracy for practical use. In this case,
When the seabed height detection wheel 13 passes over the nodule, the wheel rises momentarily, so it is preferable to exclude very short-term changes in the angle θ from the measurement.

For example, as shown in Figure 5, the cross-sectional shape of the seabed in the width direction of the suction head is
If there is a slope in the shape of a ``'', the five seabed height detection wheels 15 have different heights, so the amount of seafloor slope and the position of the ridge can be easily detected from the respective detection signals.

Based on this detection signal, a hydraulic drive device (not shown) rotates the neck member 21 of each suction head 3 around the support shaft 20 according to a predetermined program, as shown in FIG. Each suction head can be adapted to the slope of the seabed in its area.

In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, the front and rear blades 23 and 24 of the suction head are moved around the upper end of each shaft by a hydraulic drive device (not shown) as indicated by the broken lines in FIG. By displacing the suction head to an appropriate position between the two positions indicated by the solid line, the suction head opening position can be adapted to the seabed height.

As shown in Fig. 3, the front edge of the suction head front blade 25 has a cross-sectional shape that is strongly curved upwards, and the rear blade 24 has a gentle arc shape, so that external seawater flows along the blade. By bringing the tip of the rear blade 24 to a position slightly lower than the seabed surface, it is possible to easily collect not only nodules lying on the surface of the seabed sediments but also most of the nodules partially buried in the sediments. Even the nodules that have sunk into the sediment can be dug up and collected into the suction head, just as potatoes are harvested with a plow.

Depending on the quality of the seabed soil and the availability of manganese nodules,
It is also possible to increase the area of the suction port by displacing the rear blade 24 to the position 24' shown by the dashed line in FIG.

When suctioning seawater and nodules from the suction head, due to the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the suction head, there is a gap between the outer surface of the ore collecting duct 2 and the outer surface of the suction head neck member 21, and the side edges of the suction head front and rear blades 21, 240. External water flows into the suction head or ore collection duct through the play between the inner surface of the side plate of the suction head, but the play is small and there is also viscous resistance, so the inflow amount can be ignored. By allowing the water to flow through the gap, foreign matter such as seabed sediments that have entered the gap can be washed away, making the operation smoother.

Between the lower edges of the suction head side plates 22 on both sides, a grid in which a plurality of flat pars 25 are arranged in parallel at intervals of a predetermined sorting grain size is provided as a second nodule sorting means. Nodules with a diameter within this range pass through this grid and are sucked into the suction head, but nodules with a larger particle size are blocked by this grid and cannot enter the suction head, preventing the ore collector from advancing. As a result, the bottom surface of the sloping lattice pushes the seafloor sediment downward. Since the depth of pushing down the nodules is only a few tens of meters at most, this sorting grid can be made much smaller than the conventional primary sorting means that pushes out a width of several meters in the lateral direction.

In the above embodiment, the inclination of the suction head and the adjustment of the height of its opening are automatically performed via the hydraulic system based on the detection signal from the seabed height detection wheel. In addition to this, various known methods such as the use of sound waves can be used. In addition, the height adjustment of the suction head opening may be set in advance at a position suitable for the condition of the seabed soil, etc., if it is known in advance, or it may be adjusted by remote control from the mother ship at sea. can.

As described above, according to the present invention, with a simple configuration, it is possible to perform the primary sorting of nodules by adjusting the height and inclination of the suction head in accordance with the seabed topography and soil quality. A remarkable effect can be obtained in improving efficiency.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an ore collecting device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view with some members omitted, FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional view showing the suction head in detail, and FIG. FIG. 4 is a front view thereof, and FIG. 5 is a front view showing an example of a state in which each suction head is inclined in accordance with the inclination of the seabed surface. 2...Ore collection duct 3...Suction head 9
... Frame 12 ... Arm 13 ... Seabed height detection wheel 20 ... Suction head support shaft 21 ... Suction head rad neck member 22 ... Suction head side plate 23 ... Suction head front blade 24 ...Suction head rear blade 25...Flat bar (bar forming the sorting grid), back side Fig. 5 Fig. 4

Claims (3)

[Claims] (1) While moving on the seabed, the water flow generated in the ore collection duct sucks in nodules such as manganese nodules existing on the seabed through the suction head installed at the tip of the ore collection duct and collects the ore. In an ore collection device for manganese nodules, etc., the suction head includes a pair of vertical suction head side plates extending in the front and back direction connected directly or indirectly to the side plates at the tip of the ore collection duct, and the ore collection duct. The suction head has a front and rear blade tiger which is rotatably supported at the upper end so as to directly or indirectly continue with the front and rear walls of the tip hanging part, and is formed by the above-mentioned both side walls of the suction head and the front and rear blade tip edges. A device for collecting manganese nodules, etc., characterized in that the height of the suction head opening is adjusted by changing the swing angle of the front and rear blades. (2) Adjustment of the opening height of the suction head mentioned above. 2. The device for collecting manganese nodules and the like according to claim 1, wherein the detection is performed based on a detection signal from a single stage of seabed height detector located immediately in front of the suction head. (3) The above-mentioned seabed surface height detection means includes an arm whose one end is pivotally supported on a frame to which the above-mentioned ore collecting tally is fixed so as to be swingable in a vertical plane in the moving direction of the ore collecting device; and a wheel rotatably supported around a horizontal axis at the other end, and as the ore collecting device moves, the wheel is rolled on the seabed surface without sinking into the seabed surface, The device for collecting manganese nodules and the like according to claim 2, wherein the height of the seabed surface relative to the frame is detected from the angle of the arm relative to the frame.