Dragging power submerging relay station device

Abstract

The invention discloses a towing power submerging relay station device, and relates to the technical field of ocean engineering, the towing power submerging relay station device comprises a machine body and an umbilical cable, one end of the machine body is connected with a mother ship through the umbilical cable, the other end of the machine body is connected with a robot used for working on the seabed through the umbilical cable, and the machine body comprises a propeller group used for providing multidirectional power; the robot is driven to dive in the release stage of the robot under the propelling action of the propeller set, the robot is driven to ascend in cooperation with the mother ship in the recovery stage, the release and recovery efficiency can be effectively improved, meanwhile, when the robot dives, the robot can be driven to move in a dragging mode, the position of the robot is corrected, and the recovery efficiency is improved. In addition, due to the arrangement of the umbilical cable, reliable power relay service is provided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of marine engineering, and in particular to a towing powered submersible relay station device. Background Art

[0002] In the field of marine engineering, measuring seabed data often requires the deployment of corresponding equipment, such as OBN operations; OBN (Ocean Bottom Node) is a multi-component seismograph placed on the seabed that can be independently powered for a long time to record seismic signals. OBN needs to be deployed on the seabed by an underwater robot, and the source ship sails on the sea surface to independently undertake the task of source excitation. When the source ship completes the excitation of all gun points, the underwater robot recovers the OBN, downloads the data, and processes and interprets it.

[0003] However, during OBN operations, OBN is currently deployed only by launching an underwater robot. The underwater robot relies on its own gravity to dive and then deploys the OBN. When the robot recovers the OBN and needs to ascend, the mother ship's winch is used to recover the umbilical cable. However, the release and recovery efficiency of underwater robots needs to be improved, and the robot is easily affected by ocean currents during diving, resulting in low movement accuracy.

[0004] Therefore, people are in urgent need of a towed powered submersible relay station device that can improve the release and recovery efficiency and delivery accuracy of the robot. Summary of the invention

[0005] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a towed powered submersible relay station device to solve the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art. The relay station device with a thruster group can not only complete power relay, but also realize the towing of the robot, thereby improving the release and recovery efficiency and delivery accuracy of the robot.

[0006] To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides the following solution: The present invention provides a towed powered submersible relay station device, comprising a body and an umbilical cable, wherein one end of the body is connected to a mother ship via the umbilical cable, and the other end is connected to a robot for working on the seabed via the umbilical cable, and the body comprises a thruster group for providing multi-directional power.

[0007] Preferably, the thruster group includes a main thruster parallel to the seabed and the direction of movement of the robot, a vertical thruster perpendicular to the seabed, and a lateral thruster horizontally arranged and perpendicular to the direction of movement of the main thruster, and the number of the main thrusters is greater than the number of the vertical thrusters and the number of the lateral thrusters.

[0008] Preferably, the towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a supporting frame, a plurality of the main thrusters are arranged at one end of the supporting frame, a plurality of the vertical thrusters are respectively arranged at both ends of the supporting frame, and a plurality of the lateral thrusters are respectively arranged at both ends of the support.

[0009] Preferably, the end cover of the support frame where the main propeller is not provided is provided with a shell, the end face of the shell away from the main propeller is rounded, the shell is respectively provided with a vertical flow channel and a lateral flow channel for supplying water flow at positions corresponding to the vertical propeller and the lateral propeller, and the vertical propeller and the lateral propeller are respectively provided in the vertical flow channel and the lateral flow channel. Preferably, the material of the support frame is T4 titanium alloy.

[0010] Preferably, the towed power submersible relay station device also includes a winch, and the winch is connected to the robot via the umbilical cable.

[0011] Preferably, a fairlead for guiding and protecting the umbilical cable is provided on one side of the winch.

[0012] Preferably, the towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a main control cabin and a power supply cabin, a control module is arranged in the main control cabin, and the thruster group, the winch and the umbilical cable are all electrically connected to the control module, and a power supply module is arranged in the power supply cabin, and the winch, the thruster group and the umbilical cable are all electrically connected to the power supply module.

