Patent Application
20210214916
WO2013118876A1 “Collection method and collection system of seabed hydrothermal mineral resources”
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-196047 “Delivery system and method”
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2017-066850 International Application PCT/JP2016/0836 “Pile resource harvesting device”
SALVAGE, Nobuo Shimizu, Journal of the Shipbuilding Society of Japan, May 2002
“Evaluation of slurry transfer of large-sized particles in lift pipes related to the development of seabed mineral resources” Takano et al. 14th Maritime Research Institute of Technology Research Presentation, June 2014
“Ocean energy and mineral resource development plan” Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry December 2013
“Latest trends in the development of the latest seabed mineral resources” Yoichi Oda, Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Strategic Research Institute, April 2013
“Development of a seabed hydrothermal deposit drilling element technology testing machine” Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Technical Report 2013 No. 2 Satellite Attitude Tracking By Quaterion-Based Backstepping, Raymond Kristiansen, Norweigian University of Science and Technology, Norway, 2005
“Submarine hydrothermal deposit mining/lifting pilot test” JOGMEC NEWS 2018, March Sound Metrics http://www.soundmetrics.com/
This application is a U.S. continuation application filed under 35 USC111(a) claiming benefit under 35 USC120 and 365(c) of PCT application JP2019/029712, filed on 29 Jul. 2019, which claims priority to Japanese Patent Application No. 2018-143015, filed on Jun. 30, 2018, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein reference.
The present invention relates to a device for picking up objects from the seabed. In particular, the present invention relates to a system for collecting and collecting mineral ores on the sea floor, and relates to a device for collecting to the sea surface by using the buoyancy of a liquid having a lower specific gravity than water without inputting energy for collection. Exhausting gas from the components of the device balances the pressure inside and outside to avoid the need for pressure resistance in the underwater environment. Furthermore, this device is characterized by the fact that it does not require a structure between the sea surface and the sea floor by autonomously sailing underwater.
Attempts to recover objects from the seabed have been made in the field of salvage, dredging, and drilling offshore oilfields. With regard to the collection of seafloor minerals, trials have been started for collecting 1000 m-level seafloor minerals, and recovery of seafloor resources at the 2000 m-5000 m level has not been established because there is no established methodological method or economic prospects. The present invention relates to an apparatus for economically recovering seabed resources up to a level of 6500 m, and provides state-of-the-art technologies for control engineering, space engineering, information engineering, and acousto-optics, which are other fields not conventionally used in ocean development. By combining them, it was newly devised to realize with existing hardware technology without mechanical challenge under high pressure environment.
The conventional technique will be described below. The collection of seabed minerals has been conventionally discussed as an extension of salvage technology, dredging technology and offshore oil drilling technology. As for the salvage technique, as outlined in “SALVAGE, Nobuo Shimizu”, there are a “major rotation system” in which a wire is pulled up, a “balloon system” utilizing buoyancy, and a “grab system” in which the wire is directly grasped.
“Large turning method” is not performed in the deep sea because it involves diving work with wires. In the “balloon system”, metal or rubber balloons containing compressed air are used to pull up in the sea, but horizontal movement is the main cause because of gas expansion accompanying changes in depth, and the depth is 100 m or less. The “grab method” is a method of directly grasping the arm by extending it to the seabed. In the 1970s, the US CIA raised the Soviet sunken submarine from the bottom of the sea for the purpose of gathering nuclear strategic information. It is the only record that has been pulled up from the deep sea, and there are no examples. According to publicly available information, raising the sinking submarine in the Soviet Union is likely to be an extension of offshore oil drilling technology. The both methods are not suitable for collecting seafloor mineral resources from the deep sea because the quietness of the sea surface is indispensable because the work ships on the water are directly involved dynamically.
At present, mineral ores extraction from the seabed is not economically feasible, and it is best to take samples by deep sea exploration boats, unmanned robot arms, or boring. Exceptionally, in oil fields and gas fields, if you make a hole, it will be ejected by being pushed out by the internal pressure, so by installing a recovery facility such as a pipe at the opening, you can mine at a relatively low cost. A method of pumping up hot water in which mineral resources are melted from a seabed hot water pool has been proposed (Patent Document 1). This method can also be carried out by pouring a special solvent into the ore deposit as in the case of shale gas mining, vacuuming the dissolved minerals onto the water, and then separating and collecting the minerals.
As a method of recovering mineral resources from the seabed surface strata, as an extension of dredging technology, a test development of elemental technology for excavating a 1000 m deep seabed hydrothermal deposit (such as chimney), making it into slurry and sending it to the sea by an underwater pump, which is disclosed by JP 2011-196047 “Delivery system and method”, and “Development of a seabed hydrothermal deposit drilling element technology testing machine” Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. A pilot project for mining and recovering hydrothermal deposits with a seabed of 1600 m was implemented in 2017, and 16 tons were recovered in 1.5 months, but no commercial prospects have been established. (“Submarine hydrothermal deposit mining/lifting pilot test”)
Mining and collecting of seabed mineral ores is the stage when the trial development of elemental technology for the submarine hydrothermal deposit at a depth of 1600 m has finally begun. Cobalt-rich crusts, manganese nodules, and rare earth deposits are distributed on the surface of the deep sea deeper than 1000 m, but they are still in the stage of resource survey, and resource recovery, including methodologies, has not been started. (“Ocean energy and mineral resource development plan”) Similar to the present invention, there is PCT/JP2016/0836 of the same applicant as the present invention as a technique for collecting an object from the seabed without challenging the mechanical limit in a high-pressure environment. In PCT/JP2016/0836, by using the buoyancy of hydrogen gas generated on the seabed, the internal pressure of the lifting equipment and the surrounding seawater pressure are made the same to solve mechanical and structural problems such as pressure resistance technology under high pressure environment, and buoyancy is used. Furthermore, since hydrogen gas generated on the seabed becomes an excess during the collection process, it was absorbed by toluene and recovered as MCH (methylcyclohexane), and it was used as a hydrogen energy source to solve the problem of recovery energy efficiency.
Cobalt-rich crust, manganese nodules, and rare earth deposits are deposited on the sea floor, and if they are above ground, they can be collected by power shovels or bulldozers. Mining trials of hydrothermal deposits are preceded mainly by the fact that hydrothermal deposits are relatively shallow inside and outside the depth of 1000 m, and the depth is an obstacle to the development of seabed mineral resources deeper than 1000 m, and the conventional salvage technology and dredging technology, Extension of offshore oil drilling technology has not solved it.
In the world of living things, sperm whales do not use any special pressure resistance technology in living organisms, use almost no energy, dive up to 3000 m and prey on squid and return to the sea surface. The reason why sperm whales can easily go back and forth between the deep sea floor and the sea surface without obstructing the depth is that the internal and external pressures of liquid and solid are equalized in vivo to avoid structural problems in high pressure environment. Second, since it can move independently of objects on the sea floor or on the sea and is autonomous both structurally and as a moving body, there are few restrictions as a structure. Thirdly, whales move up and down using buoyancy to move up and down in a liquid such as underwater by adjusting the buoyancy using the change in the specific gravity of “brain oil” depending on the temperature and using almost no energy. It shows that it is the most energy efficient means.
However, in view of the above problems, there is no other way than the following two ways to collect mineral ores by obtaining buoyancy that counteracts the underwater weight of the mineral ores on the seabed.
