RU2562304C1 - Method of production of ferromanganese concretions from sludge and device for its implementation - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: mining.

SUBSTANCE: minerals (concretions) separated from bottom during movement of the mining device towed by the tower vessel are taken to the reception vessel in the form of grid from high strength plastic fitted with lifting vessels and cylinders with compressed air, at filling of the reception vessel it moves by gravity from the bottom of the mining device to the soil, and on its place another reception vessel moves, which until this moment is located in the cartridge mounted in the upper part of the mining device and connected with the previous reception vessel by flexible rods, after that during further movement of the mining device the valves of cylinders with compressed air which fills lifting vessels, are actuated, the trawl takes off from the mining device and, having reached positive buoyancy, emerge to the surface where it is taken by the transportation vessel. Meanwhile for simplification of search the emerging vessel is fitted with the signalling device which automatically actuates after reaching of water surface.

EFFECT: improvement of efficiency of trawl utilisation due to reduction of number of idle runs, increase of completeness of excavation of useful component and decrease of dependence of working time from weather conditions.

4 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to the mining industry, namely to the underwater mining of ferromanganese nodules from the bottom of the oceans. In connection with the depletion of reserves in deposits located on land, this becomes a very promising direction for the development of the mining sector of the economy.

For the extraction of this type of raw materials, underwater excavators, dredges, grabs and devices with hydraulic lifting of the mined rock mass, as well as self-propelled mining complexes controlled from the surface, are currently used. Scoop shells are discontinuous aggregates; grabs, buckets, trawls are used as working bodies. A distinctive feature of these mechanisms is the presence of cable equipment, so that they can work at considerable depths of the sea. The dimensions of the bucket or trawl are structurally associated only with the strength of the cable and winch holding them. The experience of using oceanographic trawls for sampling sediments from the bottom of the deepest parts of the ocean has shown that trawls can be used in approximately 98% of the ocean floor area. If these deposits are located at depths of more than 1,500 meters, the use of dredges may not be expedient due to the large weight of the traction and control ropes, the long cycle of lowering and raising the bucket, and the accuracy of the installation of the trawl with respect to the already developed sections. Their use is also difficult in case of adverse weather conditions. However, trawls have an environmental advantage, with low sediment thickness and a flat bottom surface. Therefore, the use of this method of extraction and devices for its implementation is constantly expanding and their improvement is an urgent task.

The use of trawls and drags has been known since ancient times. One of the definitions of dredge is a “bucket-like device for collecting bottom sediments, sunken objects, etc. from the bottom of water bodies when it is pulled along the bottom. The dredge consists of a wide quadrangular iron frame with upper edges honed in the form of a blade, and a fine wire mesh (motva) attached along the lower edge of the frame. (Boch G.N. Excursion to the North, 1926 (quote from the National Corps of the Russian Language). Thrall, in turn, is defined as “a net bag towed behind a vessel using ropes” (Big Soviet Encyclopedia. M .: Soviet Encyclopedia, 1969-1978).

A known method for the extraction of nodules from the bottom of the oceans, including the delivery of a perforated vessel from a boat to the bottom of the water area, filling the vessel with nodules along with enclosing silt while moving the boat, raising the vessel to the boat and unloading it into the receiving device. This method is implemented in the form of a device including a watercraft, a receiving device placed on it, a winch, deflecting blocks, a head traction rope, a perforated vessel of rectangular cross-section with cutting edges (IP Timofeev Walking machines for developing the resources of the seabed. L 1987, p. 6-7, Fig. 1). This method of mining nodules is selected by the authors as a prototype. Based on the foregoing, this device can be characterized as one bucket dredge or trawl, and the method as trawling.

The disadvantages of this method and its implementing device are limited productivity, low extraction of nodules from the bottom field due to the difficulty of controlling the zone of passage of the vessel along the bottom, large dilution of nodules with bottom rocks extracted from the bottom layer along with nodules, turbidity of the water when raising the vessel.