[0013] Preferably, the towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a positioning and navigation module for providing position information.

[0014] Preferably, the towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a state monitoring and environment perception module.

[0015] Compared with the prior art, the present invention mainly achieves the following technical effects:

[0016] The propulsion effect of the thruster group is used to drive the robot to dive during the release phase, and to cooperate with the mother ship to drive the robot to rise during the recovery phase, which can effectively improve the release and recovery efficiency. At the same time, when the robot dives, the robot can be driven to move by dragging, the robot's position can be corrected, and the robot's deployment accuracy can be improved. In addition, the setting of the umbilical cable provides reliable power relay services. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0018] Figure 1 It is a structural schematic diagram of a towed power submersible relay station device in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0019] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of a towed powered submersible relay station device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0020] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the motion state of the towing powered submersible relay station device in the robot release stage in an embodiment of the present invention;

[0021] Figure 4 It is a schematic diagram of the motion state of the towing powered submersible relay station device in the robot recovery stage according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022] Among them, 1. Mother ship; 2. Umbilical cable; 3. Airframe; 4. Main thruster; 5. Vertical thruster; 6. Lateral thruster; 7. Support frame; 8. Shell; 9. Winch; 10. Fairlead; 11. Main control cabin; 12. Power supply cabin; 13. Positioning and navigation module; 14. Status monitoring and environment perception module; 15. Vertical flow channel; 16. Lateral flow channel; 17. Robot. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0024] The purpose of the present invention is to provide a towed powered submersible relay station device to solve the problems existing in the prior art. The relay station device with a thruster group can not only complete power relay, but also realize the towing of the robot, thereby improving the release and recovery efficiency and delivery accuracy of the robot.

[0025] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0026] Please refer to Figures 1 to 4As shown, a towed powered submersible relay station device is provided, including a body 3 and an umbilical cable 2. One end of the body 3 is connected to the mother ship 1 through the umbilical cable 2, and the part of the umbilical cable 2 can be wound around the winch on the mother ship 1. The other end is connected to the robot 17 for working on the seabed through the umbilical cable 2. The body 3 includes a thruster group for providing multi-directional power. The thruster group is used to drive the robot 17 to dive during the release phase of the robot 17, and cooperates with the mother ship 1 to drive the robot 17 to rise during the recovery phase, which can effectively improve the release and recovery efficiency. At the same time, when the robot 17 dives, the robot 17 can be driven to move by towing, the position of the robot 17 can be corrected, and the accuracy of the robot 17 can be improved. In addition, the setting of the umbilical cable 2 provides a reliable power relay service.

[0027] Since the thruster group needs to use the movement direction of the robot 17 as the main propulsion direction, the thruster group in the present application includes a main thruster 4 parallel to the seabed and the movement direction of the robot 17, a vertical thruster 5 perpendicular to the seabed, and a lateral thruster 6 horizontally arranged and perpendicular to the movement direction of the main thruster 4. The number of main thrusters 4 is greater than the number of vertical thrusters 5 and the number of lateral thrusters 6. Specifically, the number of main thrusters 4 is set to four, and the propulsion directions of the four main thrusters 4 are the same. There are two vertical thrusters 5 and two lateral thrusters 6 respectively, and the propulsion directions of the two vertical thrusters 5 are opposite, and the propulsion directions of the two lateral thrusters 6 are opposite.