The first is a method of generating buoyancy from nothing in water, and the method of PCT/JP2016/0836 by the same inventor as this patent has been addressed from this viewpoint. The most efficient method in the seabed under the high pressure environment is the generation of hydrogen with the minimum molecular weight by electrolysis of water. This method can efficiently bring in pure water from the source to the seabed, transmit power to the seabed, and recover surplus hydrogen in the floating process. Hydrogen gas is generated on the seabed and used as a buoyancy source for the collection of seabed resources. Toluene absorbs surplus hydrogen gas as it floats, becomes MCH, and is recovered and reused as a hydrogen energy source.
However, in this method, the following (a) to (d) are indispensable. (a) Electric power for generating hydrogen gas by electrolysis on the seabed, (b) Electrolysis device on the seabed, (c) Organic hydride reactor for hydrogen absorption during the floating process, (d) Recovery process Hydrogen reaction controller.
The second is the method of the present invention. That is, buoyancy is canceled from the surface of the sea in the form of “buoyancy”+“ballast” to bring a buoyancy source to the seabed, and “ballast” is separated to generate buoyancy that does not exist until then.
Since ballast is a solid or liquid with a high specific gravity, it is not affected by water pressure during the process of bringing it from the sea surface to the sea floor, and its specific gravity is also constant. If the buoyancy source is liquid, it will not be affected by water pressure on the seabed. The most suitable substances as buoyancy sources are n-pentane (boiling point 36.1° C., specific gravity 0.626), which is liquid at room temperature and has the lowest specific gravity, or gasoline (specific gravity 0.70), which is inexpensive in cost.
In the method of the present invention, the hydrogen-related equipment of items (a) to (d) required in the first method can be omitted. This has the advantage of reducing costs and is easy to handle as the buoyancy source of the liquid may be kept sealed from beginning to end. On the other hand, it is necessary to solve the following two points, which is the subject of the present invention.
(1) At the seabed, it is necessary to separate the ballast from the buoyancy source brought in with the ballast, and to switch the ballast and the mineral ores to be collected by remote control to the buoyancy source generating large buoyancy.
(2) In order to commercially collect offshore resources, the process must be continuously repeated. If gas is brought from the sea surface to the bottom of the sea as a buoyancy source, it is necessary to use a pressure-resistant shell, and it is clear that efficiency and cost do not match this method, if it is calculated. Blowing high-pressure air from the sea surface with a pipe can be said to be this modification.
First, in order to fundamentally avoid the obstacles of the high pressure environment, the gas is excluded from the components, the inner and outer pressures are made equal, and the pressure resistant equipment is eliminated, thereby avoiding the pressure resistance requirement. For this reason, a liquid having a lighter specific gravity than water at room temperature (for example, n-pentane or gasoline) is used as a buoyancy source for collection. To reach the source of buoyancy to the bottom of the sea, sink it with ballast to counteract the buoyancy and replace the ballast with the recovered mineral ores at the seabed. The method of the present invention facilitates scale-up of the apparatus because there is no mechanically high stress point.
Second, the buoyancy-based collection method does not require a high-lift pump, as compared with a method in which seabed mineral ores are slurried in the sea and pumped to the surface of the sea. The movable mechanism, the high-pressure pipe, the friction mechanism, and the pressure-resistant mechanism with a large pressure difference are eliminated, and the problems of abrasion and sealing of the transportation pipe due to slurry transportation do not occur. Further, according to the method of the present invention, since the object to be recovered is lifted from the seabed as it is, there is no restriction on the size and shape and physical properties of the recovered object. Since there is little information on seabed resources, visibility is poor on the seabed, and the means for collecting information is limited. It is possible to avoid energy input and seawater pollution due to ore crushing and slurry formation. There is a great advantage to remove the ore processing on the sea floor, such as making it into a slurry, and to collect the raw ore as it is. In addition, high pressure pumping of minerals from the seabed was avoided to avoid energy waste.
Thirdly, the underwater weight of the component equipment is reduced so that all equipment could float on the sea surface by buoyancy as part of regular operation. As the result, maintenance and inspection of all equipment becomes easy. Furthermore, since it is possible to ascend and descend by autonomous navigation, there is no mechanical connection between undersea and seabed structures such as lifting pipes and surface vessels, and it is possible to ease the marine conditions and the position control conditions of surface command ships The cost of surface command ships will be reduced. At the same time, this facilitates the movement of equipment installed on the seabed, which makes it possible to realize maneuverability suitable for collecting thin and wide-spread ore/minerals on the seabed.
Fourth, while increasing the moving speed by means of changing the difference in buoyancy to improve the facility utilization rate, the resistance blades are deployed to reduce the terminal speed by using the resistance of water, thereby it is possible to land on the seabed and return to a surface command ship safely.
However, the first to fourth means described above can be means for solving the problem only when they can be concretely realized in the real world. The method of ensuring realization is described below. The deep-sea crane 001 is with one or more ball-shaped buoyancy tanks 002 with a liquid whose specific gravity is lighter than water, loads ballast in the cargo compartment, and descends from the surface command ship 010 to the sea floor. On the seabed, the ballast and the collected seabed mineral ores are exchanged, and the deep sea crane 001 floats above to the sea surface.
(1) Guaranteeing Feasibility by Weight Reduction
In order to utilize the buoyancy, it is necessary to make the specific gravity of the total device around 1.0, and it is essential to reduce the weight of the entire device. Therefore, a lightweight and tough material including a tough carbon fiber resin having a specific gravity of about 1.8 is used as the structural material. In particular, when realizing a deep-sea crane that collects seabed mineral ores, it is important in terms of economy to increase the ratio of ballast, which is equivalent to the collected seabed mineral ore, to the total weight of the deep sea crane while maintaining the total weight of the deep sea crane when traveling back and forth between the sea floor and the sea surface at around 1.0. Here, the specific gravity of around 1.0 means that it is possible to softly land on the sea floor by free fall by means of its own weight.
The weight reduction of the deep-sea crane 001 is an important requirement that determines the success or failure of the realization, so it will be examined below.
As a trial calculation example, the specifications of a typical deep-sea crane (unit: mm) that recovers about 10 tons of seabed mineral ores in one time from 1,000 to 6,500 m in depth, is shown in
The liquid to be filled is gasoline (specific gravity 0.70) as a buoyancy source, the capacity of the buoyancy tank 002 of radius 2 m is 33.51 m3, and when carbon fiber resin of 5 mm thick is is used, the volume of the float tank shell is 0.251 m3, and when the typical specific gravity of 1.8 used, then its underwater weight becomes 0.20 tons.
Buoyancy=33.51×0.30=10.05 tons
Surface area S=4×2.0×2.0×π=50.26 m2
Underwater weight W=50.26×0.005×0.8=0.20 tons
The maximum shear stress applied to the outer shell is 10.05/2 tons of buoyancy, which is applied to the outer shell of the center of the sphere in the vertical direction while climbing and descending. The cross-sectional area of the outer wall columnar portion is 314.2 cm2 when the wall thickness is 5 mm, and the typical shear stress of carbon fiber resin is 150 kgf/mm2 and the compressive fracture stress is 100 kgf/mm2. It is 30 times stronger than the load. As described above, it can be said that the present invention is sufficiently feasible with the current technology.
Since the buoyancy tank is filled with 33.51 m3 of gasoline when descending, if the equipment weight of the deep sea crane is 33.51 tons together with the ballast in the cargo compartment 005, its overall specific gravity will be 1.0. By adding a small amount of weight and setting the specific gravity to 1.0+α, it is possible to gently descend toward the sea floor, and it is possible to softly land on the sea floor. (
The system according to the present invention is a system that continuously collects seabed mineral ores, therefore such an operation must be specifically realized.
