Marine mineral resource mining system and mining method

Abstract

The invention discloses a marine mineral resource mining system and mining method. The mining system comprises a water surface mining ship, a lifting pipeline and a seabed mining device. The other end of the lifting pipeline is connected with a lifting diaphragm pump cabin; and a tailing wastewater cabin is arranged at a discharge hole of the solid-liquid separation system. Two groups of lifting diaphragm pumps are arranged in the lifting diaphragm pump cabin; each lifting diaphragm pump comprises a cylinder body, and a material suction valve, a material discharge valve, a liquid suction valve and a liquid discharge valve which are arranged on the cylinder body; the material suction valve and the material discharge valve are located on the same side of the diaphragm, and the liquid suction valve and the liquid discharge valve are located on the other side of the diaphragm. Tailings wastewater in the tailings wastewater bin is fed into the liquid suction valve through a pressurizing plunger pump and a discharge pipeline to drive and lift the diaphragm pump; the seabed mining device is communicated with the suction valve through a feeding pump and a hose, and the discharge valve is communicated with a lifting pipeline. Only one lifting power system is used, and the reliability of the lifting system is improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to a marine mineral resource mining system and a mining method, belonging to the field of marine mineral resource mining related equipment, and is used for collecting deep seabed minerals and transporting the seabed minerals to a surface mining ship. Background Art

[0002] As the most promising emerging industry in the 21st century, the mining of marine mineral resources is widely valued by countries around the world. The international seabed area, which accounts for 49% of the earth's surface, contains rich metal mineral resources such as manganese nodules, cobalt-rich crusts, hydrothermal sulfides, and polymetallic mud. It is the largest potential strategic resource base on the earth that has not yet been fully recognized and utilized by humans. Its mining methods have attracted great attention and research enthusiasm from all countries. At present, three mining methods have been studied and developed at home and abroad: continuous rope bucket mining system, automatic shuttle mining vehicle mining system, and seabed mining vehicle plus pipeline lifting mining system.

[0003] The seabed mining vehicle plus pipeline hydraulic lifting mining system is mainly composed of a seabed mining vehicle, an intermediate cabin and a hydraulic lifting system composed of a lifting pipeline and a lifting electric pump. The seabed ore collected by the mining vehicle is lifted from the seabed to the surface mining ship through the lifting pipeline by the lifting electric pump. In this mining system, the seabed mining vehicles are divided into seabed towed mining vehicles and seabed self-propelled mining vehicles. The lifting pipeline is affected by the coarse particle flow capacity and reflux capacity of the lifting electric pump, and there is a potential risk of pipeline blockage.

[0004] Existing Chinese patent application CN114293991A discloses a deep-sea mineral vertical transportation system, and CN106948820B discloses a deep-sea mining lifting system integrating hydraulic and air lifting. Both systems require centrifugal pumps or pneumatic lifting relays and use two sets of lifting power systems, which makes the lifting system complicated and reduces the reliability of the lifting system. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the potential blockage technical problems of the lifting electric pump and the impact of tailings wastewater discharge in the existing seabed mining vehicle plus pipeline hydraulic lifting mining system, the present invention aims to provide a marine mineral resource mining system and mining method. The mining system can solve the potential blockage problem of the lifting electric pump and discharge the tailings wastewater back to the bottom of the deep sea, reducing the diffusion and impact of the tailings wastewater. At the same time, only one lifting power system is used, which can improve the reliability of the lifting system.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the technical solution adopted by the present invention is:

[0007] A marine mineral resource mining system comprises a surface mining vessel, a lifting pipeline connected to a feed port of a solid-liquid separation system arranged on the surface mining vessel, and a seabed mining device; the structural feature is that the other end of the lifting pipeline is connected to a lifting diaphragm pump cabin which also serves as a counterweight, and a tailings wastewater tank is provided at the discharge port of the solid-liquid separation system;

[0008] Two groups of lifting diaphragm pumps are arranged in the lifting diaphragm pump cabin, and the lifting diaphragm pump comprises a cylinder body, a suction valve, a discharge valve, a liquid suction valve and a liquid discharge valve mounted on the cylinder body; the suction valve and the discharge valve are located on the same side of the diaphragm, and the liquid suction valve and the liquid discharge valve are located on the other side of the diaphragm;

[0009] The tailings wastewater in the tailings wastewater tank is sent into the suction valve through a pressurized plunger pump and a discharge pipe to drive a lifting diaphragm pump; the seabed mining device is connected to the suction valve through a feeding pump and a hose, and the discharge valve is connected to the lifting pipe.

