A deep-sea mining system

Abstract

A deep-sea mining screening and crushing device, with an ore sorter and ore crusher mounted on a seafloor buoyancy platform. The ore sorter sorts the ore fed into the machine into large, medium, and small sizes. Large ore is automatically diverted to a large ore storage area. Medium ore is automatically diverted to an ore crusher, crushed by the ore crusher, and then returned to the ore sorter for secondary screening. Small ore is transported to a mother ship using a fluid lift pipe. A deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device, with a fixed plate, a lifting hook, and a backfill box connected to the left side of the float, and a lifting rope and ore box connected to the right side. A push-pull rod is installed between the lifting hook and the lifting rope. The backfill box is filled with seabed mud and sinks to the seabed against the buoyancy of the float. When the ore box reaches its rated load on the seabed, the push-pull rod automatically removes the backfill box from the lifting hook, and the float, carrying the ore box, floats to the surface, refilling the seabed with seabed mud from the mother ship and transporting large seabed ore to the surface.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention provides a deep-sea mining system, in particular to a deep-sea mining screening and crushing device, and a deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device; and belongs to the technical field of deep-sea mining equipment. Background Art

[0002] With the development of science and industry, humanity's demand for resources has continued to increase, and terrestrial mineral resources have gradually become depleted. However, the ocean covers approximately 71% of the Earth's surface. All the mineral resources found on land have already been discovered in the ocean, and these mineral resources are enormous. Deep-sea metal minerals primarily consist of manganese nodules and cobalt nodules. Manganese nodules are primarily found on the surface of the seafloor at depths of 2,000 to 6,000 meters in the world's oceans, with reserves estimated at 200 billion tons, equivalent to 57 times the reserves on land. Cobalt nodules, primarily found on seamounts at depths of 1,500 to 3,000 meters, hold approximately 5 billion tons, 539 times the reserves on land.

[0003] Currently, a key component of deep-sea mining systems is the transport of ore from the seabed to the surface mothership. Because fluid lift pipes enable continuous ore transport from the seabed to the surface mothership, they offer high transport efficiency and have become the primary method for transporting ore from the seabed to the surface. However, due to the limitations of the lift pipe's inner diameter, fluid lift pipes cannot transport ores that exceed the pipe's inner diameter. Furthermore, the fluid lift pipe relies primarily on pumps within the pipe, such as centrifugal or plunger pumps, to transport the ore upward. Therefore, even if ore smaller than the pipe's inner diameter, such as medium-sized ores, can enter the pipe, the large ratio of the individual ore size to the pipe's inner diameter can still damage the fluid lift pipe and pump of the ore lifting equipment. This can include blockage caused by medium-sized ores, as well as impact and compression of key components such as the pipe, pump body, pump impellers, and plunger during the lifting process. In severe cases, these components can deform or even fail, impacting their proper function.

[0004] Furthermore, the seabed slurry lifted to the mother ship via fluid pipelines contains a large amount of seabed mud. If large-scale commercial development of seabed mineral resources is not carried out, a large amount of seabed mud will be deposited on land if it is not promptly processed. Seabed mud contains a variety of organic and inorganic substances, including heavy metals and organic compounds. If directly deposited on land, it will cause soil contamination.

[0005] To address the aforementioned issues of transporting large ores to the sea surface and backfilling the seabed mud from the mother ship into the seabed mining area, the application, publication number: CN117514178A, is titled: A deep-sea buoyancy mining system. This system utilizes two slings via a buoy to separately lift a backfill box and an ore box. An automatic hook is provided between the sling and the backfill box. The backfill box, filled with seabed mud, is lowered to the bottom of the mining area by its own weight exceeding the buoyancy of the buoy. After the backfill box rests on the bottom, the ore box is suspended in the air. As the ore box is loaded with large ores, the pull of the buoy on the backfill box by the buoy increases, and when the pull decreases to a certain amount, the automatic hook is automatically unhooked, leaving the backfill box on the seabed, and the buoy automatically floats up with the ore box. It solves the problem that large ores cannot be transported to the mother ship through the lifting pipeline, and the large amount of seabed mud transported to the mother ship along with the ore cannot be backfilled into the seabed mining area, resulting in land environmental pollution. There is also the problem of limited capacity of deep-sea mining buoyancy transportation devices. The use of fluid lifting pipes to efficiently transport seabed ores is still the main means of transportation for deep-sea mining. Therefore, deep-sea mining buoyancy transportation devices are the most effective complementary transportation equipment for fluid lifting pipe transportation.

[0006] The aforementioned automatic hook is a scissor structure, with a compression spring positioned between the two upper handles of the scissors. This spring holds the handles open, keeping the blade at the bottom of the automatic hook open. The upward pull of the float creates a clamping force between the handles, overcoming the reaction force of the compression spring and closing the blade at the bottom of the scissors. The resulting hanging hole allows the backfill box's lifting rope to be suspended. Therefore, when the backfill box's lifting rope needs to be hooked into the hole of the automatic hook, an external clamping force must first be applied to the upper portion of the scissors structure to close the blade and form the hanging hole. When the float lifts the backfill box, clamping force is applied to the two upper handles of the automatic hook. This force overcomes the spring force, closing the blade. After the external force is released, the automatic hook can automatically unhook itself on the seabed, making the operation relatively cumbersome. If the external force on the automatic hook is forgotten before the backfill box sinks, the automatic control mechanism of the automatic hook will fail.