An operation form in accordance with this purpose is shown in
The deep-sea crane 001 plays the role of a crane that uses the buoyancy of gasoline to collect seabed mineral ores from the seabed 009. In addition to the deep-sea crane 001, a function to collect seabed mineral ores and load them into the deep-sea crane 001 is necessary. For this purpose, the seabed mineral ores collecting device (electric seabed power shovel) 015 is installed on the seabed. Submarine resources are widely present on the seabed at a depth of 1000 m to 6500 m. The seafloor hydrothermal deposits are rock masses, and the manganese nodules are scattered like gravel on the seabed. Cobalt-rich crust is deposited as thin pillow lava on the sea floor, and rare earth mud is deposited for several to 10 m at a depth of several meters on the sea floor.
On the ground, these seabed mineral ores can be collected with a power shovel. On the seabed, since there is no means for loading seabed mineral ores into the deep sea crane 001, a seabed mineral ores collecting device (electric seabed power shovel) 015 is used for loading them.
As visibility is generally not guaranteed on the seabed, an ultrasonic high-definition video camera is used as a countermeasure, which is mounted on the seabed power shovel 015 and operated by remote control from the surface command ship 010. At the time of filing of the present invention, what has been put to practical use commercially is a visibility of 35 to 80 m, a field of view of 29°, a beam number of 96 (resolution), and 20 frames/sec. (Sound Metrics http://www.soundmetrics.com/)
The ultrasonic high-definition video camera 050 is installed on the remote control platform 265 which is operated by remote control from the surface command ship 010, and a view in any direction can be obtained from the surface command ship 010. A capture ring 037 is provided above the center of gravity of the electric seabed power shovel 015 and is used for its recovery operation from the seabed.
In
The surface command ship 010 carries the ballast from the departure port, collects the seabed mineral ores 018 at the mine point sea, returns to the port of departure, and repeats this round trip.
The surface command ship 010 is a base ship that serves as a core for collecting mineral ores on the sea floor. It occupies the upper part of the seabed where seabed mineral ores are collected, and directs their collection, maintenance of equipment, and supply of power. The surface command ship 010 carries a plurality of deep-sea cranes 001 and a seabed power shovel 015, advances to a mineral ore collection point, and expands in the sea and on the surface of the sea. The surface command ship 010 controls the operation of all relevant equipment and is equipped with a system for that purpose.
The surface command ship 010 can change its position depending on the resource status of the seabed. Since the deep sea crane 001 can have a specific gravity of around 1.0, it can be deployed at a new location after being first levitated to the sea surface and collected.
According to the present invention, since the mineral ores are collected from the seabed by buoyancy, the energy consumption is small, and the equipment that reciprocates on the seabed does not contain gas, so that the mechanical effect due to the seabed depth is small, and the range from less than 1000 m to more than 5000 m is wide. Applicable to further, since there is no structurally restricted portion for strength, scale-up is easy. Furthermore, since the collected seabed mineral ores are not pulverized, it does not cause pollution in the sea.
Hereinafter, modes for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. The present invention is not limited to the following description, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In this document, a device that repeatedly collects seabed mineral ores by going back and forth between the deep sea floor and the surface of the sea is referred to as a “deep sea crane”, and the entire system including peripheral support devices is called a “seabed resource collection system” ((
(1) Balancing internal and external pressure
(2) Utilising buoyancy
(3) Moving autonomously (autonomous navigation)
The collection of the present invention is carried out by operating the buoyancy of a liquid having a low specific gravity which is liquid at room temperature in combination with the gravity of a ballast. It is a system that exchanges ballast transported from land over the sea surface with almost equal weight of seabed mineral ores on the seabed, and is characterized by not inputting energy itself. Also, since the buoyancy source is sealed, it is not possible to newly generate a buoyancy source due to the method.
a. It is possible to reduce the specific gravity by discarding the mounted ballast and reducing the underwater weight.
b. Specific gravity cannot be increased while ascending or descending.
When moving in a viscous fluid such as water under the influence of gravity or buoyancy, there is a terminal velocity that becomes constant in balance with the drag force. The specific gravity is set near the seawater specific gravity, but if a is set to be smaller than the seawater specific gravity, it floats at a constant final velocity specified by a and the shape of the deep-sea crane. When the specific gravity of the deep sea crane 001 is larger than the specific gravity of seawater, and the larger part is a, the crane descends at a constant final speed defined by a and the shape of the deep sea crane. If α is adjusted and there is a speed reducer, the terminal speed is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the resistance by deploying the speed reducer.
(3) Descent from the Sea Surface and Landing
a. When descending, set the specific gravity to seawater specific gravity+α. The larger α is, the shorter the descent time is, but the amount of consumed ballast increases, and there is a drawback that the control described in the following item b. becomes difficult, and the optimum value is obtained by adjustment
b. When the landing approaches, the ballast is discarded and the terminal speed is approached to 0 to softly land.
(4) Ascending from the Sea Floor to the Sea Surface
At the time of ascending, the specific gravity is set to seawater specific gravity minus α to ascend, and the speed is adjusted by the control wing and landing leg 006 to reach the vicinity of the surface command ship 010. In the case of excessive buoyancy such as floating from the sea bottom with an empty load, the deceleration parachute 064 (
The deep-sea crane 001 has a structure similar to that of a balloon as shown in
The deep-sea crane 001 does not need to have pressure resistance because the internal and external pressures are almost the same regardless of the depth in the sea. The buoyancy tank 002 can be made of a lightweight metal such as duralumin or a carbon fiber resin that is lightweight and has high strength. It is sealed filling with a liquid such as n cyclopentane (specific gravity 0.63 at room temperature) or gasoline (specific gravity 0.70 at room temperature). Gasoline has less buoyancy, but has the advantage of lower price.
The deep-sea crane 001 travels back and forth between the sea floor and the sea surface by autonomous navigation. When descending from the sea level, ballast is loaded and sinks, and when rising, the seabed mineral ores are loaded instead of ballast. Buoyancy corresponding to the loaded ore at the time of ascent is obtained by dumping ballast on the seabed. Further, controllable wings and landing legs 006 are installed in the cargo compartment 005 to control and decelerate the deep sea crane. In
The main feature of Deep Sea Crane 001 is to replace the ballast and the collected seabed mineral ores with a lightweight and simple mechanism using gravity. On the seabed, the cargo compartment 005 is landed using the control wing and landing leg 006, and the buoyancy tank floats upward. There is a ore loading gap 092 between the buoyancy tank 002 and the cargo compartment 006. The collected seabed mineral ores are fed from above the cargo compartment to push out the ballast from below and replace the ballast with the collected ore. The amount of ballast dumped is adjusted to keep landing on the seabed and to float up.
Since the deep-sea crane 001 is an autonomous underwater vehicle, guidance control is essential for this purpose, therefore underwater acoustics, image processing, inertial navigation, and control theory are applied. An optical fiber cable is used for control and image signal communication with the surface command ship 010.
The deep sea crane 001 approaches the sea floor with the buoyancy of the buoyancy tank 002 and the weight of the ballast mounted in the cargo compartment 005 slightly larger than the specific gravity of water. The landing speed can be controlled by finely adjusting the amount of ballast dropped from the lower part of the cargo compartment Setting a fixed value determined by the mechanical strength of the deep-sea crane, about 0.7 m/s. The opening of the control wing and landing leg 006 can be automatically adjusted according to the ups and downs of the seabed.
The descending path and the floating path of the deep-sea crane 001 are controlled by controlling the degree of opening and the rotation angle of the control wing and landing leg 006 of
The cargo compartment 005 has the following policies.