A device is known for collecting solid minerals at the bottom of water areas, including a box-shaped scoop associated with a storage tank. The storage capacity in this device is made in the form of a mesh bag (SU 1051290, published on 10/30/1983, Bulletin No. 40). This design allows the collection of nodules, their separation from silt and other loose bottom sediments.

The disadvantage of this device is that it requires frequent elevations to the surface to empty the storage tank, which reduces the efficiency of work and is not always possible due to weather conditions (excitement).

Also known installation for the extraction of nodules, which includes working devices, hung on an endless cable, placed between the site of extraction of nodules and the vessel serving the installation. The working apparatus is designed to collect nodules from the bottom and deliver them to a service vessel and includes a base, in which control and communication facilities, a power device and power sources are located. A lifting ball and a clamshell are fixed on the base (Patent RU 2208164, publ. 07/10/2003). This solution allows to reduce the cost of raising the extracted raw materials.

The disadvantage of this installation is the inability to work in difficult weather conditions. Another disadvantage of this installation is the use of a hard shell in the lifting device, which increases the size of the working devices lowered to the bottom and therefore their “windage”, which in the case of strong undercurrents makes it difficult to fix the production device at a given point.

A device for lifting a sunken object is also known, including a gas generator, a body fastened along a flange with an inflatable soft shell, suspension for slinging a cargo, and a cable having positive buoyancy, enveloping the upper part of the shell, and its lower ends are fastened with suspension for slinging a cargo (USSR AS No. 1729905, published April 30, 1992).

The disadvantage of this device is the poor resistance to capsizing, especially at the time of deployment and the beginning of filling the shell with gas, which excludes its use in the presence of strong undercurrents, and the large size of the shell, the presence of a rigid hull for storing the shell and the gas generator make it difficult to lift the payload onto the vessel, especially in adverse weather conditions.

Closest to the proposed device in technical essence and the achieved result is a device for underwater mining of mineral deposits, including a transporting tank pivotally connected to the cable via a rod, a gas generator, a flexible cavity for gas with a pressure limit valve, hummock with a ballast and a float, and ballast the tank is made in the form of a clamshell bucket with flexible links and connected by means of a load-carrying rope with a flexible cavity, while the clamshell bucket is made n mesh with reinforced jaws (Russian Federation patent №2426883, publ. 20.08.2011, Bull. №23). This device is selected by the authors as a prototype.

The disadvantage of this device is the design complexity, namely the presence of a gas generator, the need to use consumables and the difficulty of removing the transporting container to the surface. In addition, the use of a grab with a small thickness of sediments containing nodules is not rational, since it will not ensure the completeness of extraction of the useful component.

The technical result of the invention consists in increasing the efficiency of using the trawl by reducing the number of idling, increasing the completeness of the extraction of the useful component and reducing the dependence of the time of work on weather conditions, as well as simplifying the design of the device and making it cheaper to raise the extracted mineral to the ocean surface.

The technical result is achieved due to the fact that minerals (nodules), separated from the bottom during the movement of a mining device towed by a towing vessel, fall into the receiving tank in the form of a mesh of especially durable plastic, equipped with lifting tanks and compressed air cylinders, when filling the receiving Under the influence of gravity, it moves from the bottom of the mining device to the ground, and in its place there is another receiving tank, up to this point located in the cassette mounted in the upper part of the production device and connected to the previous receiving tank by flexible rods, after which, with further movement of the production device, valves of compressed air cylinders that fill the lifting tanks are activated, the trawl is separated from the production device and, having reached positive buoyancy, floats to the surface where it is picked up by a transporting vessel . At the same time, to facilitate the search, the pop-up tank is equipped with a signal device, which automatically works after it reaches the water surface.