[0007] Furthermore, the automated hook used in the aforementioned deep-sea buoyancy mining system has a complex overall structure, and the backfill tank unhooking is unstable. While water fluctuations in the deep sea are generally less pronounced than nearshore or surface waters, a certain degree of water movement still exists due to factors such as seafloor topography, Earth's rotation, oceanographic conditions, tides, and variations in water density. This water movement causes the float to move up and down. As the float moves downward, the buoyancy exerted on the automated hook by the float decreases. This can cause the ore tank to prematurely unload before reaching its rated capacity, leading to premature unhooking of the automated hook and the unloading of the backfill tank, causing the entire automated mining system to float. Furthermore, the deep-sea buoyancy mining system relies on gravity to sink to the seabed. After the backfill tank first strikes the seabed, the system vibrates, reducing the pull of the float on the automated hook. This also creates the risk of premature unhooking of the automated hook, causing the backfill tank to unload prematurely and the deep-sea buoyancy mining system to automatically float.

[0008] In summary, the current mining of deep-sea mineral resources has the following problems:

[0009] 1. Due to the different sizes of seabed mineral nodules, there is a lack of necessary pretreatment equipment to pre-treat the ore, that is, large, medium and small ores are not classified and disposed of, which affects the normal transportation of slurry by the fluid pipeline lifting system.

[0010] 2. The automatic hook of the existing buoyancy transport system has low stability due to its own structural limitations. In addition, the installation process of the automatic hook is relatively cumbersome. If the operator forgets to release the external force auxiliary mechanism of the automatic hook before sinking, the automatic control mechanism of the automatic hook will fail. Summary of the Invention

[0011] To overcome the shortcomings of existing technologies, the present invention provides a deep-sea mining system comprising a deep-sea mining screening and crushing device and a deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device. This system addresses the pre-processing of seabed ore and the reliability of the self-controlled hook during deep-sea buoyancy transport.

[0012] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solutions.

[0013] A deep-sea mining screening and crushing device comprises an ore sorter, an ore crusher, a buoyancy platform, a fluid lifting pipe, a mother ship, and a slurry pump; the characteristics are: the ore sorter and ore crusher are arranged on the buoyancy platform; the buoyancy platform is anchored to the seabed; the ore sorter screens the ore fed into the machine into large, medium and small sizes, and the large, medium and small ores correspond to the upper, middle and lower parts of the ore sorter; the large ore is automatically diverted from the upper part of the ore sorter to the large ore stacking area; the medium ore is automatically diverted from the middle part of the ore sorter to the ore crusher, and after being crushed by the ore crusher, it is returned to the ore sorter for secondary screening using pipelines and slurry pumps; the feed port of the fluid lifting pipe is arranged at the lower part of the ore sorter, and the small ore is transported from the lower part of the ore sorter to the mother ship through the fluid lifting pipe.

[0014] A deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device comprises: a float, a backfill box, an ore box, a lifting hook, a push-pull rod, and an L-shaped connecting rod; a connecting plate is provided under the float; the left side of the connecting plate is connected to a fixed plate, a lifting hook, and a backfill box in sequence from top to bottom, and the right side is connected to a lifting rope and an ore box in sequence from top to bottom; when the backfill box is loaded with seabed mud and sunk into the sea on a mother ship, the bottom of the backfill box is lower than the bottom of the ore box; the device is characterized in that the ore box is loaded with large ore from a large ore storage area on the seabed, the two ends of the push-pull rod are respectively connected to the lifting hook and the lifting rope by horizontal hinges; the length of the push-pull rod is greater than the vertical distance between the fixed plate and the lifting rope;

[0015] The lifting hook includes a fixed plate and an L-shaped connecting rod, and the L-shaped connecting rod is arranged on the left side of the fixed plate; the front and rear sides of the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate are respectively provided with coaxial double hinge seats, and the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate are hingedly connected by a hinge shaft, which is recorded as: B hinge; a torsion spring is provided in the middle of the hinge shaft of the B hinge, so that the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate open up and close down.

[0016] The purpose of the present invention can be further achieved by the following technical solutions.

[0017] The ore sorter uses a screening plate and mechanical vibration to screen the ore.

[0018] The screening plate of the ore sorter is provided with an upper and lower layer, which are arranged inclined toward the lower left and lower right respectively in the cylinder of the ore sorter. The upper layer is the B screening plate and the lower layer is the A screening plate; a vibration platform is provided at the bottom of the cylinder of the ore sorter below the A screening plate.

[0019] The ore on the B screen plate that cannot pass through the mesh of the B screen plate is large ore, and the ore that passes through the mesh of the B screen plate is medium and small ore. The vibration and deadweight of the ore sorter are used to automatically divert the large ore from the large ore discharge port to the large ore stacking area; the ore on the A screen plate that cannot pass through the mesh of the A screen plate is medium ore, and the ore that passes through the mesh of the A screen plate is small ore. The vibration and deadweight of the ore sorter are used to automatically divert the medium ore from the medium ore discharge port to the feed port of the ore crusher; the small ore falls to the vibration platform; the feed port of the fluid lifting pipe is arranged in the small ore stacking area between the A screen plate and the vibration platform of the ore sorter;

[0020] The ore crusher is a horizontal spiral ore crusher, which is provided with a horizontally placed cylinder on the outside; a medium ore feed port is provided on the upper left of the cylinder, and a crushed ore discharge port is provided on the lower right; a rotating shaft is axially provided inside the cylinder; and spiral blades are provided on the rotating shaft.

[0021] The spiral blade is a variable pitch spiral blade on the rotating shaft, and its pitch changes gradually along the axial direction of the rotating shaft: larger on the left and smaller on the right.

[0022] The spiral blade is at least a double-headed spiral blade, one of which is a mineral material spiral conveying blade, and the other is a mineral material spiral crushing blade.

