FI78967C - ANORDNING FOER UPPSAMLING AV FOEREMAOL FRAON HAVSBOTTEN. - Google Patents

Description

78967

The present invention relates to an apparatus for collecting seabed bodies on the seabed or a similar body of water, the apparatus having a conveying channel with a discharge opening, a pressure source 5 for providing water flow in the conveying channel, an outlet for discharging water from the conveying channel and a collecting tank. the width of the hub decreases and at the same time the height increases as it moves towards the collecting tank.

10 At the bottom of the oceans, at a depth of about 4.5-6 km, there are mineral bodies among the mud, the so-called mangaaninoduleita. Nodules are oval tubers with a minimum diameter of about 10-50 mm. In addition to manganese, they contain valuable minerals such as nickel, cobalt and copper. Nodules si-15 are distributed on the surface of the mud layer.

Various devices have been developed for collecting and recovering these nodules. The apparatus has a collecting head that runs along the seabed, lifting the nodules up. The nodules are transferred through the tubing by pumping or by means of air or a lifting basket to a vessel on the surface of the sea. For example, U.S. Patent 4,042,279 describes a head collection solution that uses a stream of water to transport nodules. In this known apparatus, the nodules 25 collected over the entire width of the apparatus by means of flow are assembled at the end end with a transverse transport screw or using a laterally inclined bottom of the collecting chamber. A funnel-shaped collection chamber bottom can also be used.

It is an object of the present invention to collect nodules 30 by means of a transport water flow.

With the nodules, a lot of mud also rises from the bottom of the sea. The mud must be separated from the nodules by some means, but the muddy drainage flow is detrimental to the equipment at the collecting head, e.g. sonar operation. The 35 disadvantages caused by the mud are compounded by the fact that the mud settles back to the bottom slowly, so that the water does not clear again until several days later.

The device according to the present invention is characterized by 2 78967 in that the direction of the discharge flow is adjustable. The width of the transport channel decreases as you move towards the collection container. So, the height of the transport channel increases while the width decreases. However, the cross-sectional area of the channel is not necessarily constant but may decrease towards the end. In this case, the flow rate of water accelerates at the end and removes the mud adhering to them from the nodules when the nodules of the nodes are retained by the separation network.

When the discharge flow is directed to a narrower area, the mud can also be directed out of the transport channel in a controlled manner.

The invention and its details will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 schematically shows a side vertical section of a collecting device according to the invention and Figure 2 shows the same device seen from above.

Figures 1 and 2 show the suction and transport part of the collecting device, which for the sake of clarity are shown without the body of the collecting device. The hull moves along the seabed, for example by means of crawler chains and its own drive mechanism, or on its feet, pulled by a vessel on the surface of the sea 20. In Figures 1 and 2, the direction of movement is from left to right. The movement speed is about 1 m / s.

At the bottom of the sea 1 there are nodules 2 which are collected by the collecting device through the suction opening 3. In the embodiment according to Figures 1 and 2, the suction and flow carrying the nodules is provided by means of a pump 4 and a nozzle 5 above the suction opening. Figure 2 shows three pumps and nozzles in parallel. The nozzle 5 directs the water flow tangentially below the upper surface 6 of the suction device. The underside of the upper surface 6 is convex. The curved surface 6 causes the flow to turn further upwards. 30 As a result of the flow, 3 suction is generated in the suction opening, which raises the nodules with it. The nodules are removed from the bottom mud by means of horizontal, transverse jet tubes 7 and 8 in front of and behind the suction opening. The shower pipes are slightly above the level of the bottom and have 35 shower openings at the bottom at about 20 mm intervals. The flow of the nozzles is provided by the pump 9. By means of the valves 10 and 11, it is possible, if desired, to adjust one or both nozzles to be inoperative. The 3 78967 pump 4 used to provide the water flow required for the transfer is preferably a propeller pump, since a pressure of about 0.5-2 bar is sufficient for the transfer jet, but the volume flow must be high. The pressure of the discharge jet, on the other hand, should be higher, about 2-6 bar, so that the pump 9 is preferably a central-5 exhaust pump.

The nodules pass through the suction opening to the transport channel 12, the width of which after the suction opening decreases. This results in a flow containing the nodule and above the collector basket 13 which is narrower than the aligned suction opening. However, in order not to reduce the diameter of the flow channel too much, the height of the channel increases while its width decreases.

At the upper end of the collecting basket 13 there is a separating net 17, at which point the nodules fall under the effect of gravity to the bottom of the basket. From there they are further conveyed by means of a pump 14 15. The mud flow, on the other hand, is directed forward from the upper end of the car through the net 17. In order to direct the mud in the desired direction, the flow pipe 18 for removing the mud is bifurcated. One branch is directed to the left and the other to the right. Between the arms there is a control flap 16 which pivots about the hinge 15. In addition, the collecting basket may have other control flaps by means of which the flow of water to the basket is regulated. Instead of the pivoting flap 16 and the bifurcated pipe, a pivoting outlet pipe 14 can also be used or the direction of the outlet opening can be adjusted in other ways.

25 The use of the device on the seabed has been described above.

Of course, the device can also be used at the bottom of lakes and rivers if some products to be collected are found in these areas. Naturally, solid pieces other than manganese modules are also suitable for collection.

30 At the base level, the above is the level below which the shear layer has a shear strength of at least 0.3 kPa. On top of this base level there is also a layer of sediment about 2 cm high, which, however, does not have any load-bearing capacity.