KR101750953B1 - Seabed mineral lifting system and controlling method thereof - Google Patents

Seabed mineral lifting system and controlling method thereof Download PDF

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Publication number
KR101750953B1
KR101750953B1 KR1020150128558A KR20150128558A KR101750953B1 KR 101750953 B1 KR101750953 B1 KR 101750953B1 KR 1020150128558 A KR1020150128558 A KR 1020150128558A KR 20150128558 A KR20150128558 A KR 20150128558A KR 101750953 B1 KR101750953 B1 KR 101750953B1
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South Korea
Prior art keywords
buffer
mining
flange
movement
robot
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KR1020150128558A
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Korean (ko)
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KR20170030965A (en
Inventor
최승원
진용민
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삼성중공업 주식회사
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Priority to KR1020150128558A priority Critical patent/KR101750953B1/en
Publication of KR20170030965A publication Critical patent/KR20170030965A/en
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    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
    • E21C—MINING OR QUARRYING
    • E21C50/00—Obtaining minerals from underwater, not otherwise provided for
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02F—DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING
    • E02F3/00—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines
    • E02F3/04—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines mechanically-driven
    • E02F3/88—Dredgers; Soil-shifting machines mechanically-driven with arrangements acting by a sucking or forcing effect, e.g. suction dredgers
    • E02F3/8858—Submerged units
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02F—DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING
    • E02F7/00—Equipment for conveying or separating excavated material
    • E02F7/005—Equipment for conveying or separating excavated material conveying material from the underwater bottom
    • E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
    • E02—HYDRAULIC ENGINEERING; FOUNDATIONS; SOIL SHIFTING
    • E02F—DREDGING; SOIL-SHIFTING
    • E02F7/00—Equipment for conveying or separating excavated material
    • E02F7/02—Conveying equipment mounted on a dredger
    • E02F7/023—Conveying equipment mounted on a dredger mounted on a floating dredger

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
  • Civil Engineering (AREA)
  • General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Structural Engineering (AREA)
  • Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
  • Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
  • Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
  • Geology (AREA)
  • Drilling And Exploitation, And Mining Machines And Methods (AREA)

Abstract

An undersea mineralsupply system and a control method thereof are disclosed. According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a submarine mineral positive system comprising: a mining robot for mining subsurface undersea minerals; A buffer connected to the mining robot through a mining pipe, for temporarily storing submarine mineral from the mining robot; And a flange structure integrally coupled to a riser for lifting the submarine mineral temporarily stored in the buffer to the skyline, wherein the buffer is rotatably coupled to the flange structure.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a seabed mineral lifting system and a control method thereof,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a submarine mineral positive system and a control method thereof.

Undersea mineral resources are largely submarine hydrothermal, manganese nodule, manganese, and are entering the market for full-scale production worldwide.

In particular, manganese nodule is a manganese-based mass found in the deep sea bed, which is flat or spherical and amorphous with dark brownish color. These manganese nodules are industrially valuable, and research has been carried out on mining methods in the deep sea since the 1970s.

Generally, when mining submarine mineral resources such as manganese nodule, the same concept as FIG. 1 is commonly used.

FIG. 1 is a view for explaining the concept of a general submarine mineral positive system.

1, a mining robot 50 mined minerals 1 on the sea floor, and temporarily stored in an intermediate buffer or a light pump 30 through a mining pipe 40. And then comes to the light vessel 10 through the riser 20.

As shown in FIG. 1, the riser 20 can be handled as a cantilever since it is separated from the sea floor, so that the load due to the movement of the mining robot 50 is transmitted to the riser 20.

The connection between the buffer 30 and the mining robot 50 is generally made of one point as shown in the figure. In this case, the movement of the mining robot is not free and the force transmitted to the riser becomes large.

As a related technology of mining equipment, Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2013-0057808 discloses a mining device which is easy to mining undersea minerals (rare earths, etc.) contained in sediments such as mud layers.

Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2013-0057808 (published on March 03, 2013)

The present invention is to provide a submarine mineral pumping system and a control method thereof that can freely rotate a buffer according to the movement of a mining robot to minimize a load transmitted to a riser.

The present invention is to provide a submarine mineral pumping system and a control method thereof, in which a buffer freely rotates in the movement of a mining robot while preventing rotation by submarine algae to ensure stability.

Other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent from the following description.

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mining robot for mining undersea minerals; A buffer connected to the mining robot through a mining pipe, for temporarily storing submarine mineral from the mining robot; And a flange structure integrally coupled to a riser for lifting the submarine mineral temporarily stored in the buffer to a mining vessel, wherein the buffer is rotatably coupled to the flange structure.