[0023] The outer diameter of the mineral spiral conveying blade matches the cylinder, and the blade cross-section is trapezoidal; the outer diameter of the mineral spiral crushing blade is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder, and the blade cross-section is quadrilateral, wide at the root, narrow at the top, and provided with a cutting edge at the top.

[0024] The cylinder is provided with a pressure reducing hole on its surface, and the diameter of the pressure reducing hole is no larger than the sieve hole on the A screen plate; the lower part of the cylinder is provided with a silo for receiving ore crushed by the ore crusher, and the bottom of the silo is provided with an A conveying pipe, a slurry pump, and a B conveying pipe; the B conveying pipe is connected to the upper part of the ore sorter.

[0025] The buoyancy platform is provided with a bracket to provide a precise installation position for the ore sorter, ore crusher, and motor.

[0026] The lifting hook is provided with an A hinge hole on the L-shaped connecting rod just below the B hinge. The A hinge hole is hinge-connected to the left end of the push-pull rod. The hinge is recorded as: A hinge.

[0027] The bending point of the L-shaped connecting rod is directly below the center of the B-hinge shaft, and the bending point of the L-shaped connecting rod is the lowest point of the L-shaped connecting rod.

[0028] The backfill box is suspended at the bend of the L-shaped connecting rod.

[0029] The length of the push-pull rod between the A hinge and the C hinge is adjustable.

[0030] The fixing plate is a steel plate, or a channel steel, or an angle iron.

[0031] Beneficial effects

[0032] The present invention provides a deep sea mining system, comprising a deep sea mining screening and crushing device and a deep sea mining buoyancy transport device.

[0033] A deep-sea mining screening and crushing device is provided. An ore sorter, an ore crusher, and a power unit are installed on a buoyancy platform anchored to the seabed and a bracket fixed to the buoyancy platform. The equipment is positioned so that the large ore discharge port and the medium ore discharge port for medium ore on the ore sorter are respectively higher than the large ore storage area and the feed port of the ore crusher. Since the screening plates of the ore sorter, i.e., the B screening plate and the A screening plate, are arranged at an angle, the ore on the screening plates of the ore sorter can automatically flow from the large ore discharge port and the medium ore discharge port for medium ore into the large ore storage area and the ore crusher respectively through vibration and dead weight.

[0034] The ore crusher of the present invention adopts multi-head spiral blades; one of which is a spiral conveying blade for ore materials, and its outer diameter matches the inner diameter of the cylinder, so that the ore can be pushed from left to right in the cylinder; the rest are spiral crushing blades for ore materials, and the outer diameter of the blades is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder, and the outer diameter of the blades is provided with a cutting edge, and its function is to cut and crush the ore; since the pitch of the multi-head spiral blades is a variable pitch, which is larger on the left and smaller on the right, and changes gradually, its function is to squeeze and crush the ore while pushing it from left to right; by continuously cutting and crushing and squeezing the ore, the ore particles are made smaller, which is a pretreatment for lifting the ore using a fluid lifting pipe.

[0035] In order to avoid the phenomenon of ore being trapped between the blades and the cylinder, that is, as the blade pitch gradually decreases, the space between the ore and the cylinder and the blades gradually decreases, and the internal friction continues to increase until the motor is blocked, which is called trapped ore. To avoid this phenomenon, the present invention provides a pressure reducing hole on the cylinder. As the blade pitch gradually decreases, the friction between the ore and the cylinder increases, and the particles of the ore that are cut, crushed and squeezed become smaller. The small particles of ore close to the cylinder will escape from the pressure reducing hole of the cylinder when squeezed. In addition, the seabed mud contained in the ore will also be squeezed out from the pressure reducing hole, thereby reducing the friction between the ore and the cylinder and the blades, and avoiding the phenomenon of trapped ore.

[0036] In order to avoid the pressure reducing hole being too large and reducing the crushing effect of the ore crusher on the ore, the pressure reducing hole of the cylinder of the present invention is not larger than the sieve hole on the A screening plate; the small ores escaping from the pressure reducing hole of the cylinder fall into the hopper under the cylinder, and the medium ores that have not been completely crushed and the small ores that have not escaped are transported to the drop port by the ore spiral conveying blades and fall into the hopper under the cylinder. Then, the ore in the hopper is returned to the ore sorter for re-screening through the A conveying pipe and slurry pump under the hopper.

[0037] The present invention pre-processes the seabed ore, screens out small ores, and transports them to the mother ship through a fluid lifting pipe. This prevents individual ores from being too large, which may cause blockage of the fluid lifting pipe, delivery pump, etc., and cause large extrusion deformation and impact deformation of major parts such as the fluid lifting pipe, pump body, pump blades, and plunger, which may seriously affect the safe transportation of the fluid lifting pipe, thereby ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the equipment.

[0038] A buoyancy transport device for deep-sea mining, the present invention uses the above-mentioned fluid lifting pipe to transport small ores to the mother ship, and seabed mud is also transported to the mother ship together with the small ores. In order to prevent the seabed mud from polluting the environment on land, the present invention uses a backfill box on the mother ship to load the seabed mud, overcome the buoyancy of the float and sink to the seabed; on the seabed, the large ores screened by the above-mentioned ore sorting machine are loaded into the ore box; when the ore box is loaded with ore, when the ore box reaches the rated loading capacity, the push-pull rod acts on the lifting hook, and the backfill box is automatically unloaded from the lifting hook, and the float carries the ore box to the sea surface, thereby backfilling the seabed with the seabed mud on the mother ship and transporting the large seabed ore to the sea surface.