[0028] The towed power submersible relay station device also includes a support frame 7, which provides an installation position for the propeller group. A plurality of main propellers 4 are arranged at one end of the support frame 7, a plurality of vertical propellers 5 are respectively arranged at the bow and stern ends of the support frame 7, and a plurality of lateral propellers 6 are respectively arranged at the bow and stern ends of the support ends. A shell 8 is provided at the end of the support frame 7 where the main propeller 4 is not provided. The shell 8 is provided with a rounded corner at the end surface away from the main propeller 4, which is conducive to reducing the resistance when moving in the main propulsion direction. Since at least one of the vertical propeller 5 and the lateral propeller 6 is provided at the end with the shell 8, a vertical flow channel 15 and a lateral flow channel 16 for supplying water flow movement are respectively provided at the positions of the shell 8 corresponding to the vertical propeller 5 and the lateral propeller 6. The vertical propeller 5 and the lateral propeller 6 are respectively provided in the vertical flow channel 15 and the lateral flow channel 16, and the other vertical propeller 5 and the lateral propeller 6 are provided at the end of the support frame 7 where the shell 8 is not provided.

[0029] In this embodiment, the material of the shell 8 is carbon fiber. In other embodiments, the material of the shell 8 can be stainless steel or other materials suitable for underwater environments.

[0030] In this embodiment, the material of the support frame 7 is T4 titanium alloy, which can reduce the overall weight and reduce the load of the thruster. In other embodiments, stainless steel or the like can also be used as the material of the support frame 7.

[0031] The towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a winch 9, which is disposed inside the outer shell 8. The winch 9 is connected to the robot 17 via an umbilical cable 2. Specifically, the umbilical cable 2 is wound around the winch 9. The winch 9 can control the length and tightness of the umbilical cable 2 between the body 3 and the robot 17.

[0032] A cable guide 10 is provided on the support frame 7 on one side of the winch 9 for guiding and protecting the umbilical cable 2 .

[0033] The towed power submersible relay station device also includes a main control cabin 11 and a power supply cabin 12. A control module is arranged in the main control cabin 11, and the thruster group, winch 9 and umbilical cable 2 are all electrically connected to the control module. A power supply module is arranged in the power supply cabin 12, and the winch 9, thruster group and umbilical cable 2 are all electrically connected to the power supply module. Specifically, the control circuit of the thruster group, the control circuit of the winch 9 and the data transmission circuit of the umbilical cable 2 are electrically connected to the control module, and the power supply circuit of the thruster group, the power supply circuit of the winch 9 and the power supply circuit of the umbilical cable 2 are electrically connected to the power supply module. The power supply module is used to receive high-frequency and high-voltage alternating current from the mother ship 1, and determine whether to supply it after the conversion of DC power through the power supply module according to the target requirements.

[0034] The main control cabin 11 and the power supply cabin 12 are both arranged inside the shell 8 and are located on one side of the winch 9 near the rounded end of the shell 8. The main control cabin 11 and the power supply cabin 12 are arranged up and down to make full use of the internal space of the shell 8. On the basis of setting the main control cabin 11 to control the winch 9, the control module can automatically retract and release the umbilical cable 2 according to the mechanical feedback of the umbilical cable 2 between the body 3 and the robot 17 (measured by relevant sensors, such as tension sensors) and the positioning data of the body 3 and the robot 17, which can avoid unfavorable situations such as dragging the robot 17, the umbilical cable 2 being too long and tangled, or the robot 17 touching the bottom.

[0035] The towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a positioning navigation module 13 for providing position information, which is used to help the mother ship 1 obtain the position of the relay station in real time. At the same time, the mother ship 1 can obtain the relative positioning of the relay station and the mother ship 1 and the relative positioning of the relay station and the robot 17 based on its own positioning information and the positioning information of the positioning system on the robot 17.

[0036] The positioning adopts the combination of ultra-short baseline / inverse ultra-short baseline positioning technology and combined inertial navigation. The relay station carries an inverse ultra-short baseline transducer and a hydrophone array, and adopts the combined inertial navigation of DVL (Doppler odometer) and inertial measurement unit, and uses the position information of the ultra-short baseline positioning system for correction.

[0037] The towed power submersible relay station device also includes a status monitoring and environment perception module 14 for monitoring the winch 9, the operating status of the propeller, and the ambient temperature, depth and other information.

[0038] The umbilical cable 2 between the body 3 and the robot 17 is a zero-buoyancy cable.

