A seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system

Abstract

The application provides a seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system, which mainly comprises a circulating pipeline. A collector, a conveying pump and a separator are sequentially arranged on the circulating pipeline; and the discharge port of the separator is connected with a collecting device. The collector is provided with a flexible cover and a floating cutter head, the floating cutter head is located in the flexible cover, and at least one cutter part is arranged on the floating cutter head, and the cutter part is connected with a power unit. The application has the advantages of simple structure and low cost. The cutter head is designed to better adhere to the surface of the mineral, thereby reducing the mixing of stones, reducing the transportation energy consumption, and prolonging the service life of the equipment. In combination with the flexible cover and the circulating system, the circulation collection of the mineral is realized. On the one hand, the mineral debris is more easily sucked into the collector, the recovery rate is improved, and the visual blind area caused by floating is avoided. On the other hand, the approximately closed recovery circulation effectively avoids the influence of external uncertain factors, makes the recovery more stable, and reduces the influence on the environment.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The application belongs to the technical field of marine resource development, and particularly relates to a seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the progress of science and technology and the development of marine resources, the strategic position of marine mineral resources has been significantly improved. Although a considerable part of the marine mineral resources is rich in reserves, some of the resources are still in short supply at the present stage, mainly because of the high difficulty in mining and the high cost of collection.

[0003] At present, there are two forms of seabed mineral enrichment, one is mechanical enrichment, and the other is flushing enrichment. The mechanical enrichment has the problem of low efficiency, and the flushing enrichment has the problem of high energy consumption.

[0004] Even if the above technologies are combined, there are still many problems, specifically, taking the plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust as an example, it is distributed on the surface of the bedrock, the bedrock is rugged and large in area; therefore, the mine area morphology is complex, and the drill bit used in the crushing stage cannot adapt to the surface of the plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust, and most of the minerals and rocks are crushed together, which not only increases the energy consumption of the later transportation, but also grinds the hard bedrock, causing damage to the cutter head and reducing the service life of the machine. In addition, in the process of flushing ore enrichment, part of the broken but not fully enriched ore and the generated ore powder may have a potential negative impact on the seabed ecological environment, such as changing the seabed morphology and destroying the original habitat of benthic organisms.

[0005] In summary, it is necessary to comprehensively improve the current mining and collection system to realize efficient and low-cost seabed mineral resource enrichment and effectively reduce the damage to the seabed environment and protect the survival environment of benthic organisms. SUMMARY

[0006] The present application provides a seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system to solve the above problems.

[0007] To achieve the above purpose, the technical scheme adopted by the present application is as follows:

[0008] The present application provides a seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system, comprising a circulating pipeline; a collector, a delivery pump and a separator are sequentially arranged on the circulating pipeline; the discharge port of the separator is connected with a collection device;

[0009] The collector is provided with a flexible cover and a floating cutter head;

[0010] The open area of the flexible cover is the working area of the collector; the cover body of the flexible cover is provided with a water inlet and a water outlet, and is connected to the circulating pipeline through pipelines respectively;

[0011] The floating cutter head is located inside the flexible cover; the floating cutter head is provided with at least one cutter part connected with a power unit.

[0012] Further, the cutter part comprises a cutter and a floating bracket;

[0013] The cutter is mounted on the floating bracket;

[0014] The floating bracket is connected with the power unit through a transmission member.

[0015] Further, the floating bracket comprises a fixed support, an elastic member and a universal buckle;

[0016] The elastic member is arranged between the fixed support and the universal buckle;

[0017] The fixed support and the universal buckle are slidingly hinged and are provided with a circumferential limiting structure;

[0018] The universal buckle is fixedly connected with the cutter.

[0019] Further, the power unit is an electric motor;

[0020] The transmission member is a gear set; the output shaft of the power unit is provided with a driving gear of the transmission member; the floating bracket is rotationally connected with the mounting position of the floating cutter head, and the floating bracket is coaxially fixedly connected with a driven gear of the transmission member.

[0021] Further, the cutter of the floating cutter head is a grinding disc.

[0022] Further, the circulating pipeline is provided with a water inlet pipeline and a water outlet pipeline; the water outlet pipeline is connected with the liquid inlet of the separator, and the water inlet pipeline is connected with the liquid outlet of the separator;

[0023] The water outlet pipeline is serially connected with the delivery pump.