[0039] In order to make the gravity of the ore box exert force on the push-pull rod and the lifting hook, and to ensure that the lifting hook can automatically unhook and release the backfill box when the ore box reaches the rated load, the present invention sets the bottom of the backfill box to be about h meters lower than the bottom of the ore box when the deep-sea mining buoyancy transportation device composed of the float, backfill box and ore box is sunk into the sea. The value of h is generally 0.5 meters. If the value is too large, it will be inconvenient to load the ore box on the seabed. If the value is too small, the bottom of the ore box will easily touch the bottom of the seabed. When the backfill box overcomes the buoyancy of the float, sinks to the seabed, and touches the seabed, the ore box is suspended under the float by the lifting rope and suspended in the water.

[0040] The lifting hook automatically unhooks. The lower left side of the float connecting plate is fixedly connected to the fixed plate, lifting hook, and backfill box; the lower right side of the float connecting plate is fixedly connected to the lifting rope and ore box. A push-pull rod is hinged horizontally between the lifting hook and the lifting rope. Therefore, when the lifting rope is subjected to tension, it generates a force component that coincides with the direction of the push-pull rod. The greater the tension, the greater the force component. In other words, the force component on the push-pull rod is proportional to the weight of the ore box. As the ore box continues to load, the force on the push-pull rod increases. When the ore box reaches its rated load, the torque generated by the push-pull rod on the lifting hook's L-shaped connecting rod exceeds the torque of the torsion spring on the lifting hook, causing the L-shaped connecting rod to rotate clockwise about hinge axis B. The lifting rope of the backfill box slips off the L-shaped connecting rod, and the backfill box is freed from the automatic uncoupling system and remains on the seabed. Simultaneously, the float, freed from the backfill box's restraint, rises to the surface with the ore box. The ore in the ore bin is recovered to the mother ship via a cable connected to a buoy and a material crane, enabling the recovery of large ore. The deep-sea mining and transportation system's automated uncoupling mechanism, comprised of a lifting hook and push-pull rods, controls the uncoupling of the lifting hook based on the weight of the ore bin, allowing the bin to be unloaded and refilled. This prevents accidental uncoupling due to factors such as an overloaded ore bin and the inability to float, as well as water fluctuations, ensuring the stability of the deep-sea mining system.

[0041] The hoisting point of the backfill box. To eliminate the additional torque generated by the backfill box's gravity on the B-hinge's rotating shaft, the present invention sets the bending point of the L-shaped connecting rod to the lowest point, directly below the B-hinge's rotating shaft. Therefore, the hoisting rope of the backfill box, when suspended on the L-shaped connecting rod, will automatically slide to the bend, preventing the backfill box's gravity from generating additional torque on the B-hinge's rotating shaft that would offset part of the torsion spring's torque, thereby ensuring the control accuracy of the torsion spring and, in other words, the rated loading capacity of the ore box.

[0042] In order to improve the control accuracy of the push-pull rod on the lifting hook, the present invention sets the push-pull rod to a horizontal state, and at the same time sets the A hinge directly below the B hinge, so that the horizontal component force generated by the mineral box on the push-pull rod is converted into a torque that rotates the L-shaped connecting rod to the maximum extent, so that the L-shaped connecting rod overcomes the torque of the torsion spring, rotates, and unloads the backfill box.

[0043] In addition, in the lifting hook, coaxial double hinges are set on the front and rear sides of the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate, which not only makes the connection between the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate more stable, but also uses the hinge shaft in the middle of the two hinges as the limiting shaft of the torsion spring, which not only fully utilizes the space in the middle of the hinge shaft, but also solves the support and limitation of the torsion spring. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0044] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a deep-sea mining system;

[0045] Figure 2This is a schematic diagram of a deep-sea mining screening and crushing device;

[0046] Figure 3 It is a cross-sectional view of the cylinder portion of the ore crusher 9;

[0047] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of a buoyant transport device for deep-sea mining;

[0048] Figure 5 For the present invention Figure 4 An enlarged schematic diagram of the middle lifting hook 102;

[0049] Figure 6 This is a simplified structural diagram of the lifting hook 102 of the present invention using a compression spring.

[0050] In the figure: 1. Automatic uncoupling system, 2. Mother ship, 3. Float, 4. Seabed, 5. Fluid lifting pipe, 6. Ore sorter, 701. Conveyor pipe A, 702. Slurry pump, 703. Conveyor pipe B, 8. Large ore storage area, 9. Ore crusher, 10. Buoyancy platform, 11. Ore, 12. Mining robot, 13. Conveyor pipe C, 14. Conveyor pipe D, 101. Backfill box, 102. Lifting hook, 103. Hinge A, 104. Hinge B, 105. Torsion spring, 106. Connecting plate, 107. Lifting rope, 108. Push-pull rod, 109. Hinge C, 110. Ore box, 111. Compression spring, 1021. L-shaped connecting rod, 10 22. Fixed plate, 1023. Compression spring, 201. Material hoist, 202. Cable car, 203. Cable, 601. Screening plate A, 602. Screening plate B, 603. Large ore discharge port, 605. Ore inlet, 606. Medium ore discharge port, 607. Vibration motor, 608. Spring, 609. Vibration platform, 901. Motor, 902. Coupling, 903. Feed inlet, 904. Silo, 905. Cylinder, 906. Pressure relief hole, 907. Dropping port, 908. Spherical roller bearing, 909. Sleeve, 910. Sealing ring, 911. Rotating shaft, 912. Ore spiral conveying blades, 913. Ore spiral crushing blades. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0051] In order to make the purpose and technical solution of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments:

[0052] Those skilled in the art will understand that unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this invention belongs.

