KR20130095468A - Method for arranging and mining a lifting system in the bottom of the sea - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A seabed arranging and mining method of an ocean mining system is provided to stably arrange an ocean mining system for mining deep seabed minerals without a seabed current effect, and to steadily perform mining operations. CONSTITUTION: A seabed arranging and mining method of an ocean mining system comprises the following steps. A first drop rope (20) is installed on a crane apparatus (11) of a mine boat (10); and a seabed support tank (40), which is connected to the end of the first drop rope, is input through a moon pool into the sea, and settled on the seabed. A second drop rope is installed on the crane apparatus; and an ocean mining pump, which is connected to the end of the second drop rope, is input through the moon pool into the sea. A docking device of the ocean mining pump, which is connected to the end of the second drop rope, is docked with a docking device (41) of the seabed support tank on the seabed to form a suction flow path of slurry.

Description

METHODS FOR ARRANGING AND MINING A LIFTING SYSTEM IN THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA}

The present invention relates to an ocean floor arrangement and a mining method of a mining system, and relates to a seabed arrangement and a mining method of a lifting system capable of stably arranging a lifting system for subsea mineral collection of deep seabed without being affected by the seabed algae.

There are various types of systems for collecting sea minerals, such as manganese nodule, which are distributed on the sea floor. However, the overall trend is to collect concentrators, lifting pumps and collectors and pumps that collect sea minerals from the sea floor. It is composed of a conduit which transfers the sea minerals and fins and seawater collected from the condenser while connecting, and a condenser which transfers the above-mentioned slurry (sea minerals and fins and sea water) from the lifting pump to a ship or platform on the sea.

Increasing demand for global mineral resources has made marine minerals a new alternative.

Such a system for mining deep seabed minerals includes a collector for collecting the network nodules on the bottom of the deep sea as shown in FIG. 1, flexible pipes connected to the collector and transferring the network nodules to the positive pump, and a flexible pipe. It is composed of a lifting pump and a lifting pipe (lifting pipes) connected to the lifting pump to provide a transfer power to the offshore vessel treatment apparatus for processing or storing the subsea minerals collected in connection with the lifting pipe.

In the flexible pipe connecting the collector and the lifting pump, the negative pressure (-) generated at the suction port of the lifting pump is the driving force for transporting the submarine minerals, water and seawater from the collector to the lifting pump. In other words, the suction pressure of the lifting pump raises the slurry.

In addition, the lifting system is equipped with a buffer system, which acts as an additional weight to increase the stability of the pipe and acts as a connecting device between the flexible pipe and the pipe and regulates and supplies the sea minerals transferred by the flexible pipe system to the inside of the light pipe. It has a function.

Currently, such a lifting system is mostly inefficient due to the know-how and accumulated data of skilled workers without standardized arrangement methods, and is therefore inefficient. In particular, the size of the lifting device basically weighs several tens of tons or more. Since it has a large size in proportion to it, there was a conventional limitation that the size of the skylight had to be very large so that it could easily handle the light equipment.

In addition, the biggest problem that can occur in the seafloor arrangement of the conventional hauling system is that since the elements constituting the hauling system move under the influence of the sea tide, the seafloor arrangement and mining work is very demanding and requires skilled know-how. Is the point.

In particular, the recent extraction of deep sea mineral resources, which require deeper seabed work, requires the technology to arrange the bottom of more stable and efficient mining systems. It is necessary to develop a photovoltaic system so that the mining work can be stably performed despite the sudden movement occurring on the ship.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, the object of the present invention is to provide a seabed arrangement and mining method of the lifting system that can stably arrange the lifting system for subsea minerals extraction of deep seabed without being affected by the seabed algae To provide.

According to one aspect of the invention, as a subsea arrangement and mining method of a mining system using a mining line, (a) equipped with a first drop rope to the crane equipment of the mining line, the bottom support tank at the end of the first drop rope Connecting to put into the seabed through the door pool seating on the seabed; (b) installing a second drop rope to the crane equipment, connecting a lifting pump coupled with a positive pipe to the end of the second drop rope, and feeding the seabed through the door pool; And (c) docking the docking device of the lift pump connected to the end of the second dropping rope at the seabed with the docking device of the bottom support tank to form a suction flow path of the slurry; It provides a subsea arrangement and mining method of the lifting system comprising a.