[0010] The present invention adopts a lifting diaphragm pump, an ROV mining vehicle and a lifting pipeline to form a new seabed mineral resource mining system. A pressurized plunger pump is used on the mining ship to pressurize the tailings wastewater, and the pressurized tailings wastewater is used to drive the lifting diaphragm pump group. The lifting diaphragm pump cabin is used to replace the intermediate cabin, and the seabed mineral slurry is lifted to the surface mining ship, and the tailings wastewater is discharged to the seabed, reducing its impact on the marine environment.

[0011] The present invention introduces the mature equipment of plunger pump and diaphragm pump for slurry pipeline transportation in land mines into the marine mining system, and uses the plunger pump to pressurize the tailings wastewater from the solid-liquid separation of ore in the surface mining ship as the hydraulic driving medium and power for lifting the diaphragm pump and discharge the tailings wastewater to the seabed.

[0012] According to the embodiments of the present invention, the present invention can be further optimized. The following is the technical solution formed after optimization:

[0013] In one preferred embodiment, the seabed mining device comprises a seabed sliding body, a seabed mining mechanism and a crushing mechanism; the seabed sliding body bears the weight of the seabed mining mechanism, the crushing mechanism and the feeding pump.

[0014] In one of the preferred embodiments, the hose is installed on a floating ROV, and the floating ROV tows the seabed mining device through a flexible rigid frame to perform skid mining on the seabed.

[0015] In one of the preferred embodiments, the lifting diaphragm pump is at a height of 120m-180m from the seabed.

[0016] Based on the same inventive concept, the present invention also provides a method for mining ore using a marine mineral resource mining system, which comprises the following steps:

[0017] S1. When the seabed mining device reaches the designated location, the feeding pump, the pressurizing plunger pump and the lifting diaphragm pump are started in sequence;

[0018] S2. When the flow rate in the lifting pipeline reaches the design requirement, seabed mining begins. The crushed mineral slurry is transported to the suction valve at the delivery end of the lifting diaphragm pump through the feeding pump and the hose. Under the action of the lifting diaphragm pump, the seabed mineral and seawater mixture slurry is lifted to the surface mining ship through the lifting pipeline;

[0019] S3. After the slurry is separated by solid-liquid separation system, the filtered tailings wastewater overflows to the tailings wastewater tank and is transported to the suction valve at the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump through the tailings wastewater discharge pressurization plunger pump and the discharge pipeline to drive the lifting diaphragm pump;

[0020] S4. The switching of the seabed ore slurry and tailings wastewater in the cylinder and the pressurization of the bottom ore slurry and the discharge of the tailings wastewater are achieved by orderly closing and opening the valves at the delivery end and the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump;

[0021] After S5 mining is completed, when the clean water is discharged from the lifting pipe outlet on the mining ship, the feeding pump, the pressure plunger pump and the lifting diaphragm pump are turned off in sequence.

[0022] In one of the preferred embodiments, in step S4, after the seabed ore collected by the seabed mining mechanism is crushed, it is fed into the suction valve input cylinder of the delivery end of the diaphragm pump through the delivery hose by the slurry feeding pump, and at the same time, the discharge valve of the delivery end is closed, the suction valve of the power end is closed, and the discharge valve is opened. Under the action of the pressure of the feeding pump, the slurry moves from bottom to top, and the tailings wastewater at the power end is discharged into the deep sea through the discharge valve;

[0023] When the diaphragm moves to the limit, the entire spherical cylinder is filled with slurry. At this time, the suction valve and the discharge valve are closed, and the suction valve and the discharge valve are opened. The pressurized tailings wastewater is sucked into the cylinder through the suction valve, pushing the diaphragm from top to bottom. The seabed mineral slurry is pressurized and discharged into the head end of the lifting pipe through the discharge valve. When the diaphragm moves to the limit position, the slurry in the cylinder is drained. At this time, the cylinder is filled with tailings wastewater. The diaphragm in the cylinder completes a cycle of movement and will enter the next cycle of cyclic movement.