First, in order to exchange the ores to be collected with the ballast on the sea floor by utilizing the gravity, the structure of the cargo compartment 005 carrying the ballast and the collected ores is determined. The cargo compartment 005 uses gravity to abandon the ballast, has an open shape for loading the collected ore, and has a discharge port that can be opened and closed at the lower end. A suitable shape for this purpose is a truncated cone that opens upwards. The collected ore is loaded from above and the ballast can be discharged from the discharge port at the bottom. For the ballast, fine sand is used to ensure fluidity. Secondly, in order to avoid mixing with the ballast and the collected ore, a partition wall that covers the upper part of the cargo compartment 005 is provided. The structure will move to the discharge port at the lower end while occupying the boundary with the ballast as it is charged. The partition wall may be a bellows type and extends downward, or may be a membrane type.
Third, when exchanging the ballast with the collected ore, the amount of dumped ballast is controlled so that the generated buoyancy is less than the total weight of the deep sea crane (the total weight of the ballast, the collected ore, and the collected equipment). For this purpose, a sensor that measures the total water weight of the deep-sea crane is installed, and the amount of ballast dumped is predicted and controlled by a computer. When loading of recovered ore is completed and levitation is started, the total weight of the deep sea crane should be smaller than that of water. Fourth, it is necessary to secure the liquidity of the ballast. This is because it is necessary to accurately control the total weight of the deep sea crane according to the loaded ore to be loaded, and the fluidity of the ballast is essential to control the ballast discharge port and the ballast discharge amount accurately. For this purpose, the structure is such that the particle size of the ballast is made fine and at the same time the water stream is jetted in order to increase the fluidity.
It is possible to prevent dumping of collected ore and mixing of collected ores with ballast.
It is possible to attach various attachments (
When loading of the collected ore 018 to the deep-sea crane 001 is completed in
An operation example of ore loading on the seabed will be described with reference to
As shown in the cross-sectional view
The cargo compartment control system described in
(e) shows the total underwater weight=0, and when the total underwater weight falls below this value, it floats.
(d) The total underwater weight threshold is controlled so that it does not fall below the total underwater weight threshold in order to avoid unplanned ascent during the seabed stay.
(h) is the state when the deep-sea crane landed on the seabed, and the total underwater weight was >0.
The total underwater weight >(d), which means that “If the total underwater weight is more than the threshold of the total underwater weight, the ballast is discharged.”
(b) The total underwater weight change due to ballast dump control shows the weight change at this time. The estimated value of the remaining amount of ballast is reduced by the reduced value at this time (curve with thick dotted line in the figure). When the collected ore is loaded into the cargo compartment 005, the weight of the entire water weight increases by the amount of one batch of ore input. In response to this increase, the ballast is discarded until the total underwater weight reaches (d) the total underwater weight threshold. If collected ore is allowed to be loaded into the cargo compartment 005 after dumping ballast, the total weight of water will increase by (b) one batch of ore input. By repeating this process, when the estimated value of remaining ballast amount reaches the threshold value of estimated remaining amount of ballast (c) at time (g), further ore input is stopped and the remaining ballast is discarded to float up. If you do not, you will not be able to ascend, so throw the ballast so that the total underwater weight is (f) the ascent threshold.
A diagram of the cargo compartment control system in
Process block 504 determines if the collected ore input is permitted. Input of collected ore is allowed only while ballast dumping is stopped. If the value of the weight sensors 007 that are periodically taken in are settled, and the display 255 of the surface command ship 010 does not permit the input of the collected ore, then it is determined that the ore input is not permitted, then proceeds to processing block 505. When it is determined that the ore charging is permitted, it is determined that it is dangerous to perform the plant (deep sea crane) control because the state is changing, and the process proceeds to the processing block 507.
In processing block 507, checking if there is no request for dumping ballast and that dumping of ballast is not in progress. Since the ore loading is allowed only when there is no ballast dumping, the display of the ore loading disapproval display on the display 255 of the surface command ship 010 is erased in processing block 508. If there is ballast dumping, the aperture mechanism of the cargo compartment is closed in processing block 513, and an ore charging disapproval display is requested in the display 255 of surface command ship 010 in processing block 514.
If the processing block 504 prohibits the ore loading, the ballast dump control is permitted, and the processing block 505 requests the display 255 of the surface command ship 010 to request an alarm display indicating that the ore loading is prohibited. The processing block 506 determines whether it is not a floating command, ore is not being put in, and the weight measurement data is normal. If the determination result is YES, it means that the ballast dumping control is performed, and if the determination result is NO, it means an emergency command from the surface command ship 010 or a floating control by completion of loading of the ores. In processing block 509, the total underwater weight threshold of
The processing block 511 shifts to processing block 513 to stop the ballast dumping when the total underwater weight of the deep-sea crane is equal to or less than the threshold value. That is, the rotary drive mechanisms 1, 031 and 2.032 of the aperture mechanism of the cargo compartment 005 of
The ore loading can be performed using the seabed mineral ores collection container 034 shown in
This operation needs precise position control of the deep sea crane 001 (this precise position control can also be used for collecting the ore collecting device 015 from the sea bottom). The ballast discharging mechanism of the cargo compartment 005 and the ore loading mechanism are not required, but the precision position control mechanism of the deep sea crane 001 (
The position/speed control of the deep-sea crane 001 according to
(1) Horizontal thrust
(2) Vertical thrust
(3) Imaging device for optical navigation
The lock mechanism 040 is a push latch mechanism, for example, when a lock of a push latch mechanism is pushed for the first time the lock is released, when it is pushed for the second time, the lock is locked. The opening/closing mechanism 038 is opened by a spring when the lock mechanism 040 is disengaged. The shroud 036 needs to dump the ballast loaded in the cargo compartment 005 when the ore collecting container 034 is suspended and the deep-sea crane 001 floats up.
The seabed mineral ores collection container 034 is equipped with a microcomputer system and exchanges the following information with the deep-sea crane 001 to manage the ore get loaded into it and to float up from the seabed.
The seabed mineral ores collection container control device 286 shown in
A series of operations from placing the seabed mineral ores collection container 034 to the seabed to its surfacing is as follows.
(1) As shown in
(2) The moving image captured by the imaging device 235 of the ore collecting device 015 or the ultrasonic high-definition video camera 050 is monitored by the display 255 of the surface command ship 010 in
(3) Since it is necessary to know the identification number (ID) of the ore collection container 034 into which the ore is put, the acoustic transponders sequentially make inquiries. The ore collection container 034 blinks the capture ring 037.
(4) Since the ore collection container 034 into which the ore is put is determined together with the ID, it is necessary to open the shroud 036. Therefore, since the lock mechanism 040 is a lock of the push latch mechanism, the shroud 036 is locked from above and the ore collection device is pressed. When pushed down by the 015 arm, the shroud 036 opens.
(5) When the collected ore are put into the ore collection container 034, the weight increases. Since the weight sensor 035 measures the weight, the seabed mineral ores collection container control device 282 calculates the weight based on the processing flow (
When the control device 285 of the ore collecting device determines that the specified weight has been reached, the arm of the ore collecting device 015 is operated to close the shroud 036 of each ore collecting device 034 and push down from above to lock the lock mechanism 040. Since the ore collection container control device 282 is ready for collection, it is displayed on the seabed mineral ores collection device console 441 through the control device 285 that the collection is OK. The capture ring 037 for lifting the ore collection container 034 is illuminated turning on the LED adjacent to the upper side
(6) The deep sea crane 001 is precisely position-controlled to be docked on the hoisting hook and the LED-lighted capture ring 037, and the lifting hook 047 is used for fishing as shown in
(7) When the ballast in the cargo compartment 005 is dumped in the state of
Since deep sea crane 001 does not use a lifting pipe to lift up the ores, it does not need to make the ores into a slurry or to granulate them, and the collected ores can be floated up in a state close to the original shape.