Preferably, in the step (b), the lifting pump is installed on the lifting guide and the induction guide is connected to the first falling rope so that the lifting pump descends to the seabed along the first falling rope when the lifting pump descends. It is characterized by.

Preferably, after the step (c), (d) the crane equipment of the mining line lifts the first descent rope and the second descent rope in water and the mining line is moved to perform the condensing and lifting work of the next point. ; And further comprising:

Preferably, the bottom support tank is connected to the flexible tube of the collector through the side, characterized in that the docking device is provided on the upper surface.

Preferably, the lifting pump is provided with a docking device on the bottom, characterized in that the lifting power cable connected to the lifting pump is attached to the second drop rope.

Preferably, (e) releasing the docking device of the lifting pump from the docking device of the bottom support tank; (f) pulling the second drop rope through the crane equipment of the mining line to lift the lift pump; And (g) pulling the first descent rope through the crane equipment of the mining line to lift the bottom support tank; And further comprising:

According to the present invention, there is an effect that can be arranged stably and efficiently without the influence of the seabed algae, the lifting system for collecting the seabed minerals of the deep seabed.

In addition, there is also an effect that can be arranged stably the daylight system on the seabed even if the size of the skylight is not large compared with the prior art.

In addition, there is an effect that the mining work can be stably performed even under sudden changes of the seabed algae during the mining or sudden movements on the ship.

In particular, by subdividing the subsea arrangement and recovery of the mining equipment, the weight and size of the equipment considered in the arrangement can be reduced by half, and the size of the vessel and the size of the vessel handling the lifting equipment can be reduced as well. Difficulty can be reduced.

1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional submarine mineral mining system.
2 to 5 are views for explaining an arrangement method of a light lifting system according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, an embodiment of a seabed arrangement and a mining method of a light lifting system according to the present invention will be described in more detail.

In the following description, first, a method of installing a light lifting system on the seabed according to the present invention will be described first, and a method of recovering the installed light lifting system as a light beam will be described.

The lifting system to which the present invention is applied is to collect the seabed minerals distributed on the sea bottom, and is connected to the collector for collecting the sea minerals from the sea bottom, and is closely attached to the sea bottom to support the bottom support tank for fixing the rope necessary for installation. 40, a lift pump 50 connected to the bottom support tank 40 and sending slurry (sea minerals and water and seawater) collected through a condenser, and connected to the lift pump 50 and lifted It consists of a positive pipe 60 which transfers the said slurry sent out from the pump 50 to the marine light line 10.

In addition, the first dropping rope 20 and the skylight 10 and the lifting pump 50 respectively connected to the mining line 10 and the bottom support tank 40 for installing and recovering the lifting system on the seabed. Each of the second drop rope 30 is connected to the) and the first drop rope 20 is slidably connected to include a guide guide 70 for supporting the lifting pump 50 from the seabed.

Referring now to Figures 2 to 5, a method of installing a light lifting system on the seabed according to the present invention will first be described in detail.

First, referring to FIG. 2, the skylight 10 has a moon pool, which is a large opening, and is equipped with a crane equipment 11 that can lift and lift the substrate into the deep sea through the door pool.

And one side of the first descending rope 20 is equipped with such a crane equipment 11, the other side of the first lowering rope 20 is connected to the bottom support tank 40.

Here, the bottom support tank 40 is a heavy weight support device for preventing the lifting system installed on the bottom of the sea floor from being affected by algae, sufficient weight (for example, 30 to 50 tons) and sufficient size (for example, width 25). M 2 or more).

And the bottom support tank 40 is provided with a flexible pipe connecting portion 43 for connecting with the flexible pipe of the collector to collect the sea minerals on one side (preferably the side), the other side (preferably the top surface) ) Is provided with a docking device 41 for connecting to the lifting pump (50). Therefore, the slurry collected from the collector is transferred to the bottom support tank 40 through the flexible pipe, and thus the slurry delivered to the bottom support tank 40 is transferred to the skylight 10 by the pumping action of the lift pump 50. It is being pulled up.

That is, the bottom support tank 40 acts as a buffer for transporting the slurry through an internal flow path during the transfer through the lift pump 50 of the slurry mined by the collector, in particular, it is seated on the bottom of the sea. It will then act as a heavy weight bottom support that can prevent flow of the light collector and lift system into the seabed.

The other side (preferably the upper surface) of the bottom support tank 40 is provided with a rope fixing part 42 for connection with the above-described first dropping rope 20.