[0024] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following beneficial effects:

[0025] 1) The present invention proposes to use a lifting diaphragm pump to replace the lifting electric pump in the marine mining system currently developed at home and abroad, which solves the problems of clogging of the lifting electric pump and abrasion of the impeller, and improves the efficiency and reliability of the power equipment of the lifting system. In addition, the present invention only needs to provide power for the hydraulic control valve control of the lifting diaphragm pump, which greatly simplifies the power configuration of the lifting system.

[0026] 2) Two diaphragm pump groups are installed to form a lifting diaphragm pump cabin, which weighs 20 tons. The lifting diaphragm pump cabin is used to replace the intermediate cabin in the marine mining system currently developed at home and abroad. The weight of the lifting diaphragm pump replaces the weight of the intermediate cabin as the counterweight at the end of the lifting pipeline.

[0027] 3) The present invention directly connects the conveying hose and the lifting pipeline by the lifting diaphragm pump, realizing an integrated slurry transportation mode from the seabed mining device to the sea surface mining ship with sufficient lift, without the need for series connection with other lifting devices, thereby reducing the intermediate links of the mining system and increasing the reliability of the mining system.

[0028] 4) At present, the plunger pump head can reach 25MPa. Selecting plunger pumps of different pressure levels as the pressurized plunger pumps for tailings wastewater on board can enable the lifting diaphragm pump to obtain sufficient head to adapt to the lifting of ore slurry in the seabed mineral mining system at different water depths, without the need to increase pneumatic lifting or other lifting pumps in series.

[0029] 5) The pressurized tailings wastewater is used to drive the lifting diaphragm pump to discharge the tailings wastewater directly to the seabed, reducing the impact of the tailings wastewater on the marine environment.

[0030] 6) Compared with CN114293991A and CN106948820B, in the plunger pump pressurized tailings wastewater-lifting diaphragm pump, ROV mining vehicle and lifting pipeline composed of a new submarine mineral resource mining system proposed in the present invention, it is known from the land mine slurry transportation technology that the diaphragm pump is huge and weighs up to ten tons, and cannot be installed on the submarine mining vehicle. The lifting diaphragm pump is installed at a water depth of 150 meters from the seabed to form a lifting diaphragm pump cabin, which plays a role as a counterweight for the vertical lifting pipeline, and the lifting diaphragm pump cabin is used to extract the slurry from the land mine slurry transportation technology. Therefore, compared with the marine mineral resource mining system with an intermediate tank currently under development, the intermediate links of the mining system are reduced, the load on the lifting pipeline is reduced, the strength of the lifting pipeline is improved, and the reliability of the mining system is improved. The plunger pump is used to pressurize the tailings wastewater from the solid-liquid separation of the ore on the surface mining ship, which can enable the lifting diaphragm pump to generate enough head to lift the seabed ore slurry to the water surface, without the need to connect a pneumatic lifting device or other lifting pumps in series in the lifting pipeline to supplement the head, making the marine mining system simple and reliable. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the principle of an ocean mining system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0032] Figure 2 for Figure 1 Schematic diagram of the working cycle of one cylinder of a medium lift diaphragm pump.

[0033] Figure 3for Figure 1 Working diagram of a medium lift diaphragm pump.

[0034] In the figure

[0035] 1-surface mining vessel; 2-solid-liquid separation system; 3-tailings wastewater tank; 4-pressurized plunger pump; 5-lifting pipeline; 6-discharge pipeline; 7-lifting diaphragm pump cabin; 8-lifting diaphragm pump; 9-delivery hose; 10-floating ROV; 11-flexible rigid frame; 12-seabed mining device; 13-seabed mining mechanism; 14-crushing mechanism; 15-feeding pump; 16-seabed slide; 17-cylinder body; 18-suction valve; 19-discharge valve; 20-suction valve; 21-discharge valve; 22-diaphragm. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and in combination with the embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments of the present invention and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other without conflict. For the convenience of description, if the words "upper", "lower", "left" and "right" appear in the following, they only indicate that the upper, lower, left and right directions are consistent with the drawings themselves, and do not limit the structure.