[0024] Further, the circulating pipeline comprises a main pipeline and branch pipelines;

[0025] The main pipeline is serially connected with the separator and the delivery pump, and the delivery pump is located in the upstream direction of the separator;

[0026] Each main pipeline is connected with multiple branch pipelines through a water distributor;

[0027] The cover body of the flexible cover is respectively provided with a plurality of water inlets and a plurality of water outlets, and the water inlets and the water outlets are symmetrically arranged; each water inlet and each water outlet is connected with a branch pipeline.

[0028] Further, the diameters of the sections of the circulating pipeline are not all the same.

[0029] Further, the delivery pump is a flexible vane pump.

[0030] Further, the separator is a hydrocyclone.

[0031] Compared with the prior art, the present application has the following beneficial effects:

[0032] The present application has the advantages of simple structure and low cost. The floating cutter head design allows the cutter to swing in multiple directions and move a small amount, thereby better fitting the rugged surface of the mineral, reducing the situation of mineral and rock breaking together, reducing transportation energy consumption, reducing damage to the cutter head, and prolonging the service life of the equipment. Further, the combination of the flexible cover and the circulating system design realizes the circulation collection of the mineral, which not only makes the mineral debris easier to be sucked in and prevents the mineral powder from the broken drill bit from drifting to the surrounding environment, thereby improving the recovery rate and avoiding the creation of a visual blind area, but also effectively avoids the influence of external uncertainty factors, making the recovery more stable and reducing the impact on the environment. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0033] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments. Obviously, the drawings in the following description only constitute some embodiments of the present application, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained without creative labor.

[0034] Figure 1 It is a system structure schematic diagram in the specific embodiment of the present application.

[0035] Figure 2 It is a collector perspective view in the specific embodiment of the present application.

[0036] Figure 3 It is an internal structure view of the floating cutter head in the specific embodiment of the present application.

[0037] Figure 4 It is a cutter part sectional view in the specific embodiment of the present application.

[0038] Figure 5 It is an explosion view of the cutter part in the specific embodiment of the present application.

[0039] Figure 6The tool is attached to the ore in the demonstration diagram of the embodiment of the present application.

[0040] In the figure: 1, collector, 2, water outlet branch pipeline, 3, first water distributor, 4, water outlet main pipeline, 5, conveying pump, 6, separator, 7, water inlet main pipeline, 8, second water distributor, 9, water inlet branch pipeline, 10, collection bin, 101, flexible cover, 102, through hole, 103, pipe joint, 104, tool part, 1041, tool head motor, 1042, driving gear, 1043, driven gear, 1044, tool, 1045, floating bracket, 10451, fixed support, 10452, elastic member, 10453, universal buckle. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0041] In order to make the purpose, technical scheme and advantages of the embodiments of the present application clearer, the technical scheme of the embodiments of the present application will be described clearly and completely below in combination with the drawings of the embodiments of the present application. Obviously, the described embodiments are some of the embodiments of the present application, but not all the embodiments of the present application. Based on the embodiments of the present application, all other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art without creative work fall within the scope of protection of the present application.

[0042] It should be noted that: similar reference numerals and letters represent similar items in the following drawings, therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, it does not need to be further defined and explained in the subsequent drawings.

[0043] In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the relative relationship indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "top", "side" and the like is based on the order of contact with the material in the actual application, and is for the convenience of describing the present application and simplifying the description, and does not indicate or imply that the indicated device or element must have a specific position, therefore, it cannot be understood as a limitation on the present application.

[0044] In addition, the terms "first", "second" are only for descriptive purposes, and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features. Therefore, the features defined with "first", "second" can explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of the present application, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more, unless otherwise specifically limited.

[0045] In the present application, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "mounting", "connecting" and the like should be understood in a broad sense, for example, can be fixedly connected, or detachably connected, or integrated; can be directly connected, or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, can be the internal communication of two elements or the interaction relationship of two elements. For those skilled in the art, the specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood according to the specific circumstances.

[0046] It should be further pointed out that the methods used in the present application are conventional methods unless otherwise specified; the raw materials and devices used are conventional commercially available products unless otherwise specified.