Here, the first dropping rope 20 is configured to send the bottom support tank 40 down to the sea bottom according to the adjustment of the crane equipment 11 of the mining line 10, preferably a steel wire ), But the present invention is not limited thereto, and any one can be applied as long as the rope can lower the bottom support tank 40 to the sea floor and pull it up again.

And for convenience of description, in FIG. 2 and the following drawings, the number of connections of the first dropping rope 20 is illustrated as being two lines, but the number of connections of the first dropping rope 20 is the corresponding bottom support tank ( 40 is a number that can be stably maintained at the bottom of the sea, may be connected by varying the number depending on the conditions of the crane equipment 11 of the mining line 10 or the shape of the bottom support tank 40, and the like. .

As shown in FIG. 2, the bottom support tank 40 descends the sea floor according to the traction adjustment of the first descending rope 20 of the crane equipment 11 of the mining line 10. Likewise, since the bottom support tank 40 itself has a very heavy weight, it is possible to descend in a desired direction according to the simple descent adjustment of the crane equipment 11 without being affected by the tide of the seabed.

And the bottom support tank 40 dropped in this way is to be seated on the bottom as shown in FIG. As a result, the skylight 10 and the bottom support tank 40 are stably arranged in a row by the first dropping rope 20. The first dropping rope 20 lowers the lifting pump 50 to be described later. It acts as a stable guideline for raising.

4, the lifting pump 50 for connecting to the bottom support tank 40 is lowered to the bottom. For this purpose, one side of the second descending rope 30 is provided in the crane equipment 11. The other side of the second drop rope 30 is provided with a lifting pump 50 is connected.

Here, the second descending rope 30 is configured to send down the lift pump 50 to the bottom support tank 40 on the bottom in accordance with the adjustment of the crane equipment 11 of the mining line 10, and is preferable. Preferably, the steel wire (steel wire), but the present invention is not limited thereto, any strong rope that can be pulled down to the bottom of the lifting pump 50 and pulled up again can be applied.

For convenience of description, in FIG. 4 and the following drawings, the number of connection of the second dropping rope 30 is shown as one line, but the number of connection of the second dropping rope 30 is the corresponding lifting pump 50. It may be any number that can be stably maintained at the seabed, depending on the condition of the crane equipment 11 of the skylight 10 or the shape of the lifting pump 50 may be connected to vary the number.

Here, the lifting pump 50 is provided with a docking device 51 for connecting to the bottom support tank 40 on one side (preferably the bottom), the other side (preferably the top) The positive pipe 60 connected to the skylight 10 is connected.

In addition, the other side (preferably the upper surface) of the lifting pump 50 is connected to the lifting power cable 52 for the operation of the lifting pump 50 to power the pump 100 from the skylight 10. Will be supplied. In this case, the photovoltaic power cable 52 is attached to the second drop rope 30 to increase stability of the photovoltaic power cable 52 and to support the weight of the cable itself by the second drop rope 30. .

Therefore, the slurry collected from the collector is transferred to the bottom support tank 40 through the flexible pipe, and the slurry transferred to the bottom support tank 40 is thus transferred to the positive pipe 60 by the pumping action of the lifting pump 50. The ride will be pulled into the sky (10). Here, the first positive pipe connected to the positive pump 50 is preferably provided with a flexible pipe to withstand the lateral vibration caused by the underwater tidal current.

A attraction guide 70 is coupled to the lifting pump 50 having such a configuration.

The attracting guide 70 is a plate as a whole and has a structure in which a central portion is fixed to the lifting pump 50, and both end portions are formed of a sliding portion 71 such as a circular ring and the like. Will be connected with.

Therefore, the lifting pump 50 lowered or raised by the second descent rope 30 is coupled to the attracting guide 70 and thus slides along the first descent rope 20 while the descent path or the rising path is fixed. Can be maintained. In particular, the lifting pump 50 having a relatively light weight is strong by such a guide guide 70, but when the first drop rope 20 as a guideline when ascending, it is not affected by the algae, stable descent path or ascending path Will be able to maintain.

In FIG. 4 and FIG. 5, the attraction guide 70 is illustrated as being coupled to the upper and lower portions of the lifting pump 50, respectively, but the present invention is not limited thereto. It can be combined by varying the number depending on the shape of the (50).