[0037] The marine mineral resource mining system of this embodiment mainly includes a surface mining vessel 1 with a deployment tower, a seabed ore slurry solid-liquid separation system 2, a tailings wastewater tank, a tailings wastewater pressurized plunger pump 4, a lifting pipeline 5, a tailings wastewater discharge pipeline 6, a lifting diaphragm pump cabin 7, a lifting diaphragm pump 8, a delivery hose 9, an ROV type mining system and a deck measurement and control system.

[0038] According to the seabed mining mode, the floating ROV 10 drags the seabed mining device 12 on the seabed through the articulated flexible rigid frame 11 on a working surface at a certain height of the seabed to perform orderly sliding mining on the seabed.

[0039] The collected seabed ore is crushed by the crushing mechanism 14 of the seabed mining device 12, and then fed into the cylinder of the lifting diaphragm pump 8 through the conveying hose 9 by the feeding pump 15 installed in the seabed mining device 12, and is pressurized by the lifting diaphragm pump 8 and lifted to the surface mining ship 1 through the lifting pipeline 5. Limited by the grounding pressure ratio of the seabed mining vehicle, the weight of the seabed ore crushing mechanism and the feeding pump and the vibration during operation are not suitable for installation on the self-propelled seabed mining vehicle, but need to be installed on the seabed sliding body with a larger grounding area to withstand the weight and vibration of the seabed ore crushing mechanism and the feeding pump without sinking or sinking.

[0040] The seabed ore slurry is separated into solid and liquid in the solid-liquid separation system 2 of the mining ship. The tailings wastewater after separation and desludging overflows into the tailings wastewater tank, and is pressurized by the pressure-boosting plunger pump 4 and sent to the lifting diaphragm pump 8 through the discharge pipe 6, which serves as the power of the diaphragm pump to drive the diaphragm pump to work.

[0041] As a mature equipment for slurry transportation on land, the lifting diaphragm pump 8 has no special technical obstacles for use in the marine mining system. In order to ensure the production capacity of the marine mining system and be economical, the lifting diaphragm pump 8 is mainly composed of ten spherical cylinders in parallel. Each cylinder is divided into two upper and lower hemispheres by a middle diaphragm. The lower hemisphere is the conveying cylinder, and the upper hemisphere is the power cylinder. The conveying cylinder and the one-way suction valve and one-way discharge valve installed on the cylinder constitute the conveying end of the lifting diaphragm pump 8, and the power cylinder and the one-way suction valve and one-way discharge valve installed on the cylinder constitute the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump 8. The ten cylinders are divided into two groups, and every 5 cylinders constitute a diaphragm pump group. Two diaphragm pump groups are installed to form a lifting diaphragm pump cabin 7, which adopts a four-in-one operation mode, and the phase angle of the four cylinders running at the same time is 90 degrees. The one-way valves at the conveying end and the power end are closed or opened by the hydraulic system according to the diaphragm pump operation process requirements to achieve orderly operation of the diaphragm pump. The one-way suction valve at the delivery end is connected to the end of the delivery hose 9, and the one-way discharge valve at the delivery end is connected to the head end of the lifting pipe 5. The one-way suction valve at the power end is connected to the end of the tailings wastewater discharge pipe 6, and the one-way discharge valve at the power end discharges the tailings wastewater into the seabed through the connected short pipe.

[0042] The ship deck measurement and control system collects parameters such as flow rate, pressure, concentration and resistance loss of the solid-liquid two-phase mixture of ore in the lifting pipeline 5 and realizes the control of the flow of the solid-liquid two-phase mixture of seabed ore in the pipeline.

[0043] The underwater cable is arranged along the lifting pipe 5 and the delivery hose 9 to provide power for the underwater equipment.

[0044] The core of this embodiment is to provide a new method and device for deep-sea mineral resource mining, including seabed collection and crushing of minerals and transporting and lifting them from the seabed to a surface mining vessel 1.

[0045] like Figure 1 As shown, the floating ROV 10 mining system is composed of an articulated flexible rigid frame 11 that connects the floating ROV 10 and the seabed towing and sliding seabed mining device 12 to form a whole. The floating ROV 10 tows the seabed mining device 12 to slide on the seabed surface according to the seabed mining mode without sinking, so that the mining mechanism is highly stable from the seabed to obtain efficient mining efficiency.