[0039] In another embodiment, a buoyancy chamber, that is, an air chamber, is provided in the outer shell 8 for providing buoyancy. An emergency jettisoning mechanism is also provided at the bottom of the outer shell 8, which can jettison a counterweight in an emergency and automatically float up under its own buoyancy. The structure of the emergency jettisoning mechanism is the same as that of an underwater robot (ROV). Strobe lights, satellites, and radio communications are provided on the outer shell 8. The strobe lights are used to flash continuously to facilitate the ship to directly find and recover the body 3 within the visible range. Satellites and radio communications are used for the finder to contact the mother ship 1.

[0040] In actual use, due to the setting of the relay station, a mother ship 1 can be used to connect multiple robots 17 through the umbilical cable 2. Each robot 17 is equipped with a relay station. The relay station can provide towing power for each robot 17 to disperse the multiple robots 17, thereby avoiding mutual interference between the umbilical cables 2 of each robot 17. The method of a mother ship 1 driving multiple robots 17 can greatly improve the OBN deployment efficiency.

[0041] Adaptive changes made according to actual needs are all within the protection scope of the present invention.

[0042] It should be noted that it is obvious to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited to the details of the exemplary embodiments described above, and that the present invention can be implemented in other specific forms without departing from the spirit or essential features of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments should be regarded as exemplary and non-restrictive from any point of view, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims rather than the above description, and it is intended that all changes falling within the meaning and scope of the equivalent elements of the claims are included in the present invention. Any reference numerals in the claims should not be regarded as limiting the claims involved.

[0043] The present invention uses specific examples to illustrate the principles and implementation methods of the present invention. The above examples are only used to help understand the method and core ideas of the present invention. At the same time, for those skilled in the art, according to the ideas of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation methods and application scope. In summary, the content of this specification should not be understood as limiting the present invention.

Claims

1. A towed powered submersible relay station device, characterized in that: The machine body comprises a body and an umbilical cable, wherein one end of the body is connected to a mother ship via the umbilical cable, and the other end is connected to a robot for working on the seabed via the umbilical cable, and the body comprises a propeller group for providing multi-directional power.

2. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 1 is characterized in that: The thruster group includes a main thruster parallel to the seabed and the direction of movement of the robot, a vertical thruster perpendicular to the seabed, and a lateral thruster horizontally arranged and perpendicular to the direction of movement of the main thruster. The number of the main thrusters is greater than the number of the vertical thrusters and the number of the lateral thrusters.

3. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 2 is characterized in that: The towed power submersible relay station device also includes a supporting frame, a plurality of main thrusters are arranged at one end of the supporting frame, a plurality of vertical thrusters are respectively arranged at both ends of the supporting frame, and a plurality of lateral thrusters are respectively arranged at both ends of the support.

4. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 3 is characterized in that: An end cover of the support frame where the main propeller is not arranged is provided with a shell, and the end face of the shell is chamfered away from the main propeller. The shell is respectively provided with a vertical flow channel and a lateral flow channel for supplying water flow movement at positions corresponding to the vertical propeller and the lateral propeller, and the vertical propeller and the lateral propeller are respectively arranged in the vertical flow channel and the lateral flow channel.

5. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 3 is characterized in that: The material of the supporting frame is T4 titanium alloy.

6. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The towing powered submersible relay station device also includes a winch, and the winch is connected to the robot via the umbilical cable.

7. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 6 is characterized in that: A fairlead for guiding and protecting the umbilical cable is arranged on one side of the winch.

8. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The towed power submersible relay station device also includes a main control cabin and a power supply cabin. A control module is arranged in the main control cabin, and the thruster group, the winch and the umbilical cable are all electrically connected to the control module. A power supply module is arranged in the power supply cabin, and the winch, the thruster group and the umbilical cable are all electrically connected to the power supply module.

9. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The towed powered submersible relay station device also includes a positioning and navigation module for providing position information.

10. The towed power submersible relay station device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The towed power submersible relay station device also includes a status monitoring and environment perception module.

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