[0053] The meanings of "left, right, up, down, front, and back" in this invention refer to the direction in which the reader is facing the attached image. Figure 1 Figure 3When referring to the present invention, the left side of the reader is left, the right side of the reader is right, the upper side of the reader is top, the lower side of the reader is bottom, the side in front of the reader is front, and the side facing the reader is back, and this is not a specific limitation of the present invention.

[0054] The term “connection” as used in the present invention may refer to a direct connection between components or an indirect connection between components via other components.

[0055] Example 1

[0056] like Figure 1 、 Figure 2 、 Figure 3 As shown, a deep-sea mining screening and crushing device in a deep-sea mining system includes an ore sorter 6, an ore crusher 9, a fluid lifting pipe 5, and a slurry pump 702; the ore sorter 6 and the ore crusher 9 are both arranged on a buoyant platform 10; the buoyant platform 10 is anchored on the seabed.

[0057] The structure of the ore sorter 6. The ore sorter 6 is a vertical cylindrical structure with a cover plate on the top. The cover plate is provided with three ore conveying pipes, namely, an ore inlet 605, a B conveying pipe 703, and a fluid lifting pipe 5, which enter the cylinder. In the cylinder of the ore sorter 6, two layers of screening plates are provided, the upper layer is the B screening plate 602, which is higher on the right and lower on the left. The B screening plate 602 is provided with a large ore discharge port 603 on the cylinder corresponding to the lowest point of the ore sorter 6. The seabed corresponding to the outlet of the large ore discharge port 603 is the large ore storage area 8; in addition, the pipeline outlets of the ore inlet 605 and the B conveying pipe 703 are provided at the lower part of the cylinder cover of the ore sorter 6 and the upper part of the B screening plate 602; the lower layer is the A screening plate 601, which is higher on the left and lower on the right. The A screening plate 601 is at the lowest point. A medium ore discharge port 606 is provided on the cylinder of the ore sorter 6, and the outlet of the medium ore discharge port 606 corresponds to the feed port 903 of the ore crusher 9; a vibration platform 609 is provided at the bottom of the cylinder of the ore sorter 6, that is, at the lower layer of the A screening plate 601. At the same time, below the A screening plate 601 and above the vibration platform 609 is a small ore collection area, and the feed port of the fluid lifting pipe 5 is set in the small ore collection area, and the small ore is transported to the mother ship through the fluid lifting pipe 5; a vibration motor 607 and a spring 608 are provided on the lower plane of the vibration platform 609.

[0058] Screening process of ore sorter 6. The ore collected from the seabed conveyed by the ore inlet 605 and the ore crushed by the ore crusher 9 conveyed by the B conveying pipe 703 are vibrated and screened by the vibration platform 609. The ore on the B screening plate 602 that cannot pass through the mesh of the B screening plate 602 is large ore. The large ore is subjected to continuous vibration and discharged through the large ore discharge port 603 under the action of gravity. The large ore is automatically diverted to the large ore storage area 8; the ore that passes through the mesh of the B screening plate 602 is medium and small ore and falls to the A screening plate 601. The ore that can pass through the mesh of the A screening plate 601 is medium ore. The medium ore is subjected to continuous vibration and is discharged through the medium ore discharge port 606 under the action of gravity, and the medium ore is automatically diverted to the feed port 903 of the ore crusher 9; the ore that passes through the mesh of the A screening plate 601 is small ore. The small ore falls and is piled on the vibration platform 609. The bottom of the A screening plate 601 and the top of the vibration platform 609 are the small ore stacking area. The feed port of the fluid lifting pipe 5 is set in the small ore stacking area, and the small ore is transported to the mother ship through the fluid lifting pipe 5.

[0059] The structure of the ore crusher 9. The ore crusher 9 is a horizontal spiral ore crusher, with a horizontally placed cylinder 905 on the outside; the two ends of the cylinder 905 are closed, the upper left part of the cylinder 905 is provided with a feed port 903 of the ore crusher 9, the lower right part of the cylinder 905 is provided with a discharge port 907 of the ore crusher 9, and the surface of the cylinder 905 is provided with a pressure relief hole 906, the diameter of the pressure relief hole 906 is not larger than the sieve hole on the A screening plate 601; the rotating shaft 911 passes through the spherical roller bearing 908, sleeve 909, and sealing ring 910 provided on the end cover at the left end of the cylinder; a double-headed variable pitch spiral blade is provided on the rotating shaft 911 inside the cylinder, and the pitch changes gradually along the axial direction of the rotating shaft 911, with the left larger and the right smaller; the double-headed spiral blades are divided according to their functions: one end is a spiral conveying blade 912 for ore materials, and the other end is The ore spiral crushing blade 913; the ore spiral conveying blade 912, whose outer diameter matches the cylinder, and the blade cross-section is trapezoidal; the ore spiral crushing blade 913, whose outer diameter is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder, the blade cross-section is quadrilateral, wide at the root, narrow at the top, and provided with a cutting edge at the top; the lower part of the cylinder is provided with a receiving silo 904 for ore crushed by the ore crusher. The silo 904 is long and can collect all the small ores escaping from the cylinder pressure relief hole 906 and the ores falling from the drop port 907, and then re-convey the crushed ore to the ore sorting machine 6 for screening through the A conveying pipe 701, slurry pump 702, and B conveying pipe 703 at the bottom of the silo 904; the end of the rotating shaft 911 outside the cylinder is connected to the motor 901 by a coupling 902.