[0046] The seabed mining device 12 is composed of a seabed sliding body 16, a mining mechanism, a crushing mechanism 14 and a slurry feeding pump 15. The seabed sliding body 16 has an area that is sufficiently in contact with the surface of the seabed sediment to bear the weight of the crushing mechanism 14 and the slurry feeding pump 15 outside the mining mechanism and the vibration generated during operation, so that the seabed mining device does not sink or sag, and ensures that the height of the mining mechanism above the ground is constant to obtain a high seabed ore collection rate.

[0047] The seabed ore collected by the seabed mining mechanism 13 is crushed by the crushing mechanism 14, and then fed into the suction valve of the delivery end of the diaphragm pump by the slurry feeding pump 15 through the delivery hose 9 and input into the cylinder. At the same time, the discharge valve at the delivery end is closed, the suction valve at the power end is closed, and the discharge valve is opened. Under the action of the pressure of the feeding pump 15, the slurry moves from bottom to top, and the tailings wastewater at the power end is discharged into the deep sea through the discharge valve. When the diaphragm moves to the limit, the entire spherical cylinder is filled with slurry. At this time, the suction valve and the discharge valve are closed at the same time. When the suction valve and the discharge valve are closed at the same time, the suction valve and the discharge valve are opened at the same time, and the pressurized tailings wastewater is sucked into the cylinder through the suction valve and pushes the diaphragm from top to bottom. The seabed mineral slurry is pressurized and discharged into the head end of the lifting pipe 5 through the discharge valve. When the diaphragm moves to the limit position, the slurry in the cylinder is drained. At this time, the cylinder is full of tailings wastewater. The diaphragm in the cylinder completes a cycle of movement and will enter the next cycle of movement. Figure 2 shown.

[0048] The slurry discharged into the head end of the lifting pipe 5 is lifted to the surface mining ship 1 through the lifting pipe 5. The lifting pipe 5 is connected to the surface mining ship 1 through the heave compensation device. The seabed ore slurry passes through the solid-liquid separation system 2, and the solid ore is put into the cabin. The tailings wastewater overflows into the tailings wastewater tank 3 after sedimentation. The tailings wastewater is pressurized by the pressure plunger pump 4 and sent to the power end in an orderly and cyclical manner through the tailings wastewater discharge pipe 6 and the suction valve.

[0049] The lower inlet of the lifting pipe 5 is connected to the discharge valve of the lifting diaphragm pump 8, and the upper outlet of the lifting pipe 5 is hinged to the mining ship through the deep compensation device of the surface mining ship 1. The seabed ore slurry is pressurized by the lifting diaphragm pump 8 and lifted to the mining ship. The lifting pipe 5 bears the weight of the underwater mining system. Since the intermediate cabin is replaced by the lifting diaphragm pump cabin 7, the floating ROV 10 is designed to have a certain positive buoyancy. The weight of the ground-based mining vehicles currently studied at home and abroad in water is tens of tons. Therefore, the load that the lifting pipe 5 needs to bear in the present invention is greatly reduced.

[0050] In order to monitor the flow rate, pipeline resistance and concentration in the lifting pipeline 5 and the flow rate in the tailings wastewater discharge pipeline 6 in real time, a flow meter is installed below the connection between the lifting pipeline 5 and the tailings wastewater discharge pipeline 6 and the mining ship to measure the flow rate, and a differential pressure gauge is installed above the connection between the lifting pipeline 5 and the lifting diaphragm pump cabin 7 to measure the pipeline resistance and obtain the slurry lifting concentration through calculation.

[0051] like Figure 1 As shown, the process of the marine mineral resource mining system of plunger pump pressurized tailings wastewater-diaphragm pump lifting in this embodiment is:

[0052] 1) The underwater mining system is gradually deployed through the deployment tower of the mining vessel 1.

[0053] 2) After the seabed mining device 12 has landed and the mining system has been laid out, the feeding pump 15, the tailings wastewater pressurizing plunger pump 4 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8 on the mining device are started in sequence.

[0054] 3) When the flow rate in the lifting pipeline 5 reaches the design requirement, the ROV mining system is started to start seabed mining and crushing.