On the other hand, the dropping pump 50 is lowered by the docking device 41 of the bottom support tank 40 and docked in the seabed through the docking device 51 as shown in FIG. 5 to lift the slurry collected in the collector A suction flow path for moving onboard is formed through the pump 50, thus completing the arrangement of the system for lifting.

The docking devices 41 and 51 may be in various forms. For example, the two docking devices 41 and 51 are adjacent to each other using magnetic force, and the suction and compression devices built into the docking device 51 of the lift pump 50 are operated by electric power to provide two docking devices 41 and 51. By fastening the docking can be made underwater.

In this case, connecting the flexible pipe of the condenser to the bottom support tank 40 is made separately by a remote operating vehicle (ROV, Remote Operating Vehicle) that can be remotely controlled, the two docking devices ( 41, 51 may be docked.

As described above, the method of installing the lifting system on the seabed in the mining line 10 has been described. When the light collecting and lifting work is completed at one point, the crane equipment 11 of the mining line 10 is the first descent rope 20 and the second. Lifting the descent rope 30 in the water slightly and the mining line 10 is moved to be able to collect and lift the next point.

The method of recovering this light lifting system back to the skylight 10 proceeds in the reverse order of the installation method.

That is, first, the docking state between the docking device 51 of the lifting pump 50 and the docking device 41 of the bottom support tank 40 is released, and through the crane equipment 11 of the skylight 10 The second drop rope 30 is pulled to lift the lift pump 50. At this time, since the lifting pump 50 is connected to the first dropping rope 20 through the attraction guide 70, the lifting pump 50 and the lifting pipe 60 use the first dropping rope 20 as a guide line. It may be correctly pulled into the door pool of the light beam 10.

Thereafter, in the mining line 10, the first lower rope 20 is pulled through the crane equipment 11 to raise the bottom support tank 40 to the door pool.

By subdividing the subsea arrangement and recovery of the mining equipment in this way, the weight and scale of the equipment considered in the arrangement can be reduced by half, and the size of the vessel handling the lifting equipment can be reduced and the size of the vessel can be reduced as well. The difficulty of the work can be reduced.

As described above, an optimal embodiment has been disclosed in the drawings and specification. Although specific terms have been employed herein, they are used for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention as defined in the claims or the claims. Therefore, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications and equivalent embodiments are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the true technical protection scope of the present invention will be defined by the technical spirit of the appended claims.

10: mining line 11: crane equipment
20: first dropping rope 30: second dropping rope
40: bottom support tank 41: docking device
42: rope fixing part 43: flexible pipe connection
50: lifting pump 51: docking device
52: positive power cable 60: positive light tube
70: attraction guide 71: sliding part

Claims (6)

A seabed arrangement and a mining method of a lifting system using a mining beam,
(a) installing a first descent rope on the crane equipment of the mining line, connecting the bottom support tank to the end of the first descent rope, and injecting it into the seabed through the door pool and seating on the bottom;
(b) installing a second drop rope to the crane equipment, connecting a lifting pump coupled with a positive pipe to the end of the second drop rope, and feeding the seabed through the door pool; And
(c) docking the docking device of the lift pump connected to the end of the second dropping rope at the seabed with the docking device of the bottom support tank to form a suction flow path of the slurry; Submarine arrangement and mining method of the lifting system comprising a.
The method of claim 1,
In the step (b)
The lifting pump is installed in the lifting pump and connects the drawing guide to the first dropping rope so that the lifting pump descends to the seabed along the first dropping rope when the lifting pump descends. Way.
The method of claim 1,
After the step (c)
(d) the crane equipment of the mining line lifts the first drop rope and the second drop rope into the water and moves the mining line to collect and lift the next point; Submarine arrangement and mining method of the lifting system further comprises.
The method of claim 1,
The bottom support tank is connected to the flexible pipe of the light collector through the side, the bottom surface arrangement and mining method of the lifting system, characterized in that the docking device is provided on the upper surface.
The method of claim 1,
The lifting pump is provided with a docking device on the lower surface, the lifting power cable connected to the lifting pump is attached to the second drop rope, submarine arrangement and mining method of the lifting system.
6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
(e) releasing the docking device of the lifting pump from the docking device of the bottom support tank;
(f) pulling the second drop rope through the crane equipment of the mining line to lift the lift pump; And
(g) pulling a first descent rope through the crane equipment of the mining line to raise the bottom support tank; Submarine arrangement and mining method of the lifting system further comprises.

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