[0060] The ore crusher 9 performs the ore crushing process. The ore crusher 9 utilizes double-ended spiral blades. The ore to be crushed is discharged from the intermediate ore discharge port 606 of the ore sorter 6 and enters the cylinder through the feed port 903 of the ore crusher 9. The ore is rotated and propelled from left to right by the ore conveying spiral blades 912. During this rotational propulsion process, the double-ended spiral blades have a variable pitch (larger on the left and smaller on the right), which gradually changes, causing the ore to be squeezed and crushed while moving forward. As the pitch gradually decreases, the ore is squeezed, flipped, and collided with by the spiral blades within the cylinder, causing the ore spiral crushing blades 913 to cut and crush the ore. This continuous squeezing, crushing, and cutting of the ore reduces the ore particles, pre-processing them for the fluid lift pipe 5 to lift them.

[0061] In order to avoid the phenomenon of material being trapped between the blades and the cylinder 905, that is, as the blade pitch gradually decreases, the space between the ore and the cylinder and the blades gradually decreases, so the friction between the ore and the cylinder and the blades continues to increase until the motor 901 stalls. This extreme state is called material trapped; in order to avoid this phenomenon, a pressure relief hole 906 is provided on the cylinder 905. As the blade pitch gradually decreases, the friction between the ore and the cylinder 905 and the blades increases, and the particles of the ore being cut and crushed and squeezed are also decreasing. When the ore particles are smaller than the size of the pressure relief hole 906, under the combined action of the extrusion force, friction, etc., the small particles of ore on the surface of the cylinder 905 will quickly escape from the pressure relief hole 906. In addition, there is a part of the seawater mixed with the ore. The bottom mud is also squeezed out from the pressure reducing hole 906, thereby reducing the friction between the ore and the cylinder and avoiding the occurrence of trapped material. In order to prevent the pressure reducing hole 906 from being too large and reducing the crushing effect of the ore crusher 9 on the ore, the diameter of the pressure reducing hole 906 of the cylinder is set to be no larger than the sieve hole on the A screening plate 601. The small ores escaping from the pressure reducing hole 906 fall into the hopper 904 under the cylinder 905. The ores that have not been completely crushed and the small ores that have not yet escaped are transported to the drop port 907 by the ore spiral conveying blades 912 and fall into the hopper 904 under the cylinder 905. The ore in the hopper 904 is then sent back to the ore sorter 6 for screening through the A conveying pipe 701, the slurry pump 702 and the B conveying pipe 703 under the hopper 904.

[0062] A bracket is provided on the buoyancy platform 10 to provide a precise installation position for the ore sorter 6 , the ore crusher 9 , and the motor 901 .

[0063] After being crushed by the ore crusher 9 and screened by the ore sorter 6, the ore is pre-processed to prevent the ore from being too large and clogging the fluid lifting pipe 5 and the conveying pump, as well as causing large squeezing and impact deformation of the main ore lifting parts such as the fluid lifting pipe 5, pump body, pump blades, and plunger, which seriously affects the safe operation of the fluid lifting pipe, thereby ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the equipment.

[0064] like Figure 4 、 Figure 5 As shown, a deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device in a deep-sea mining system. It includes: a float 3, a backfill box 101, a mineral box 110, a lifting hook 102, a push-pull rod 108, and an L-shaped connecting rod 1021; a connecting plate 106 is provided under the float 3; the left side of the connecting plate 106 is connected to the fixed plate 1022, the lifting hook 102, and the backfill box 101 in sequence from top to bottom; the right side of the connecting plate 106 is connected to the lifting rope 107 and the mineral box 110 in sequence from top to bottom; between the lifting hook 102 and the lifting rope 107, a push-pull rod 108 is connected by a horizontal hinge, the connecting hinge between the lifting hook 102 and the push-pull rod 108 is an A hinge 103, and the connecting hinge between the lifting rope 107 and the push-pull rod 108 is a C hinge 109. The length of the push-pull rod 108 is greater than the vertical distance between the fixed plate 1022 and the lifting rope 107. In order to ensure its rigidity, the material of the fixed plate 1022 is steel plate, channel steel, or angle iron.

[0065] The lifting hook 102 includes an L-shaped connecting rod 1021 and a fixed plate 1022. The L-shaped connecting rod 1021 is arranged on the left side of the fixed plate 1022. The front and rear sides of the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 and the fixed plate 1022 are respectively provided with coaxial double hinge seats, and the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 and the fixed plate 1022 are hingedly connected by a hinge axis, which is recorded as: B hinge 104, so that the connection between the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 and the fixed plate 1022 remains stable; a torsion spring 105 is provided in the middle of the hinge axis of the B hinge 104, and the hinge shaft is used as the limiting shaft of the torsion spring 105, which not only makes full use of the space in the middle of the hinge shaft, but also solves the support and limitation of the torsion spring 105, so that the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 and the fixed plate 1022 remain open at the top and closed at the bottom, and the bending part of the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 is the lifting rope hook of the backfill box 101.

[0066] To ensure that the gravity of the ore box 110 exerts a force on the push-pull rod 108 and the lifting hook 102, and that the lifting hook 102 automatically unhooks and releases the backfill box when the ore box 110 reaches its rated load, the bottom of the backfill box is 0.5 meters lower than the bottom of the ore box when the buoy 3 hoists the backfill box 101 and the ore box 110 and sinks into the sea.