The flange structure includes: a cylindrical body portion; And an upper flange and a lower flange provided at upper and lower portions of the body portion to have a diameter larger than the diameter of the body portion, wherein the upper surface of the buffer has a diameter larger than the diameter of the body portion and smaller than a diameter of the upper flange and the lower flange A mounting hole having a diameter may be formed to penetrate the body, and the body may be rotatably coupled.

Wherein at least one of a lower surface of the upper flange and an upper surface of the lower flange has a plurality of fixing grooves formed at regular intervals on a circumference having a predetermined radius from the center, And a stopper protruding or retracting from the upper surface may be provided.

The stopper may be controlled to be pulled in only when the mining robot moves in the rotating direction.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a control method of a seabed mineral preliminary light system having a flange structure between a riser and a buffer, wherein a plurality of fixing grooves and stoppers are formed in the buffer and the flange structure, Receiving a motion signal transmitted from a mining robot by a signal receiving unit of the buffer; discriminating a kind of motion of the mining robot by analyzing the motion signal in a control unit of the buffer; Controlling the stopper to be pulled in when the movement type is the movement in the rotation direction and projecting and controlling the stopper when the movement type is movement in a certain zone .

Wherein the step of discriminating the type of motion when the movement of the mining robot is moved from one area to another area when the plurality of fixing grooves are divided into a plurality of areas such that each of the plurality of fixing grooves is disposed at the center of the area around the center axis of the flange structure Can be regarded as a movement in the rotation direction.

Other aspects, features, and advantages will become apparent from the following drawings, claims, and detailed description of the invention.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, there is an effect that the load transmitted to the riser can be minimized by allowing the buffer to freely rotate according to the movement of the mining robot.

In addition, the buffer is free to rotate in the movement of the mining robot, but the rotation by the submarine algae is prevented to secure the stability.

1 is a view for explaining the concept of a general submarine mineral dumping system,
2 is a schematic view of a submarine mineral positive system according to an embodiment of the present invention,
3 is an exploded perspective view of a submarine mineral positive system,
4 is a side cross-sectional view of an undersea mineral positive system,
5 is a view showing an operation of an undersea mineralsupply system,
6 is a flowchart of a method for controlling a submarine mineral dumping system according to an embodiment of the present invention,
7 is a view showing a zone compartment for discriminating the rotation direction movement of the mining robot;

While the invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will herein be described in detail. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention.

It is to be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected" or "connected" to another element, it may be directly connected or connected to the other element, . On the other hand, when an element is referred to as being "directly connected" or "directly connected" to another element, it should be understood that there are no other elements in between.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. The singular expressions include plural expressions unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. In this specification, the terms "comprises" or "having" and the like refer to the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof, But do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

The terms first, second, etc. may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from another.

Also, the terms " part, "" module," " unit, "and the like, which are described in the specification, mean a unit for processing at least one function or operation and may be implemented by hardware or software or a combination of hardware and software .

It is to be understood that the components of the embodiments described with reference to the drawings are not limited to the embodiments and may be embodied in other embodiments without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is to be understood that although the description is omitted, multiple embodiments may be implemented again in one integrated embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to the like elements throughout. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.

FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a submarine mineral dumping system according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of a submarine mineral dumping system, FIG. 4 is a side sectional view of a submarine mineral dumping system, Fig. 7 is a view showing the operation of the mineral positive system.

2 to 5 show a detailed configuration of a mining vessel 110, a submarine mineral admissions system 100, a riser 120, a buffer 130, a mining pipe 140, a mining robot 150, a flange structure 160, The first fixing groove 222, the second fixing groove 232, the first stopper 134, and the first stopper 134. The first fixing groove 220, the body 210, the lower flange 230, the through hole 162, the mounting hole 132, And the second stopper 136 are disclosed.

The submarine mineral dumping system according to an embodiment of the present invention allows the buffer that temporarily stores submarine minerals collected by the mining robot through the riser to be collected before the mining vessel is rotated depending on the movement of the mining robot to cause excessive load Thereby allowing free movement of the mining robot.

The submarine mineral dazzling system 100 according to the present embodiment includes a riser 120 connected to a lower portion of a mining vessel 110, a buffer 130 rotatably connected to the riser 120, To the buffer 130 via the lightning robot 150.

The mining robot 150 is a concentrator for collecting submarine minerals such as manganese nodules distributed on the ocean floor while traveling on the deep sea floor.

There may be a mineral reclamation for collecting mined submarine minerals, a suction pump for collecting minerals, a crusher for crushing mined submarine minerals, and the like.

The mining robot 150 is further provided with a communication unit (not shown) that can be remotely controlled from the mining ship 110 and receives a control signal through wired or wireless communication and transmits information about its own movement .