[0055] 4) The mineral slurry crushed by the crushing mechanism 14 is transported to the suction valve 18 at the delivery end of the lifting diaphragm pump through the feeding pump 15 and the conveying hose 9. Under the action of the lifting diaphragm pump 8, the seabed mineral and seawater mixture slurry is lifted to the surface mining ship 1 through the lifting pipeline 5.

[0056] 5) After the slurry is separated into solid and liquid by the seabed ore slurry solid-liquid separation system 2 on board, the filtered tailings wastewater overflows into the tailings wastewater tank 3 and is transported to the suction valve 20 at the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump through the tailings wastewater discharge pressurization plunger pump 4 and the discharge pipeline 6 to drive the lifting diaphragm pump 8.

[0057] 6) The switching of the seabed ore slurry and tailings wastewater in the cylinder body and the pressurization of the bottom ore slurry and the discharge of the tailings wastewater are achieved by orderly closing and opening the valves at the delivery end and the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump 8.

[0058] 7) After mining is completed, the ROV mining system stops mining first.

[0059] 8) When the outlet of the lifting pipe 5 on the mining ship 1 discharges clean water, the feeding pump 15, the pressurizing plunger pump 4 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8 can be turned off in sequence.

[0060] In this embodiment, a flow meter and a differential pressure gauge are installed in the lifting pipeline 5 to measure the flow rate, pressure, pipeline resistance and concentration of the solid-liquid two-phase mixture of ore and water in the lifting pipeline 5 and the flow parameters of the discharge pipeline, and the deck measurement and control system is used to ensure that the solid-liquid two-phase flow in the lifting pipeline 5 is within the designed safe operating range.

[0061] In this embodiment, the observation system of the floating ROV coordinates the harmonious movement of the mining vessel 1, the lifting diaphragm pump cabin 7, and the floating ROV mining system.

[0062] In this embodiment, the normal start-up of the pressurized plunger pump 4 requires a soft start mode, and the working process of the overall mining system is controlled by the measurement and control system of the mining vessel 1. The control screen displays the start-up steps of the mining system, the operating conditions of key equipment during the working process, and the changes in flow parameters in the lifting pipeline.

[0063] The working principle and process of the present invention are as follows: the guide pipe, crushing mechanism 14, feeding pump 15, conveying hose 9, lifting diaphragm pump 8 and lifting pipeline 5 of the seabed mining mechanism 13 are connected in series to form a channel for collecting and lifting seabed minerals, and the feeding pump 15 in the conveying hose 9 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8 in the lifting pipeline 5 are fully utilized to directly pump in series, so as to realize the transportation and lifting of seabed ore slurry from the seabed to the surface mining ship through the integrated uninterrupted conveying and lifting channel.

[0064] Its working process is: according to Figure 1 The mining system is composed of a mining vessel 1 that lays a tower and lays the mining system from bottom to top. The lifting diaphragm pump cabin 7 is about 150 meters away from the seabed and acts as a counterweight for the lifting pipeline 5. The feed pump 15 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8 are used, and at the same time, the pressurized plunger pump 4 is started and reaches the rated speed through the soft start device. After the clean water in the lifting pipeline 5 is pressurized by the feed pump 15 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8, a pipeline upward flow with a certain flow rate is formed. The floating ROV 10 drags the seabed mining device 12 to slide and mine along the seabed according to the set seabed mining mode. The seabed minerals flow into the crushing mechanism 14 along the guide pipe, and the collected seabed minerals are After the material is crushed by the crushing mechanism 14, it is pressurized by the feeding pump 15 to form an upward flow of solid-liquid two-phase slurry in the conveying hose 9 and transported to the suction valve 18 at the delivery end of the lifting diaphragm pump 8. After the solid-liquid two-phase slurry is pressurized by the lifting diaphragm pump 8, the seabed mineral slurry is lifted to the surface mining ship 1 through the lifting pipeline 5. After the seabed mineral slurry is separated into solid and liquid by the seabed mineral slurry solid-liquid separation system 2 on the ship, the filtered tailings waste water overflows into the tailings waste water tank 3 and is transported to the suction valve 20 at the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump through the tailings waste water discharge pressurization plunger pump 4 and the discharge pipeline 6, which serves as the power of the diaphragm pump 8 to drive the diaphragm pump 8 to work.