[0067] Automatic unhooking of the lifting hook 102. The left side of the lower connecting plate 106 of the float 3 is fixedly connected to the fixed plate 1022, the lifting hook 102, and the backfill box 101; the right side of the lower connecting plate 106 of the float 3 is fixedly connected to the lifting rope 107 and the ore box 110; a push-pull rod 108 is horizontally hinged between the lifting hook 102 and the lifting rope 107, and the length of the push-pull rod 108 is greater than the vertical distance between the lifting hook 102 and the lifting rope 107, and the length of the push-pull rod 108 is adjustable; therefore, the backfill box 1 01 Load seabed mud on the mother ship 2, overcome the buoyancy of the float 3 and sink to the seabed 4; when the backfill box 101 is seated on the seabed, the ore box 110 is still suspended in the seawater; the ore box 110 loads the large ore screened by the ore sorter 6 from the large ore storage area 8 into the ore box 110 under the sea, so that the lifting rope 107 is pulled by the float 3 and the ore box 110. The tension generated on the lifting rope 107 will decompose a component force that coincides with the direction of the push-pull rod 108. The lifting rope 1 07, the greater the pulling force, the greater the component force, that is, the ore loading capacity of the ore box 110 is proportional to the horizontal component force borne by the push-pull rod 108 from the lifting rope 107; as the ore in the ore box 110 continues to increase, the component force borne by the push-pull rod 108 becomes larger and larger; when the ore loaded in the ore box 110 reaches the rated weight, the component force on the push-pull rod 108, acting on the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 of the lifting hook 102, generates a torque greater than the torque generated by the torsion spring 105. The reverse torque applied to L-shaped link 1021 causes push-pull rod 108 to rotate L-shaped link 1021 clockwise about the axis of hinge B 104. Under the force of its own weight, the hoisting rope of backfill box 101 slides off L-shaped link 1021, automatically unhooking hook 102. Backfill box 101 is freed from automatic unhooking system 1 and rests on seabed 4. Simultaneously, buoy 3, freed from the restraint of backfill box 101, floats to the surface, carrying ore box 110. Buoy 3 is guided and connected by cable car 202 and cable 203 on mother ship 2. The ore in ore box 110 is then retrieved to mother ship 2 using material crane 201, enabling the recovery of large ore.

[0068] The self-controlled uncoupling of the deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device composed of the lifting hook 102 and the push-pull rod 108 realizes the uncoupling of the lifting hook 102 controlled by the weight of the ore box 110, unloading the backfill box 101, and at the same time avoids accidental uncoupling caused by factors such as the inability to float due to overload of the ore box 110 and water flow fluctuations, thereby ensuring the stability of the deep-sea mining system.

[0069] The lifting point of the backfill box 101. The backfill box 101 is provided with a lifting rope, which is lifted on the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 of the lifting hook 102. The L-shaped connecting rod 1021 is connected to the fixed plate 1022 by the B hinge 104. Under the action of the torsion spring 105, it tilts to the left, so that the bending part of the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 is directly below the rotating shaft of the B hinge 104, that is, the two ends of the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 are high and the bending part is low. Therefore, when the lifting rope of the backfill box 101 is hung on the L-shaped connecting rod 1021, it will automatically slide to the bending part of the L-shaped connecting rod 1021, that is, the gravity direction of the backfill box 101 passes through the center of the rotating shaft of the B hinge 104 and coincides with it, avoiding the gravity of the backfill box 101 to generate additional torque on the rotating shaft of the B hinge 104, offsetting part of the torque of the torsion spring 105, thereby ensuring the control accuracy of the torsion spring 105, that is, ensuring the rated loading capacity of the mineral box 110.

[0070] In order to improve the control accuracy of the push-pull rod 108 on the lifting hook 102, the length of the push-pull rod 108 between the A hinge 103 and the C hinge 109 is set to be adjustable. Within a limited range, the push-pull rod 108 can adjust the unlocking force on the lifting hook 102. That is, under the same gravity of the ore box 110, within a limited range, the longer the push-pull rod 108, the greater the horizontal component of the force generated by the lifting rope 107 on the push-pull rod 108. Therefore, by adjusting the length of the push-pull rod 108 to match the torque of the torsion spring 105 on the lifting hook 102, the rated load of the ore box 110 can be accurately set. In order to maximize the rotational torque generated by the thrust of the push-pull rod 108 on the L-shaped connecting rod 1021, overcome the torque of the torsion spring 105, cause the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 to rotate, and unload the backfill box 101; the push-pull rod 108 is set to a horizontal state in the automatic uncoupling system 1, and the A hinge 103 is set directly below the B hinge 104.

[0071] Example 2

[0072] A deep-sea buoyancy transport device, wherein a compression spring is provided on the upper part of the B hinge connecting the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate.

[0073] The rest is the same as Example 1.

[0074] like Figure 6 As shown, a compression spring 1023 is provided on the upper portion of the B hinge 104 connecting the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 and the fixing plate 1022 .

[0075] When the lifting rope 107 is subjected to tension, it generates a force component that coincides with the direction of the push-pull rod 108. The greater the tension, the greater the force component. In other words, the ore loading capacity of the ore bin 110 is directly proportional to the horizontal force component borne by the push-pull rod 108 from the lifting rope 107. As the ore loading in the ore bin 110 continues, the thrust exerted on the push-pull rod 108 also increases. When the ore loading in the ore bin 110 reaches the rated weight, the torque generated by the thrust of the push-pull rod 108 on the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 of the lifting hook becomes greater than the torque generated by the compression spring 1023 on the thrust of the L-shaped connecting rod 1021. As a result, the L-shaped connecting rod 1021 rotates clockwise about the axis of hinge B 104, causing the lifting rope of the backfill bin 101 to slip off the L-shaped connecting rod 1021, and the lifting hook 102 is automatically unhooked.