To implement this method, a device is proposed, which is a bucket in the form of a quadrangular prism, having a blade for insertion into the reservoir and not having a rear wall, traction cables and control cables, as well as mesh receiving containers for collecting nodules and lifting containers in the form of flexible inflatable balloons filled air, characterized in that it is equipped with a cassette located in the upper part of the bucket, with individual trawls fixed in it in a rolled-up form (mesh bags made of especially durable plastic), equipped with compressed air cylinders having a valve and flexible lifting containers made of high-strength rubberized fabric, which, when filled with air, collectively take the shape of a torus, also folded into a cassette, connected by flexible rods, which in turn are connected to different-sized rollers, one pair of which has a positive buoyancy, and the other pair is negative, as well as a flexible elastic frame that holds the receiving hole of the trawl in the working position when it is filled with a swinging plate pivotally connected to the bottom of the bucket and hold driven by spring rods in the operating position (approximately 7 °), which can be deflected horizontally by gravity, while on the inner walls of the bucket there are guides the width of which allows rollers of smaller diameter to pass through them and not to pass rollers of larger diameter, while the exit from the guides is blocked by a swinging plate if it is in the working (raised) position. In this case, the length of the rods connecting the valves of the cylinders with compressed air to the corresponding rollers is calculated so that when the trawl moves with the swinging plate, the valves of the cylinders with compressed air located in the part of the trawl in contact with the bottom surface are first triggered, which leads to the trawl begins to be rotated by the loading hole to the top, and after all the cylinders are completely filled and positive buoyancy is achieved, it floats to the water surface, upon reaching which the signal trigger roystvo attached to it.

The invention is illustrated in the drawing, where in FIG. 1 presents a flow chart of the proposed method, FIG. 2, 3 and 4 - the design of the device and the principle of its operation.

In FIG. 1 shows the implementation of the proposed method, namely, from a mining vessel 1 to a productive section of the bottom 2, a mining device 3 is lowered, which is connected to the vessel 1 by traction 4 and by controlling 5 cables. As the mining device 3 moves, nodules are collected in trawls 6, equipped with lifting tanks 7, which float up as they fill them with air to the surface of the water 8. When it is reached, the signaling devices mounted on the trawls (not shown) automatically trigger, which makes it easier to detect pop-ups trawls from a picker vessel 9.

The design of the device for implementing the proposed method is shown in FIG. 2.

The device operates as follows.

At the first stage (Fig. 2), the mining device 3 sinks to the bottom 2 and penetrates into the bottom sediments containing ferromanganese nodules 10, while the bucket 11, equipped with a dump 12, is installed at the beginning of the section to be worked out using traction 4 and control ropes 5 . In this case, the first of the trawls 6 in the cassette 13 is brought to the working position in advance (on the surface), namely, the upper rollers 14, which have a larger diameter and positive buoyancy, are released from the upper grooves 15, and the elastic frame 16, to which the neck of the trawl 6 is attached , unfolds and blocks the exit from the bucket 11, while its lower part, connected with rollers of smaller diameter 17, is in contact with the swinging plate 18, and the rollers 17 are locked in the lateral grooves 19 by this plate, which is held in this (working) position at omoschi spring dampers 20, and fix the lower part 6 of the trawl in a predetermined position. When the mining device 3 moves, the heap 12 is embedded in sediments containing ferromanganese nodules 10 and loosens them, while at the same time directing the rock mass raised from the bottom to the bucket 11, where it enters the trawl 6. The nodules are retained by the trawl net 6, and the loosened sludge settles back to the bottom as the mining device 3 moves.

At the second stage (Fig. 3), the trawl 6 filled with nodules under the influence of gravity lowers the swinging plate 18, while its rear part sinks to the bottom, the lower rollers 17 come out of the grooves 19 and release the flexible rods 21 associated with the valve of the compressed air cylinder (not shown in FIG.). The upper rollers 14, having positive buoyancy, hold the upper part of the trawl 6, preventing it from tipping over. With further movement of the mining device 3, the trawl 6 completely slides from the swinging plate 18 and it again takes up the working position under the action of spring shock absorbers. The rods 21 associated with the rollers 17 of the next trawl pull them, while straightening the elastic frame 16, which occupies a working position in the bucket 11. Similarly, the upper part of the elastic frame is connected in a working position, connected by flexible rods 22 with the rollers 14, which were previously held in the cassette 13 using a spring latch 23.