[0047] As shown in Figure 1 The present application provides a seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system, which mainly comprises a circulating pipeline; a collector 1, a delivery pump 5 and a separator 6 are sequentially arranged on the circulating pipeline.

[0048] Among them, the circulating pipeline is the basis of circulation, and a relatively closed circulation structure is formed. As shown in Figure 2 The collector 1 is a specific execution unit for mineral exploitation, which is provided with a flexible cover 101 and a floating cutter head.

[0049] The flexible cover 101 is in the form of a frustum-shaped cover body structure, and the large-diameter end is in the form of an open structure. The open area is the working area of the collector 1, which is used to cover the surface of the cobalt-rich crust. Because the flexible cover 101 is made of flexible material, it can tightly adhere to the working area under appropriate pressure conditions, preventing the cobalt powder from escaping after mining, and cooperating with the circulating pipeline to form the closed circulation structure mentioned above.

[0050] A plurality of water inlets and outlets are processed on the cover body of the flexible cover 101. Specifically, the present embodiment comprises 8 circumferentially distributed through holes 102, which are divided into two groups to form 4 water inlets and 4 water outlets arranged in mirror symmetry, and pipe joints 103 are installed on the through holes 102, so as to be connected with the circulating pipeline. In this way, the 4 water inlets and 4 water outlets can be arranged on both sides, so as to form a relatively ideal flow field in the cover body, and the ore particles and ore powder can be quickly recovered.

[0051] The small-diameter end of the flexible cover 101 is provided with a cutter head mounting surface, and a floating cutter head is mounted.

[0052] The floating cutter head is located inside the flexible cover and is provided with at least one cutter part 104 connected with a power unit. Specifically, the floating cutter head of the embodiment is a multi-unit design, including three cutter parts 104. Among them, the cutter part 104 adopts a self-movement design, that is, the cutter head motor 1041 installed on the back of the cutter head mounting surface drives the cutter part 104. Since the embodiment adopts a design of single power unit combination transmission member driving three cutters, a driving gear 1042 is installed on the output shaft of the cutter head motor 1041, and three driven gears 1043 are arranged in a star shape on the side. The driven gear 1043 is rotationally connected with the cutter head mounting surface and is limited in axial movement.

[0053] Further, in the embodiment, in order to realize the self-adaptive fitting of the cutter part 104, it further includes a cutter 1044 and a floating bracket 1045. The cutter 1044 of the embodiment is a grinding disc, which can grind and collect minerals, so that the minerals are in powder form, facilitating circular flow recovery.

[0054] Further, the floating bracket 1045 of the embodiment is coaxially fixed with the corresponding driven gear 1043, which includes a fixed support 10451, an elastic member 10452 and a universal buckle 10453. Among them, the fixed support 10451 is a hollow cylindrical structure, the bottom surface is fixedly connected with the driven gear 1043, and notches are processed on the column, including three first notches and three second notches, which are alternately arranged. The first notch is an upward through notch for increasing the overall deformation amount, and the second notch is a notch closed on the periphery and radially through, which is used as a sliding structure and a circumferential limiting structure.

[0055] The elastic member 10452 is arranged between the fixed support 10451 and the universal buckle 10453, and the common spring is used as the elastic member in the embodiment, and a positioning column is processed on the bottom surface of the fixed support 10451 (the surface of the driven gear 1043) to stabilize the position of the spring.

[0056] The fixed support 10451 and the universal buckle 10453 are slidingly connected; specifically, the universal buckle 10451 is a stepped shaft structure, and the reduced diameter position is processed as an arc surface transition, and the large diameter end of the universal buckle 10451 is provided with three inverted hook-shaped structures in the circumferential direction, which are inserted into the corresponding second notches to form a sliding structure and a circumferential limiting structure. Further, a downward blind hole is processed in the universal buckle 10453 for sleeving the spring.

[0057] Among them, the fixed support 10451 is made of high-toughness material (such as nylon material), and the gap between the inner side of the fixed support 10451 and the outer side of the universal buckle 10453 is designed to realize the axial sliding and small amplitude swinging of the universal buckle 10453 under stress, and restore the initial position by the spring after unloading.

[0058] The top surface of the universal buckle 10453 is fixedly connected with the cutter 1044.