The mining pipe 140 is a flexible pipe and connects between the mining robot 150 and the buffer 130 to provide a path through which the submarine mineral collected in the mining robot 150 is transported to the buffer 130 do.

The buffer 130 may be a light pump and provides a transfer force to the mining pipe 140. Negative pressure (-) generated at the suction port of the buffer 130 may be a driving force for transferring the submarine mineral, mildew and seawater from the mining robot 150, particularly, from the mineral rejection to the buffer 130. That is, the suction pressure of the buffer 130 raises the slurry.

The buffer 130 also acts to increase the stability of the movement of the riser 120 and to increase the stability of the movement of the light pipe 140 and the riser 120 As shown in Fig. In this process, the submarine mineral transported through the mining pipe 140 is regulated and supplied to the inside of the riser 120.

The riser 120 lifts the slurry containing the subsurface minerals in the buffer 130 to the mining vessel 110 and the mining vessel 110 separates the subsurface minerals from the lifted slurry through the riser 120 to provide a separate storage Store in space.

The buffer 130 connected to the mining robot 150 through the mining pipe 140 is connected to the mining robot 150 via the mining robot 150. In the present embodiment, 150 relative to the riser 120 can be achieved.

3 and 4, the flange structure 160 includes a top flange 220, a body portion 210, and a bottom flange 230.

The body portion 210 has a cylindrical shape and the upper end flange 220 and the lower end flange 230 have a larger diameter d2 than the diameter d1 of the body portion 210 (d1 <d2).

A penetration hole 162 through which the lower end of the riser 120 passes is formed at the center of the upper flange 220, the body 210 and the lower flange 230 to contain the submarine mineral transferred into the buffer 130 To be lifted through the riser 120.

The lower end of the riser 120 passes through the through hole 162 and the outer peripheral surface of the riser 120 is fixed to the through hole 162 so that the flange structure 160 is integrally coupled to the riser 120.

On the upper surface of the buffer 130, an installation hole 132 through which the flange structure 160 is rotatably installed is formed.

The diameter d3 of the installation hole 132 is larger than the diameter d1 of the body 210 and smaller than the diameter d2 of the upper flange 220 and the lower flange 230 (d1 <d3 <d2). Thus, when the flange structure 160 is installed in the mounting hole 132, the buffer 130 is separated from the buffer 130 by the upper flange 220 and the lower flange 230, .

A bearing (not shown) may be provided between the outer diameter of the body 210 and the inner diameter of the mounting hole 132 for smooth rotation. The bearing allows the buffer 130 to have a low rotational friction force with respect to the flange structure 160 and to easily rotate with less force.

A plurality of first fixing grooves 222 may be formed on the lower surface of the upper flange 220 on the circumference having a predetermined radius r1 from the center at predetermined intervals.

A first stopper 134 may be provided on the outer circumference of the buffer 130 to have a predetermined radius r1 from the center of the mounting hole 132 to correspond to the first fixing groove 222 . The first stopper 134 may protrude or be guided out of the upper surface of the buffer 130 according to a control signal.

5 (a), when the mining robot 150 miners submarine mineral in a certain area, the first stopper 134 protrudes to form a plurality of first fixing grooves 134 formed on the lower surface of the upper flange 220, (222) to prevent the buffer (130) from rotating relative to the flange structure (160). That is, the buffer 130 is fixed so as not to rotate with respect to the riser 120, so that rotation of the buffer 130 by the submarine currents is prevented, and stability with respect to the behavior of the riser 120 can be secured.

Referring to FIG. 5B, when the mining robot 150 moves in the rotating direction, the first stopper 134 is inserted to freely rotate the buffer 130 with respect to the flange structure 160. Accordingly, when the mining robot 150 moves in the rotation direction, the buffer 130 connected to the mining pipe 140 can rotate as well, so that the load transfer to the connection point with the riser 120 can be minimized.

As the number of the first fixing grooves 222 is larger, the position where the buffer 130 is fixed is subdivided, and more precise position adjustment is possible.

Although the number of the first stoppers 134 and the number of the first fixing grooves 222 is the same in the drawing, the number of the first stoppers 134 may be smaller than the number of the first fixing grooves 222 May be provided. For example, one first stopper 134 and a plurality of first fixing grooves 222 may correspond to each other.

Referring again to FIG. 4, a plurality of second fixing grooves 232 may be formed on the upper surface of the lower flange 230 at predetermined intervals on a circumference having a predetermined radius r2 from the center.

In this case, the second stopper 136 may be provided on the inner circumference of the upper surface portion of the buffer with a predetermined radius r2 from the center of the mounting hole 132 to correspond to the second fixing groove 232. The second stopper 136 may also be protruded or retracted relative to the inside of the upper surface portion of the buffer 130 according to a control signal.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of controlling a submarine mineral dumping system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a zone dividing the mining robot to detect movement in a rotating direction.