Therefore, the ore collecting apparatus 015 can can best utilize the know-hows of the ground mining machines.
Mining itself is done on the ground with mining equipment, and supports various vein conditions. There are the following types of seabed resources, and each has different characteristics when mining is done.
(1) Seawater hydrothermal deposits exist as rock masses in the form of mounds
(2) Cobalt-rich crust exists on the seabed in the shape of pillows
(3) Manganese nodules scatter as nodules of 10 centimeters or more
(4) Rare earth mud exists several meters to 10 meters below the seabed mud in layers of several meters to 10 meters.
All mining equipment is a large-scale construction machine, and if you add various attachments (bucket, breaker, rotary crusher, rocking swing gripper, etc.) to the construction machine, for example, the power shovel shown in
Since the Sun light does not reach the seabed, the visibility may not be guaranteed, As a countermeasure an ultrasonic video camera (for example, http://www.soundmetrics.com) is installed in addition to the floodlight and optical imaging device. The capture ring 037 in
In addition to collecting mineral ores collected from the seabed, the deep-sea crane 001 needs to perform operations such as bringing a seabed mineral ores collecting device 015 (eclectic power shovel) from the surface to the seabed instead of ballasts in the cargo compartment 005 and lifting up the mineral ores collecting device 015 from the seabed to the sea.
In order to perform this operation, the following points are different from the case where the collected ores are loaded from the seabed into the cargo compartment 005.
When descending to the seabed, as shown in
After the ore collecting device 015 is installed on the seabed, there is insufficient ballast in the cargo compartment 005, and there is no ore collecting device 015, the total buoyancy of the deep sea crane 001 becomes excessive and it rapidly rises, causing damage to the deep sea crane 001 by the stress at sea surface. To prevent this situation, the braking parachute is opened when climbing (
(2) Recovery of the Seabed Mineral Ores Collection Device from the Seabed
In order to collect the seabed mineral ores collecting device 015 existing on the seabed, it is necessary to capture it using the lifting hook 047 installed at the lower part of the cargo compartment 005. It is also required the precision control of millimeter order in position accuracy and several centimeters per second in relative speed. After capturing the ore collecting device 015 on the lifting hook 047, the ballast in the cargo compartment 005 is discarded, and the specific gravity of the deep-sea crane 001 is made lighter than that of seawater and floated to the surface of the sea.
Since the operations of (1) and (2) of the ore collection device 015 require precise control unlike the collection of the collected seabed mineral ores, the partition mechanism 016 in
In the operation of the deep-sea crane 001 of the present invention, since no underwater structure such as an offshore drilling rig is used, a fixed position control mechanism, a moon pool and a bow thruster are not required. in addition, by devising a cargo handling method so that it can be handled by a small crane on board and can be operated by a 699-ton class gut ore carrier, it can be used as a surface command ship 010.
The gut ore carrier can also be used as a collection ore carrier. The carrier carries the ballast from the departure port, functions as a surface command ship 010, loads the collected minerals instead of the ballast, returns to the port of departure, and repeats this round trip. Since the ballast is freely dropped to the seabed from the ballast discharge mechanism 009 at the lower end of the cargo compartment 005, fine particles are indispensable, and it is convenient in terms of quantity and transportation to use metal-extracted slag.
The surface command ship 010 occupies the seasurface of the collection seabed, directs the mining of resources, maintains equipment, carries one or more deep sea cranes 001 and a seabed power shovel 015, and advances to the ore collection point and deploys them in the sea. The surface command ship 010 controls the operation of all related equipment.
The functions that the surface command ship 010 should have are as follows.
(1) From the mother port, equipped with a plurality of deep-sea cranes 001, seabed mineral ores collection devices (electric power shovels) 015, and power generation equipment to advance to a mineral collection point, occupy the sea of the collection seabed, deploy these equipment in the sea and on the sea surface, In addition, it will be guided from the sea to its own ship and collected.
(2) An acoustic position marker 075 for guiding the deep-sea crane 001 is dropped and installed at a suitable place for collecting minerals.
(3) Accurately maintain its own position with respect to the ocean currents in the Pacific Ocean where there are seabed resources.
(4) The location will be changed depending on the resource status of the seabed and the new location will be deployed.
(5) Collect and maintain equipment that is deployed in the sea or on the surface of the sea.
(6) Supply power to equipment deployed underwater and on the surface of the sea.
(7) The deep-sea cranes 001 and ballast are mounted to settle toward the sea floor and the mineral resources collected from the sea floor are recovered.
The gut crane ship is a small standard cargo ship in which one or two compartments for loading gravel as shown in
The bow thruster, which is not equipped, corrects the ship position by measuring the position by GPS against the direction in which the sea current and the wind flow. By using the Japanese GPS positioning satellite “MICHIBIKI”, the position itself can be grasped with high accuracy. The direction of the ship depends on the sea condition, but there is no undersea structure. It is necessary to equip the automatic position holding function by GPS in order to reduce the load on the personnel.
Since the crane 065 shown in
In order to separate the cargo compartment 005 from the buoyancy tank 001 and collect it, it is desirable that the connection point between the buoyancy tank 001 and the cargo compartment 005 comes to the sea surface in the center of the buoyancy tank, so the buoyancy tank as shown in 31 (b), is divided into three parts so that a gap is formed in the center (
Each of the three divided main buoyancy tanks 055 to 057 shown in
When the load applied to the sub buoyancy tank 059 becomes large, the connection with the main buoyancy tank is automatically disconnected (
Further, when the cargo compartment is lowered to the sea surface, the buoyancy source is switched to the main buoyancy tank and the descent is started (
The following work must be done manually at sea.
That is, the work of hooking the tip of the crane to the cargo compartment of the deep-sea crane that has surfaced to the sea surface (
By the ingenuity shown in
As positioning by radio waves such as GPS is not possible on the sea bottom, including the deep sea, a precise position reference on the sea surface is obtained by GPS. An acoustic position marker will be installed directly below the precise position reference on the sea surface to serve as a precise position reference on the seabed, so as to work using position information on the seabed will be possible. Position markers are placed on the seabed in a form that allows the latitude and longitude to be referenced, and open pit digging on the seabed can be efficiently advanced. Since the GPS latitude/longitude information can be obtained with high accuracy on the sea surface, there is a technical feature in using this information as a fixed point position reference for the sea floor immediately below. As a method of guiding the acoustic position marker from the sea surface to the sea floor immediately below the high-accuracy latitude and longitude on the sea surface, there are a method of using sound and a method of inertial navigation as described below.
As a technical feature,
Firstly, the only sound wave that can be used as an information transmission means is used as a means for setting a position marker between the sea surface and the sea bottom, but the sound wave is characterized by refraction and not going straight because the temperature distribution in the sea is not uniform . . . For this reason, we pay the utmost attention to the sound propagation characteristics in the sea for position location. That is, the temperature distribution changes in layers with respect to the depth in the sea, and there is the characteristic that straightness is guaranteed without refraction in the direction perpendicular to the layer, and acoustic signals can be used in the range near the direct point.
Secondly, the acoustic marker is guided and installed under the fixed point position reference on the sea surface by the signal processing and control technology using the acoustic signal.