In the third stage (figure 4), the flexible rods 21 and 22 open the valves of the cylinders of compressed air (not shown in Fig.) And fill the lifting tanks 7. At the same time, the container lying on the ground starts to fill up so as to prevent the trawl from tipping over 6. With the further movement of the mining device 3, the rods 21 and 22 reach their maximum length, after which the cut-off devices (not shown) are triggered, while the force required to operate them is greater than what is necessary to actuate the spring latches 23 and to remove ice rinks 17 of grooves 19. The trawl 6 is completely separated from the mining device 3 and after achieving positive buoyancy begins to independently rise to the surface.

Thus, this invention may allow the extraction of minerals (nodules) from the bottom of the water area with lower costs, loss of minerals and environmental damage, as well as in adverse weather conditions. All the features that distinguish the invention are necessary and sufficient for its implementation and obtain the claimed technical result.

Claims (4)

1. A method of extracting ferromanganese nodules from silty bottom sediments, comprising separating the nodules together with the host rock from the bottom using a towed mining device in the form of a bucket having a prism shape without a rear wall, equipped with a dump for introducing into the thickness of bottom sediments containing nodules, collecting nodules into the mesh receiving tank, overlapping the back of the bucket, and raising it to the surface using flexible inflatable balloons filled with air, characterized in that the receiving containers are equipped with They are rolled up with flexible lifting containers and cylinders of compressed air, placed in a cassette located in the upper part of the mining device, and connected together by flexible rods, and when the mining device moves, the nodules raised from the bottom of the nodule fall into the mesh receiving tank, which after filling slides to the bottom behind the production device, and the flexible rods, with which the receiving containers are interconnected, pull the next receiving tank to the place filled, while simultaneously opening the cylinder valves with compressed m of air at the filled receiving tank, with further movement of the mining device, flexible rods connecting the receiving tanks, having reached the maximum length, are torn and the filled receiving tank, having reached positive buoyancy as the lifting containers are deployed under the action of compressed air from the cylinders, rises to the surface where it is selected the carrier vessel, and the process is repeated as many times as the number of receiving containers placed in the cassette. 2. The method according to p. 1, characterized in that the lifting tanks are equipped with a signal device that is triggered after it emerges to the surface. 3. A device for the extraction of ferromanganese nodules from silty bottom sediments, including a bucket in the form of a prism, having a blade for insertion into the reservoir and without a rear wall, traction cables and control cables, as well as mesh receiving tanks for collecting nodules and lifting containers in the form of flexible inflatable cylinders filled with air, characterized in that it is equipped with a cassette located in the upper part of the bucket, with separate receiving containers fixed in it in a rolled form, equipped with flexible lifting sectional containers threads made of high-strength waterproof fabric equipped with compressed air cylinders with valves, while the receiving containers are interconnected by two pairs of flexible rods of different lengths, which in turn are connected with different-sized rollers, one pair of which has a larger diameter and has positive buoyancy, and another pair of smaller diameter is negative, while the thrusts pass through the valves of the cylinders with compressed air and are equipped with cut-offs that operate at a given tension of the rods, and is also equipped with a flexible control a skeleton that holds the receiving hole of the lifting capacity in the unfolded state when it is filled, swinging plate pivotally connected to the bottom of the bucket and held by spring rods in a raised working position and having the ability to deviate into a horizontal position under the action of gravity, while on the inner walls of the bucket there are guides, the width of which allows rollers of smaller diameter to pass in them and not to pass rollers of larger diameter, while the exit from the guides is blocked by a swinging plate in case of finding a working raised position and opens in the case of lowering to the horizontal position, and the output of the cassette is covered by a spring latch having a trigger force less than the actuation force is cutoff. 4. The device according to p. 3, characterized in that the flexible lifting containers after filling with air collectively form a figure in the form of a torus, and the length of the rods connecting the receiving containers to each other is designed so that first the valves of the cylinders with compressed air lower lying on the ground lifting tanks, and the valves of the cylinders of the upper tank are activated after the receiving tank has taken a position close to vertical.

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