[0065] Reference Figure 2 and Figure 3, when the seabed ore collected by the seabed mining mechanism 13 is crushed by the crushing mechanism 14, it is fed by the slurry feeding pump 15 through the conveying hose 9 to the suction valve 18 of the diaphragm pump 8 and input into the cylinder 17. At the same time, the discharge valve 19 of the conveying end is closed, the suction valve 20 of the power end is closed, and the discharge valve 21 is opened. Under the pressure of the feeding pump 15, the slurry moves from bottom to top through the diaphragm 22, and the tailings wastewater at the power end is discharged into the deep sea through the discharge valve 21. When the diaphragm 22 moves to the limit, the entire spherical cylinder 17 is filled with slurry. At this time, the suction valve 18 and the discharge valve 21 are closed. The liquid valve 21 is closed at the same time. When the suction valve 18 and the discharge valve 21 are closed at the same time, the suction valve 20 and the discharge valve 19 are opened at the same time. The pressurized tailings wastewater is sucked into the cylinder 17 through the suction valve 20, pushing the diaphragm 22 to move from top to bottom. The seabed mineral slurry is pressurized and discharged into the head end of the lifting pipe 5 through the discharge valve 19. When the diaphragm 22 moves to the limit position, the slurry in the cylinder 17 is drained. At this time, the cylinder 17 is full of tailings wastewater. The diaphragm 22 in the cylinder 17 completes a cycle of movement and will enter the next cycle of cyclic movement. Its working process is as follows: Figure 2 shown.

[0066] Normal parking requirements of the mining system After the floating ROV mining system stops working, the feed pump 15, the pressurized plunger pump 4 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8 continue to work for a period of time until the solid-liquid two-phase slurry in the entire lifting pipeline 5 is lifted to the surface mining ship, and then the feed pump 15, the pressurized plunger pump 4 and the lifting diaphragm pump 8 are stopped in turn. The entire seabed mining process is measured, controlled and monitored by the ship's remote measurement and control system. At each step of the mining system operation process, the screen clearly displays the working status of the main equipment.

[0067] To sum up, the new marine mineral resource mining system and method of plunger pump pressurized tailings wastewater-diaphragm pump lifting in this embodiment adopts a new lifting diaphragm pump cabin and a floating ROV type mining system and a lifting pipeline to form a seabed mineral resource mining system, which mainly includes a surface mining ship with a deployment tower, a lifting pipeline, a lifting diaphragm pump cabin, a conveying hose, a floating ROV type mining system and a ship's surface measurement and control system. The seabed ore is connected in series through the guide pipe, crushing mechanism, feeding pump, conveying hose, lifting diaphragm pump cabin and lifting pipeline of the seabed mining mechanism to form a channel for seabed mineral collection and lifting, and fully utilizes the principles of water jet hydraulic mining, suction of feeding pumps and lifting diaphragm pumps in the conveying hose and pumping in the lifting pipeline to realize seabed mineral collection and integrated continuous transportation to the surface mining ship. The novel marine mineral resource mining system and method proposed in the present invention have the advantages of being simple and reasonable, highly reliable, having high mining efficiency, and the lifting pipeline is no longer affected by the potential blockage of the lifting pipeline caused by the coarse particle flow capacity and reflux capacity of the lifting electric pump. The plunger pump is used to pressurize the tailings wastewater from the solid-liquid separation of the ore of the surface mining ship as the hydraulic driving medium and power of the lifting diaphragm pump and discharge the tailings wastewater to the seabed, providing a safe and environmentally friendly mining method for deep seabed mineral resources such as manganese nodules, cobalt-rich crusts, seabed sulfides and polymetallic mud.

[0068] The contents explained in the above embodiments should be understood as these embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the present invention, and are not used to limit the scope of the present invention. After reading the present invention, various equivalent forms of modifications to the embodiments made by those skilled in the art fall within the scope defined by the claims attached to the present invention.