The buffer 130 is provided with a signal receiving unit (not shown) and a stopper control unit (not shown), and receives a motion signal transmitted from the mining robot 150 (step S310).

The received motion signal is analyzed (step S320) and the kind of movement of the mining robot 150 is determined.

Referring to FIG. 7, there is shown a cross-section of a flange structure 160 having eight fixing grooves 222/232 formed therein. The eight fixing grooves 222/232 around the central axis of the flange structure 160 may be partitioned into eight zones (areas 1-8) so as to be respectively disposed at the center of the zone. The boundary of each zone is a straight line connecting the points at the same distance in the neighboring fixed grooves.

As a result of analyzing the movement of the mining robot 150, it is determined whether the mining robot 150 is moving within the same zone or moving to another zone (step S330).

It is regarded that the mining robot 150 is moved in the rotating direction in which a load is applied to the riser 120 so that the first stopper 134 and / or the second stopper 136 are pulled in (Step S340). The buffer 130 can be freely rotated with respect to the flange structure 160 so that the movement of the mining robot 150 is not disturbed and the load applied to the riser 120 can be minimized.

In this case, it is possible to control the first stopper 134 and / or the second stopper 136 to protrude (step S350). ). The protrusion of the stopper fixes the buffer 130 to the flange structure 160 and prevents abnormal rotation of the buffer 130 due to submarine algae.

In this embodiment, a fixing groove is formed in the flange structure and a stopper is provided in the buffer. However, in some cases, a stopper may be provided in the flange structure and a fixing groove may be formed in the buffer.

When the upper flange and the lower flange are formed opposite to each other and the fixing groove is formed in the upper flange, a stopper may be provided on the lower flange or a fixing groove may be formed on the lower flange when the stopper is provided on the upper flange.

Further, a fixing groove or a stopper may be formed or installed only at one of the upper flange and the lower flange.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined in the following claims And changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

100: Submarine mineral precipitation system 110: Mining vessel
120: riser 130: buffer
140: mining pipe 150: mining robot
160: flange structure 210:
220: upper flange 230: lower flange
222: first fixing groove 232: second fixing groove
132: installation hole 134: first stopper
136: Second stopper

Claims (6)

A mining robot for mining the seafloor minerals;
A buffer connected to the mining robot through a mining pipe, for temporarily storing submarine mineral from the mining robot; And
And a flange structure integrally coupled to a riser for lifting the submarine mineral temporarily stored in the buffer to a mining vessel,
The buffer being rotatably coupled to the flange structure,
The flange structure includes: a cylindrical body portion; And an upper end flange and a lower end flange provided at upper and lower portions of the body so as to have a larger diameter than the diameter of the body,
A mounting hole having a diameter larger than the diameter of the body and smaller than a diameter of the upper flange and the lower flange is formed on an upper surface of the buffer,
Wherein at least one of the lower surface of the upper flange and the upper surface of the lower flange has a plurality of fixing grooves formed at regular intervals on a circumference having a predetermined radius from the center,
Wherein the upper surface of the buffer is provided with a stopper protruding or retracted from the center of the mounting hole on a circumference having the radius based on the upper surface. delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the stopper is controlled to be pulled in only when the mining robot is moving in the rotating direction. A control method of a seabed mineral prefabricating system in which a flange structure is provided between a riser and a buffer, and a plurality of fixing grooves and stoppers are formed so as to correspond to the buffer and the flange structure,
Receiving a motion signal transmitted from a mining robot by a signal receiving unit of the buffer;
Analyzing the motion signal in the control unit of the buffer to discriminate the kind of motion of the mining robot;
Controlling the stopper to be pulled in when the movement type is the movement in the rotation direction, and projecting control of the stopper when the movement type is movement in a certain zone. 6. The method of claim 5,
When the plurality of fixing grooves are divided into a plurality of zones such that each of the plurality of fixing grooves is disposed at the center of the zone about the central axis of the flange structure,
Wherein the step of discriminating the movement type regards the case where the movement of the mining robot is moved from one area to another area as a movement in the rotation direction.
KR1020150128558A 2015-09-10 2015-09-10 Seabed mineral lifting system and controlling method thereof KR101750953B1 (en)

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Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR101390291B1 (en) * 2013-10-16 2014-05-07 한국해양과학기술원 Joint structure of buffer system

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US20100214271A1 (en) 2009-02-25 2010-08-26 Seiko Epson Corporation Liquid crystal device, temperature detection method, and electronic apparatus

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
KR101390291B1 (en) * 2013-10-16 2014-05-07 한국해양과학기술원 Joint structure of buffer system

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