An example of the configuration and installation procedure of the acoustic position marker is described with reference to
The sound emitter 276 and the sound sensor 277 are installed at the tail of the acoustic position marker 079. The dynamic characteristic for the guidance control is defined by the motion characteristic acting force vector in
After the acoustic position marker 075 is installed on the seabed, it is used as a transponder for a long time as an acoustic position marker. For this reason, a battery 031 that can be used for a long time is built in, a power supply control circuit 039 is also provided, and circuits other than those essential to the transponder are shut off to prepare for long-term operation. Since the acoustic position marker 075 is operated by a battery, a means for recovering to the sea surface is prepared as a countermeasure when the battery is consumed. As shown in
The acoustic position marker 075 has the following operation modes.
(1) Guidance control mode
(2) Transponder mode
Before putting the acoustic position marker 075 into the sea, initialization is performed to set the guidance control mode in
When the guided acoustic signals are received from the position marker ship 070 on the sea surface and the unmanned auxiliary position marker ships A to D, the guidance process of
The signal reception monitoring timer is reset in 667. In the guidance monitoring process of
As shown in
The distance of d can be made large, when the acoustic position marker 075 moves toward the seabed, the auxiliary position marker ships A and C B and D can not oscillate at the same time. Therefore, the propagation path difference for 075 cannot be obtained.
The two sets of vibration source are needed to oscillate at the same time. In order to distinguish the received vibration, the oscillation frequencies of one pair of the auxiliary position marking ships A and C are made different, 2.0 kHz to 2.4 kHz and 2.6 kHz to 3.0 kHz of the chirp signal, respectively.
Since the difference of propagation path is shown by (Equation 001), when the seabed depth is large, the installation error on the seabed can be reduced by increasing d. When d=100 m, a propagation path difference of 0.8 m can be ensured with an error of 10 m even for a depth of 5000 m, which is sufficiently practical.
The process block 662 guidance logic of
Although the sound propagation diagram in
As a result, the auxiliary position marker ship A's oscillation sound timing 088 and the auxiliary position marking ship C's oscillation sound timing 089 can be obtained, and the difference between them is Δt 093 and the response delay of the auxiliary position marking ship C 023 and the acoustic position marker 075. Since the depth of the acoustic marker 075 is known, the X-axis component of the deviation Δ from the vertical line can be obtained from the processing block 244. Based on this deviation, the X-axis control amount is obtained in the processing block 245, and the X-axis control wing 076 and the Y-axis control wing 077 are operated to eliminate A. The same process is performed for the Y axis, and the X axis and the Y axis are alternatively processed to perform guidance control.
As shown in
(1) Fixed point maintenance function for specified latitude and longitude
(2) Fixed point holding monitoring and control command function for the auxiliary position marking ship A071, the auxiliary position marking ship B072, the auxiliary position marking ship C073, and the auxiliary position marking ship D074
(3) Precise guidance mode oscillation command function for the auxiliary position marking ship A071, the auxiliary position marking ship B072, the auxiliary position marking ship C073, and the auxiliary position marking ship D074
(4) Tracking and monitoring function for the acoustic position marker 075
The direction and propulsive force of the thruster 100 are controlled by the directional control device 101 and the propulsive force control device 102 to match the current position latitude/longitude measured by the GPS 107 with the target position latitude/longitude specified by the deep sea crane console 210. Since the thrust of the thruster 100 is at a level capable of holding its own position against disturbances such as tidal currents, the position marker ship 070 is operated to move to the target position. The CPU 200 carries out the processing of
The auxiliary position marker ship A071, B072, C073, and D074 are lowered from the position marker ship 070 to the sea surface and deployed to fixed positions. Until the deployment, it can be realized by the technology of remote-controlled boat that is publicly implemented. After reaching the vicinity of the predetermined position, the positions of the auxiliary position marking ships A to D are periodically measured in the processing block 587 by the function of
The movement order, which is transmitted to each of the auxiliary position marker ships A to D by the wireless communication device 107, is received by the processing block 581 in
When the position of the position marker ship shown in
An inertial navigation sensor that uses a solid vibrating body as a position sensor and an acceleration sensor can be used as a small-sized, low-cost solid package for smartphones and robots. If the error accumulation due to the descent time is within a range that does not cause a problem, inertial navigation that can simplify the system can be used.
In the lift-off using the buoyancy of the present invention, the deep-sea crane 001 which is a lift-up device autonomously travels between the starting point and the arrival point (the surface ship on the sea surface and the point on the seabed) by the control technology. It eliminates the need for mechanically connected structures such as pipes, and relaxes the mechanical constraints required for the system.
There are the following physical properties in the sea:
(1) In the sea, radio waves with straightness cannot be used and GPS cannot be used as a position sensor.
(2) The error of the inertial position sensor increases with time after initial setting
(3) The magnetic compass can be used if the pressure resistant shell is not the magnetic body.
(4) Sound waves with good propagation in the sea are not suitable for distance measurement and target azimuth detection when they deviate from the vertical direction.
(5) Optical distance measurement is indispensable for precise position measurement, but there is no guarantee of visibility in the sea except in the immediate vicinity. Furthermore, the movement of the seabed resources is mainly in the vertical direction, and the distance is as short as 6.5 km at most, but the landing point control is characterized by the requirement of meter order accuracy. In addition, although the navigation control requires a large amount of information to be transmitted, optical fiber communication is suitable because a radio wave does not pass through the sea and a sound wave with good propagation has a small amount of information capacity. Sensors that can be used underwater include (1) inertial position sensor, (2) depth gauge, (3) acoustic sensor, (4) optical sensor, and (5) geomagnetic sensor. For navigation control using these, There are inertial navigation, acoustic navigation, and optical navigation. these sensors are used in combination with the characteristics of navigation.
In the descent target route 043, the inertial navigation section 090 first approaches the range just above the landing point on the seabed, which is the target at the time of descent, and in the ascent target route 045, it first approaches directly below the target maritime command ship 010.
In the succeeding acoustic navigation section 091, the influence of the bending of the sound ray due to the undersea temperature distribution is eliminated by reducing the deviation from just below and above the target when descending and when ascending. When the deep-sea crane 001 floats on the sea surface 032, as the sea water is almost stopped at the sea bottom, the disturbance to the position and speed is small there, but on the sea surface, it is necessary to consider the relative motion of the waves near the surface command ship. In order to avoid the effects of sea waves, it is possible to concentrate in the lift up work when the sea climate is calm, and to concentrate on the sea bottom work when the sea weather is not suitable.
The navigation control system 212 in
In processing block 520, it is determined whether the deep sea crane 001 leaves the surface command ship 010 before or after the surface command ship 010 is separated. In
The operation of the inertial navigation system is described in
The process of inertial navigation 227 follows the process flow of the operation of the inertial navigation system shown in
In consideration of the refraction of the sound wave propagation path, the acoustic distance measuring range 091 has a cone that is directly above or directly below the final target point (sea bottom landing point 011 when descending. surface command ship 010 position when ascending) with high level of propagation straightness. In
The principle and method of realizing acoustic distance measurement are described in
The acoustic sensors A to D 231 to 234 and the sound generator 230 are arranged on the top of the deep sea crane 001 (
It is suitable to use the acoustic navigation in the medium and short distance range, because the light does not reach anywhere except the immediate vicinity in the sea. The temperature distribution of seawater exists in the depth direction, but is generally uniform in the horizontal direction. When positioning with a target using a transponder, the azimuth in the horizontal direction can be grasped relatively accurately, but the error in the vertical direction increases as the angle with the vertical direction increases. If the sound wave propagation is more than 20° away from directly above or below, the sound wave will not reach the target reliably.
