JPS5969374A - Underwater cleaner - 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 relates to an improvement in an underwater cleaning machine for scraping off deposits on a wall surface underwater, which reduces the power required to collect the scraped matter.

Shellfish and algae grow attached to waterways such as thermal and nuclear power plants, the outer panels of ships below the waterline, and marine structures. Therefore, in a waterway, not only does it create resistance to flowing water, but also the detached attached organisms impede the normal operation of various devices installed downstream.

In addition, it causes a decrease in speed and an increase in fuel consumption in ships, and causes corrosion and erosion in offshore structures.

For this reason, these attached organisms are removed using manned and unmanned underwater cleaning machines, but there is currently no efficient method for recovering the removed shellfish and algae.

Shells and algae removed by the underwater cleaner can be stored in a net bag made of nylon or the like if the amount is small. However, such cases are extremely rare, and generally it must be transported to the ground using a vacuum pump, submersible pump, jet pump, ejector method, etc.

When transporting and storing these marine organisms, it is necessary to pump up a huge amount of seawater at the same time as transporting the shellfish and algae. Therefore, in any of the above-mentioned systems, the required power of the prime mover becomes extremely large.

In order to address the above-mentioned problems, the present invention utilizes the characteristics of an underwater cleaning machine to reduce the amount of seawater required for pumping up in advance and reduce the capacity of the prime mover when transporting the same amount of shellfish and algae. It was proposed for the purpose of energy saving, and includes a ballast tank that adjusts the buoyancy of the device underwater, drive wheels that allow the device to run on a wall underwater,
A rotating brush provided in a position facing the wall surface of the device main body is provided in a through hole provided in the device main body, and the scraped material removed by the rotating brush is sucked together with water from the entrance of the through hole. and an impeller for ejecting the jet from the outlet of the through hole, a means for giving a swirling flow to the jet jet ejecting from the outlet of the through hole, a collection net provided at the outlet of the through hole, and a means connected to the outer peripheral surface of the collection net. To provide an underwater cleaning machine characterized by being equipped with a scraped material suction hose.

In the device of the present invention, by having the above configuration,
The main body of the device travels underwater over a wall surface such as a waterway or a ship's outer plate, and the first rotary brush is driven to scrape off deposits on the wall surface, and the scraped deposits are delivered to the main body of the device along with water flow by an impeller. It passes through the through hole and is stored in the collection net.

At this time, by providing a means for giving a swirling flow to the jet stream ejected from the outlet of the through hole, the scraped material is biased towards the outer periphery of the collection net due to the swirling movement of the flowing water, and is connected to the outer periphery of the collection net. Highly concentrated scrapings are collected together with water from the scrapings suction hose.

Since the scraping proboscis and water are roughly separated in advance in the collection net, a large amount of water is not sucked up when collecting the scraped material, and the power required for collection can be significantly reduced. .

Next, one embodiment of the device of the present invention will be described based on the drawings.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, 1 is a ballast tank that constitutes the cleaning machine body, 2 is a duct, and 3 is a fixed water flow guide provided inside a through hole 18 provided in the center of the ballast tank 1. 4 is a drive motor that rotates an impeller 5 similarly provided inside the through hole 18; 6 is a brush mounting plate that is provided at the entrance of the through hole 18 and rotates by the drive shaft of the drive motor 4; 7 is a brush. A cleaning brush is attached to the mounting board 6, 8 is a drive wheel that allows the cleaning machine to run on the wall surface 19 underwater, 9 is a control valve box that controls the drive wheel 8, 10 is an underwater television camera mounting base, Reference numeral 11 designates hoses and cables for remote control, 12 a light fitting, 13 a bumper, and 14 a cylindrical recovery net connected to the duct 2 constituting the outlet of the through hole 18.

In such an apparatus, the drive motor 4 drives the impeller 5 to jet seawater from the duct 2, and the cleaning machine body is attracted to the cleaning surface 19 by the reaction force. Coaxially with this motor 4, there is a brush mounting board 6 with a brush 7.
Brushing work is performed as the machine rotates. The underwater cleaning machine shown in the figure is an unmanned robot-type machine that has a hose attached from the ground.
The power sent through the control valve whistle 9 operates the control valve in the control valve whistle 9, moves the drive wheels 8, and moves the cleaner body in a predetermined direction.

Note that the underwater cleaning machine is monitored by resolving images taken by a television camera mounted on an underwater television camera mount 10 on a monitor on the ground.

The shellfish separated from the cleaning surface by the brush 7 is ejected from the duct 2 together with the seawater sent by the impeller 5, but at this time, the water flow is passed through the water flow guide vanes 3 to give an appropriate swirl to the water flow. At this time, the swirling kinetic energy of the running water causes the shellfish to be biased toward the outer periphery of the collection net 14, and a large amount of seawater is released from the top of the collection net 14.

In one direction, shellfish with a high concentration in the water are sent to the ground through a collection net 15 in the shape of a truncated cone and a suction hose 16 connected by a flange 17.

The mesh of the truncated conical collection net 15 is made finer than that of the collection net 14, and during operation, it is almost clogged with each rotation to prevent seawater from flowing into this part.

Note that some underwater cleaning machines have the impeller 5 and the cleaning brush 7 on the same axis, while others have them on separate axes.According to experiments, the amount of exfoliated shellfish ejected from the duct 2 is lower in the former type. 100%, the latter is 90%. Further, the amount of seawater when rough separation is performed by this apparatus is about 1/2 of the amount of seawater when rough separation is not performed.

For example, if we are cleaning a power plant intake channel and plan to transport it to the ground using a combination of a vacuum pump and a jet pump,
The required power is approximately 100 kW, but if a collection network is attached as in this device, the required power can be reduced to approximately 50 kW.

Incidentally, when the rotation angle is increased, the rotational kinetic energy of the flowing water increases, and the separation performance of shellfish and water improves, but the adsorption force associated with the jetting of seawater decreases.

The optimum turning angle is about 30°.

In the above embodiment, a guide vane was provided to give an appropriate swirling flow to the impeller outlet flow, but the impeller vane angle was changed so that an appropriate swirling flow remained in the impeller outlet flow without providing such a guide vane. may be set.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

1 and 2 are a partially cutaway elevational view and a plan view showing an embodiment of the apparatus of the present invention. 1... Ballast tank, 2... Duct, 3... Water flow guide vane, 5... Impeller, 6... Brush mounting board, 7... Cleaning brush, 8... Drive wheel, 14...
・Cylindrical collection net, 15...Truncated hammer-shaped collection net, 16.
...Suction hose, 18...through hole. Agent Akira Sakama

Claims (1)

[Claims] A ballast tank that adjusts the buoyancy of the device body in water, a driving heavy wheel that allows the device body to travel on a wall surface underwater, a rotating brush provided at a position facing the wall surface of the device body, a rotating brush provided in the device body. an impeller installed in a through hole, which sucks the scraper removed by the rotating brush along with water from the inlet of the homogeneous through hole, and jets it out of the outlet of the through hole; What is claimed is: 1. An underwater cleaning machine characterized by comprising means for applying a swirling flow, a collection net provided at the outlet of the through hole, and a scraped material suction hose connected to the outer peripheral surface of the collection net.