Claims

1. A deep-sea mining system comprising a deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device and a deep-sea mining screening and crushing device; the deep-sea mining buoyancy transport device comprises a float, a backfill box, an ore box, a lifting hook, and a push-pull rod; a connecting plate is provided below the float; the left side of the connecting plate is connected to the lifting hook and the backfill box in sequence from top to bottom, and the right side of the connecting plate is connected to the lifting rope and the ore box in sequence from top to bottom; when the backfill box is loaded with seabed mud and sunk into the sea on a mother ship, the bottom of the backfill box is lower than the bottom of the ore box; the system is characterized by: The ore box is loaded with large ores from the large ore storage area on the seabed, and the two ends of the push-pull rod are respectively connected to the lifting hook and the lifting rope through horizontal hinges; The lifting hook includes a fixed plate and an L-shaped connecting rod, wherein the L-shaped connecting rod is arranged on the left side of the fixed plate; the front and rear sides of the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate are respectively provided with coaxial double hinge seats, and the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate are hingedly connected by a hinge shaft, which is recorded as: B hinge; a torsion spring is provided in the middle of the hinge shaft of the B hinge, so that the L-shaped connecting rod and the fixed plate can open and close upwards; The lifting hook is provided with an A hinge hole on the L-shaped connecting rod just below the B hinge, and the A hinge hole is hinge-connected to the left end of the push-pull rod. The hinge is denoted as: A hinge; The connecting hinge between the lifting rope and the push-pull rod is a C hinge; the length of the push-pull rod is greater than the vertical distance between the fixed plate and the lifting rope; The length of the push-pull rod between the A hinge and the C hinge is adjustable.

2. A deep-sea mining system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The deep-sea mining screening and crushing device includes an ore sorter, an ore crusher, a buoyancy platform, a fluid lifting pipe, a mother ship and a slurry pump; the ore sorter and ore crusher are arranged on the buoyancy platform; the buoyancy platform is anchored on the seabed; the ore sorter screens the ore fed into the machine into large, medium and small sizes, and the large, medium and small ores correspond to the upper, middle and lower parts of the ore sorter; the large ore is automatically diverted from the upper part of the ore sorter to the large ore stacking area; the medium ore is automatically diverted from the middle part of the ore sorter to the ore crusher, and after being crushed by the ore crusher, it is sent back to the ore sorter for secondary screening using pipelines and slurry pumps; the feed port of the fluid lifting pipe is arranged at the lower part of the ore sorter, and the small ore is transported from the lower part of the ore sorter to the mother ship through the fluid lifting pipe.

3. A deep-sea mining system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The ore sorter uses a screening plate and mechanical vibration to screen the ore.

4. A deep-sea mining system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The screening plate of the ore sorter is provided with an upper and lower layer, which are arranged inclined toward the lower left and lower right in the ore sorter respectively. The upper layer is the B screening plate and the lower layer is the A screening plate; a vibration platform is provided at the lower part of the A screening plate and the bottom of the ore sorter.

5. A deep-sea mining system according to claim 4, characterized in that: The ore that cannot pass through the mesh of the B screen plate on the B screen plate is large ore, and the ore that passes through the mesh of the B screen plate is medium and small ore. The vibration and dead weight of the ore sorter are used to automatically divert the large ore from the large ore discharge port to the large ore stacking area; the ore that cannot pass through the mesh of the A screen plate on the A screen plate is medium ore, and the ore that passes through the mesh of the A screen plate is small ore. The vibration and dead weight of the ore sorter are used to automatically divert the medium ore from the medium ore discharge port to the feed port of the ore crusher; the small ore falls to the vibration platform; the feed port of the fluid lifting pipe is arranged in the small ore stacking area between the A screen plate of the ore sorter and the vibration platform.

6. A deep sea mining system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The ore crusher is a horizontal spiral ore crusher, which is provided with a horizontally placed cylinder on the outside; a medium ore feed port is provided on the upper left of the cylinder, and a crushed ore discharge port is provided on the lower right; a rotating shaft is axially provided inside the cylinder; and spiral blades are provided on the rotating shaft.

7. A deep sea mining system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The spiral blades are variable pitch spiral blades on the rotating shaft, and the pitch thereof changes gradually along the axial direction of the rotating shaft: larger on the left and smaller on the right.

8. A deep sea mining system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The spiral blade is at least a double-headed spiral blade, one of which is a mineral material spiral conveying blade, and the other is a mineral material spiral crushing blade.

9. A deep sea mining system according to claim 8, characterized in that: The outer diameter of the mineral spiral conveying blade matches the cylinder, and the blade cross-section is trapezoidal; the outer diameter of the mineral spiral crushing blade is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder, and the blade cross-section is quadrilateral, wide at the root, narrow at the top, and provided with a cutting edge at the top.

10. The deep sea mining system according to claim 6, characterized in that: The surface of the cylinder is provided with a pressure reducing hole, and the diameter of the pressure reducing hole is not larger than the sieve hole on the A screen plate; the lower part of the cylinder is provided with a silo for receiving ore crushed by the ore crusher, and the bottom of the silo is provided with an A conveying pipe, a slurry pump and a B conveying pipe; the B conveying pipe is connected to the upper part of the ore sorter.

11. A deep sea mining system according to claim 2, characterized in that: The buoyancy platform is provided with a bracket to provide a precise installation position for the ore sorter and the ore crusher.

12. The deep sea mining system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The bending point of the L-shaped connecting rod is directly below the center of the hinge axis of the B hinge, and the bending point of the L-shaped connecting rod is the lowest point of the L-shaped connecting rod.

13. A deep sea mining system according to claim 12, characterized in that: The backfill box is hung at the bend of the L-shaped connecting rod.

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