The principle and implementation method of the acoustic navigation 228 in
In
A case where the sound source is approximated by a surface sound source will be described in detail with reference to
In
If the sound reception time (seconds) of the acoustic sensors A to D 231-234 are ta, tb, tc, and td, respectively, and the sound velocity in the sea is s m/sec, Then, based on
the propagation distance between the acoustic sensors A and C due to the time difference of propagation, and
the propagation distance between the acoustic sensors B and D due to the time difference of propagation, the followings are obtained.
Then, the processing block 551 is obtained. In Equation 02, cos φ=0 and sin θ cannot be obtained unless there is a propagation delay time difference with respect to the sound sensor. cos φ=0 means that the control purpose is achieved because the transponder is directly below or above.
In processing block 552, the transponder azimuth is corrected based on the attitude data obtained from the inertial sensor, and in processing block 553, the position of the deep sea crane 001 on the sound generator side, which is the control target, is obtained from the known transponder position.
Especially on the seabed, the reaching distance of light is shortened by the mud that rolls up, but since accurate positioning is possible at a short distance of 10 to several meters or less, LED light emitting devices can be used for precise position control. The principle of optical navigation will be described with reference to
The imaging devices 235 are installed above the lifting hook 047 of the cargo compartment 005 of the deep-sea crane 001, and are installed in a horizontal plane at a right angle of 90 degrees apart so that one of the four imaging devices 235 can capture light emitting devices A to D 240 to 243.
When the central axis of the imaging device 235 is shifted;
(1) to the light emitting devices AB side, then (d3) in
(2) to the light emitting devices BC side, then (d4) in
(3) to the light emitting devices CD side, then (d1) in
(4) to the light emitting devices DA side, then (d2) in
When the central axis is not displaced, the image of (d0) in
In the optical navigation in
(1) Pixel positions of images of the light emitting elements A to D 240 to 243 on the imaging surface 293
Light emitting device A (Ha, Va), light emitting device B (Hb, Vb), light emitting device C (Hc, Vc), light emitting device D (Hd, Vd) in
(2) Identification information of light emitting elements A to D 240 to 243
(3) Focal length Lf 155 of the image pickup device 235
(4) Vertical and horizontal angle of view (aV, aH) and number of vertical and horizontal pixels (Vmax, Hmax) of the imaging device 235
(5) Angle β formed by the line AC connecting the light emitting devices A and C 240 to 243 with the XY plane
(6) The angle γ formed by the line BD connecting the light emitting elements B and D240 to 243 with the XY plane
(7) Angle δ that straight line BD makes with the Y-axis
Then, the following data (A) and (B) can be obtained by the method described below, where the above (1) and (2) are measurement data of the imaging device 235, and (3) and (4) are unique data of the imaging device 235, which are all known.
(A) Position of deep sea crane 001 (latitude/longitude (LatT, LonT), depth (DpT))
(B) Posture of deep sea crane 001 (pitch pb, yaw yb, roll rb)
The above (A) and (B) are determined using quaterion.
Using the reference coordinate system, with XYZ axis; X axis: horizontal Y axis: vertical Z axis: front and rear, the position of the imaging device 235 is defined as P, and using a coordinate system (XbYbZb), the posture of the imaging device 235 is defined as Pb.
It is assumed that the capture ring aim 068 in
P
t
=Q
T
PQ
T* [equation 03]
The capture ring aim 068 in this coordinate system is projected on the imaging surface 293 to obtain the image in
A indicates the presence of the light emitting device A 240, and the same applies to BCD. M is the intersection of AC and BD.
In
taking the average
On the other hand, since α, β, γ, and δ are obtained from the coordinates of the image of the light emitting devices on the imaging surface 293 as in Equation 05, the values of R, ω, and φ in Equation 06 are determined.
It should be noted that ρ represents a rotation around the line-of-sight vector PM with respect to the reference coordinates. In Equation 05, the capture ring aim 068 is assumed on the XY plane, but it is generally inclined with a certain posture angle. As shown in
From
If the rotation quaterion of (Equation 007) is Qt, then (Equation 008) is obtained.
P
t
=Q
t
P
b
Q
t* [equation 08]
Equation 09 is obtained from Equation 08 and Equation 03, and the posture of the imaging device 235 with respect to the reference coordinates P is obtained.
P
b
=Q
t
−1
Q
T
PQ
T
*Q
t*−1 [equation 09]
The processing block 561 in
The measured values of the navigation sensor 113 including the inertial position sensor, the depth gauge, the acoustic sensor, the optical sensor, and the geomagnetic sensor are input to the position/speed control system 216. Pitch, yaw, and roll signals from the attitude sensor 214 are input to the attitude control system 217. The navigation control system 212 gives a navigation command 404 to the position/speed control system 216 according to the navigation mode selected in the processing block 522 of
The navigation command 404 is a time function of the target position, and includes the seabed landing position that is the arrival target position, and the moving trajectory that is the time function between the current position of the deep-sea crane 001 and the control target position.
The attitude control system 217 can practically ignore other than the rotation around a vertical axis as the deep sea crane 001 in which a cargo room 005 is suspended in a buoyancy tank 002 has a similar shape to balloons (
In the case of the inertial navigation 227 and the acoustic navigation 228, the position/speed control system 216 calculates the control order by Equation 015 and Equation 016, and individual thruster controllers 221 send out control order to each control wings. In these cases, braking and rotation or horizontal thrust is obtained by controlling the opening angle and rotation angle of the control wings and landing leg attached to the cargo room as shown in
When performing precise position/velocity control by optical navigation 229, the position/velocity control system 216 calculates the control order by Equation 015 and Equation 016, and the individual thruster controllers 221 output the command signals to the individual thrusters. When performing the precise position/velocity control by the optical navigation 229 in
The precise control is performed only when the rendezvous control is needed in order to hoist the capture ring 037 of the seabed mineral ores collection device 015 (electric power shovel) and the seabed mineral ores collection container 034 by the lifting hook 047. Other than that, the potential energy is passively used for the round-trip between the sea surface and the seabed without using thrusters.
The deep sea crane 001 is navigated by controlling the individual thrusters and the command orders to the control wings. Since this is common to all of the following operation modes (inertial navigation, acoustic navigation, optical navigation), the integrated control 215 changes the components of the diagonal matrix A of Equation 016 corresponding to the state variables, and the feedback coefficient of Equation 016 so as to realize the each control mode commonly, corresponding to each of the position/speed control system 216 and the attitude control system 217.
The navigation control system 291 shown in
As the shape of the deep-sea crane is axisymmetric, the attitude control is mainly the rotation about the vertical axis When hoisting the container 034, it is necessary to face the capture ring 037 of the rendezvous target (
(1) Since the shape of a deep-sea crane is axisymmetric, the attitude control is focused to the rotation control in the axial direction, however it is absorbed by the twist of the suspension rope and it is difficult to control the rotation in the cases of suspension types of
Of these, the imaging device 235 that captures the rendezvous target (
(2) The policy is to control the rotation around the axis of the deep-sea crane 001, and if the suspension method as shown if
Thus the imaging device 235 suspended in the cargo compartment 005 is rotationary controlled to image the capture ring 037 of the rendezvous target (
In the case of inertial navigation 227 and acoustic navigation 228, braking and lateral thrust are obtained by controlling the degree of opening and rotation angle of each of the four control wings 006 shown in
Ra=Rc
Rb=Rd
The components of the above vector are defined as follows.