Claims

1. A marine mineral resource mining system, comprising a surface mining vessel (1), a lifting pipeline (5) connected to a feed inlet of a solid-liquid separation system (2) arranged on the surface mining vessel (1), and a seabed mining device (12); characterized in that: The other end of the lifting pipeline (5) is connected to a lifting diaphragm pump cabin (7) which also serves as a counterweight, and a tailings wastewater tank (3) is provided at the discharge port of the solid-liquid separation system (2); Two groups of lifting diaphragm pumps (8) are arranged in the lifting diaphragm pump cabin (7), and the lifting diaphragm pump (8) comprises a cylinder body (17), a suction valve (18), a discharge valve (19), a liquid suction valve (20) and a liquid discharge valve (21) mounted on the cylinder body (17); the suction valve (18) and the discharge valve (19) are located on the same side of the diaphragm (22), and the liquid suction valve (20) and the liquid discharge valve (21) are located on the other side of the diaphragm (22); the tailings wastewater in the tailings wastewater tank (3) is fed into the liquid suction valve (20) through a pressurized plunger pump (4) and a discharge pipe (6) to drive the lifting diaphragm pump (8); the seabed mining device (12) is connected to the suction valve (18) through a feeding pump (15) and a hose (9), and the discharge valve (19) is connected to the lifting pipe (5).

2. The marine mineral resource mining system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The seabed mining device (12) comprises a seabed sliding body (16), a seabed mining mechanism (13) and a crushing mechanism (14); the seabed sliding body (16) bears the weight of the seabed mining mechanism (13), the crushing mechanism (14) and the feeding pump (15).

3. The marine mineral resource mining system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The hose (9) is installed on a floating ROV (10), and the floating ROV (10) tows the seabed mining device (12) through a flexible rigid frame (11) to perform sliding mining on the seabed.

4. The marine mineral resource mining system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The height of the lifting diaphragm pump (8) from the seabed is 120m-180m.

5. A method for mining ore using the marine mineral resource mining system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The steps include: S1. When the seabed mining device (12) reaches the designated position, the feeding pump (15), the pressure piston pump (4) and the lifting diaphragm pump (8) are started in sequence; S2. When the flow rate in the lifting pipeline (5) reaches the design requirement, seabed mining begins. The crushed mineral slurry is delivered to the suction valve (18) at the delivery end of the lifting diaphragm pump via the feeding pump (15) and the hose (9). Under the action of the lifting diaphragm pump (8), the seabed mineral and seawater mixture slurry passes through the lifting pipeline (5) and is lifted to the surface mining ship (1); S3, after the slurry is separated into solid and liquid by the solid-liquid separation system (2), the filtered tailings wastewater overflows into the tailings wastewater tank (3) and is transported to the suction valve (20) at the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump through the tailings wastewater discharge pressurization plunger pump (4) and the discharge pipeline (6) to drive the lifting diaphragm pump (8); S4, by orderly closing and opening the valves at the delivery end and the power end of the lifting diaphragm pump (8), the switching of the seabed ore slurry and the tailings wastewater in the cylinder body and the pressurization of the seabed ore slurry and the discharge of the tailings wastewater are achieved; S5 After the mining is completed, when the outlet of the lifting pipe (5) on the mining ship (1) discharges clean water, the feeding pump (15), the pressure plunger pump (4) and the lifting diaphragm pump (8) are closed in sequence.

6. The method for mining ore according to claim 5, characterized in that: In step S4, after the seabed ore collected by the seabed mining mechanism (13) is crushed, it is fed by the slurry feeding pump (15) through the conveying hose (9) to the suction valve (18) of the conveying end of the diaphragm pump (8) and input into the cylinder (17). At the same time, the discharge valve (19) of the conveying end is closed, the suction valve (20) of the power end is closed, and the discharge valve (21) is opened. Under the action of the pressure of the feeding pump (15), the diaphragm (22) moves from bottom to top, and the tailings wastewater at the power end is discharged into the deep sea through the discharge valve (21); When the diaphragm (22) moves to the limit, the entire spherical cylinder (17) is filled with slurry. At this time, the suction valve (18) and the discharge valve (21) are closed, and the suction valve (20) and the discharge valve (19) are opened. The pressurized tailings wastewater is sucked into the cylinder (17) through the suction valve (20) and pushes the diaphragm (22) to move from top to bottom. The seabed mineral slurry is pressurized and discharged into the head end of the lifting pipe (5) through the discharge valve (19). When the diaphragm (22) moves to the limit position, the slurry in the cylinder (17) is drained. At this time, the cylinder (17) is filled with tailings wastewater. The diaphragm (22) in the cylinder (17) completes a cycle of movement and will enter the next cycle of cyclic movement.

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