The drag force is defined by the following parameters.
Wing opening angle: αa (subscript is wing ID)
Wing rotation angle: ρa (subscript is wing ID)
Ascending/Descending force S=W−F
Cargo compartment weight W
The function Fxy is an empirical formula that generates a thrust component with respect to the horizontal plane.
The function Fz is an empirical formula that generates a thrust component in the vertical direction. Since the vertical thrust is generated by the passive resistance vanes, it acts only as a resistance that counteracts the difference between buoyancy and gravity.
R
ay
=F
xy(S,W,αa,βa)
R
az
=F
z(S,W,αa,βa)
The following is obtained by integrating each component.
When the precise position/velocity control is performed by the optical navigation 229,
Before performing the precise position/speed control, the ballast is adjusted to balance the buoyancy and gravity of the deep-sea crane 001, and the crane is once stopped before moving to rendezvous operation by the precise position/speed control. The position and speed of the cargo compartment 005 is controlled in
It is not necessary to control the posture of the lifting hook 047 and the imaging device 235 due to their structure. In
In the precise position/speed control, the thrusts of the vertical thrusters A to D in
Since the control in the vertical direction is performed while maintaining the horizontal posture, the thrust of the vertical thruster is the same.
Tz=TA=TB=TC=TD
Expressing the components of the above vector,
Since the thrusters in the horizontal direction are on the X-axis or Y-axis, the thrust are same for each axis because of the horizontal movement
Ta=Tc
Tb=Td
Te=−Tf
Vector notation,
The following is obtained b integrating each component.
If there is attitude control and the z-axis torque is Rz, Rz=2Te·b, where b is the distance from the z axis of the thruster.
The precise position/velocity control is also used to lift the seabed mineral ores collection device 015 (electric power shovel) and the capture ring 037 of the seabed mineral or collection container 034 by the lifting hook 047 of the cargo compartment of the deep sea crane 001. The rendezvous mechanism of
The capture ring is located above the object to lift and has a light-emitting device with four LEDs on the upper part. The imaging device 235 on the upper part of the lifting hook 047 captures the capture ring 037 in the visual field. The deep-sea crane 001 is guided by an optical method to lift the capture ring 037 by the lifting hook 047. The height of the light emitting LEDs is set so that the imaging device 235 can easily capture them.
The deep sea crane 001 has a specific gravity of around 1.0, a low moving speed of about 1 m/sec, and a low resistance symmetrical shape. However, with respect to movement in the x-axis, y-axis, and z-axis directions, the deep sea crane 001 receives water resistance which is a function of speed, here approximated as linear. R is a water resistance coefficient and the equation of motion can be expressed by Equation 015.
T(t)=M{umlaut over (X)}(t)+R{dot over (X)}(t)
r(t)=m{umlaut over (ω)}(t)+s{dot over (ω)}(t) [equation 15]
Here, M is the mass of the deep sea crane 001, R is the resistance coefficient, and X (t) is the position of the center of gravity in the reference coordinate system. T (t) is the thrust in the reference coordinate system obtained from the navigation control system and the levitation control system for the deep-sea crane 001. Where, r is the torque around the z-axis, m is the rotation moment, and s is the resistance torque against rotation. (r(t) is considered only when attitude control is performed). A control system is configured for the dynamic characteristics of Equation 015. The control law is to find T(t) that minimizes the following. When performing attitude control, also obtain r(t).
Then minimizing the next equation,
When attitude control is performed, the next equation is minimized.
∫(r(t)−rT(t)))2dt [equation 16]
A is a 6×6 constant matrix whose diagonal elements are aij>0 i=0,5. The lower right subscript in WT (t), XT (t), and rT (t) in (Equation 016) indicates the target value, and the upper right subscript indicates the transposed matrix.
The equipment that composes the seabed mineral ores collection has been described above, All of these activities are monitored and controlled by the supervisory control system 283 from the surface command ship 010.
Considering that the surface command ship 010 uses a standard ore carrier ship, which is changed to the surface command ship with a PC-based small-sized portable system to facilitate effective operation.
(1) Navigation control
(2) Controlling the seabed mineral ores collection devices
(3) Managing acoustic position markers
(4) Power control
(5) Controlling the surface command ship
The supervisory control system 283 includes a part relating to the deep-sea crane control system 284 shown in
In the part relating to the deep sea crane control device 284 shown in the monitoring control system of
(1) The state of the deep-sea crane 001 is monitored, the landing to and lifting from the seabed is controlled, the operation management such as ore loading, and the ballast control information are managed and controlled.
(2) The images from the imaging device 235 are monitored when the precise speed position control is active, and manual control is performed if necessary. In addition to the functions related to the deep sea crane control device 284, the deep sea crane console 210 of the supervisory control system in
(1) Based on the GPS positioning data 402 captured by the supervisory controlled control system 283, a speed and steering command for canceling the influence of ocean current and wind are imposed to the surface command ship 010 in order to maintain a fixed point.
(2) Managing the identification numbers (IDs) of the acoustic position markers set by the position marker ship 070, the latitude and longitude, and the installation time are collectively managed. Every time the acoustic position marker is installed and collected, the information is updated by the acoustic position marker control device (
(3) As the submarine equipment management, information such as the identification number (ID), the latitude and longitude, and the installation time of the seabed mineral ores collecting device 015 (electric power shovel) and the seabed mineral ores collecting containers 034 are managed.
(4) Collect and manage geographic information (video information, resource excavation information) on the seabed.
In the part relating to the seabed mineral ores collection device control device 285 shown in the supervisory control device of
(1) While watching the image of the ultrasonic high-definition video camera 050 on the display 255, the seabed mineral ores collecting device 015 is operated with the joystick 270. When the seabed visibility is good, the imaging device 235 is also used.
(2) According to the instruction of the deep sea crane console 210, the mineral loading target is selected and performed.
(3) The seabed mineral ores collecting device 015 is remotely controlled by the joystick 270 and the resource collecting device console 441 via the optical cable 268.
The power switchboard 251 controls the power generator 470 by the power supply monitoring system 250 shown in
(1) Power is supplied to the seabed mineral ores device power mechanism 267 of the mineral collection device 015 through the power transmission interface 253 and the undersea power cable 269.
(2) Power is supplied to the deep-sea crane control system 284 via the power transmission interface 253 and the undersea power cable 269. The attachment for detailed position/speed control has a thruster and requires electric power for driving, but there is also a method of mounting a high-performance secondary battery and omitting the undersea power supply cable 269.
The power supply device monitoring control system 250 controls the charging device 252 via the power supply control panel 251 to charge the acoustic position markers and the secondary battery for the deep sea crane control device 284.
The seabed mineral resource collection system of the present invention can collect and unload mineral ores distributed on the seafloor, but since the components do not contain gas and are composed only of liquid and solid, the internal pressure and seawater pressure of the component device can be equalized at any seafloor depth without having a special pressure resistance mechanism.
Moreover, since it does not include pumping of fluid, there are no mechanical restrictions. Since the buoyancy is used to lift the seafloor mineral resources with being slightly lighter than the specific gravity of the surrounding seawater, the energy required for the lift does not increase with depth.
That is, it can be operated from a depth of less than 1000 to a depth of more than 6500 m in which seafloor mineral resources exist. Since the operation is flexible in this way, it is possible to selectively move and collect sea areas with high-grade minerals, which has a great profitable effect.
The numbers shown in the examples are for feasibility and can be scaled up or down.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018-143015 | Jul 2018 | JP | national |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/JP2019/029712 | Jul 2019 | US |
| Child | 17159776 | US |