[0059] The above design can realize the rotation grinding of the three groups of cutter parts 104 on the shell minerals, and under the pressure condition, the cutter disc surface is self-adaptively attached to the surface of the grinding area, and the attachment effect is shown in Figure 6

[0060] Since the collector 1 of the embodiment has multiple water inlets and multiple water outlets, the coarse and thin hoses are matched to realize the confluence and distribution. Therefore, the circulating pipeline is provided with a water inlet pipeline and a water outlet pipeline. In order to facilitate understanding, in the embodiment, the water outlet and the water inlet are determined according to whether the water leaves or enters the flexible cover 101. The water outlet pipeline includes a water outlet main pipeline 4 and water outlet branch pipelines 2. Each water outlet branch pipeline 2 is connected to one water outlet of the flexible cover 101 at one end and connected to the first water distributor 3 at the other end. The first water distributor 3 confluences the water outlets and then delivers the water to the water outlet main pipeline 4. The water outlet main pipeline 4 is connected to the liquid inlet of the separator 6. Further, the separator 6 of the embodiment is a hydrocyclone. The upper part of the hydrocyclone has a hollow cylinder, and the lower part has an inverted cone communicating with the cylinder. The hydrocyclone is an important part of the whole system, which is responsible for separating the plate-shaped cobalt-rich shell particles from water. The discharge port of the hydrocyclone is located at the bottom end of the inverted cone and is connected to the collecting device. The collecting device of the embodiment is a collecting bin 10, which is responsible for receiving and storing the plate-shaped cobalt-rich shell particles separated by the hydrocyclone. The upper part of the bin is designed to be open and is provided with a layer of gauze. The purpose is to prevent the minerals in the collecting bin 10 from overflowing and to balance the internal and external pressures. Considering the increase of the entering speed of the solid particles, the embodiment is different from the conventional design principle of placing the water pump behind. The delivery pump 5 is arranged upstream of the separator 6, i.e. connected in series on the water outlet main pipeline 4, and is selected as a flexible vane pump. The delivery pump 5 is responsible for providing power source for the whole circulating system. The flexible vane can greatly reduce the damage of the high-speed plate-shaped cobalt-rich shell particles to the pump blades, ensuring a long service life.

[0061] The liquid outlet of the separator 6 is connected to the water inlet pipeline of the circulating pipeline. Similarly, the water inlet pipeline is also divided into a single water inlet main pipeline 7 and multiple water inlet branch pipelines 9, and is connected through a second water distributor 8. Correspondingly, the water inlet branch pipelines 9 are connected to the water inlets on the flexible cover 101 one by one.

[0062] ​Further, the embodiment takes into account that the mineral content in the inlet water and outlet water is different, and the particle size has a large difference, so the pipe diameters of each section of the circulating pipeline are not all the same, and the pipe diameter of the inlet water side is larger than that of the outlet water side; specifically, the inner diameter of the inlet main pipeline 7 is consistent in full length and smaller than the inner diameter of the outlet main pipeline 4 (consistent in full length); the inner diameter of the inlet branch pipeline 9 is consistent in full length and smaller than the inner diameter of the outlet branch pipeline 2 (consistent in full length). The inner diameter of the inlet main pipeline 4 is larger than the inner diameter of the inlet branch pipeline 9; the inner diameter of the outlet main pipeline 4 is larger than the inner diameter of the outlet branch pipeline 2.

[0063] Working process:

[0064] After the minerals are ground into mineral powder by the grinding disc, they are immediately sucked into the four outlet water pipes on one side of the flexible cover under the action of the flow field of one side blowing water and the other side pumping water, and then reach the first water distributor along the hose. The mineral slurry in the four outlet branch pipelines enters the outlet main pipeline, and then passes through the flexible vane pump to enter the working cylinder of the hydrocyclone along the tangent at a fast flow rate. The mineral slurry rotates along the cylinder wall at a very fast speed to generate centrifugal force. Under the action of centrifugal force and gravity, the cobalt particles with a larger density are thrown out to spiral down along the barrel wall into the collection bin of the plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust, while the water with a smaller density flows out from the upper end of the working cylinder. Then the separated mineral slurry enters the inlet water pipeline, reaches the second water distributor along the inlet main pipeline, and is divided into four inlet branch pipelines, and finally returns to the flexible cover with the water flow. At the same time, the fast water flow will lift the minerals in the collection cover, making it easier to be pumped out. This is a collection process of the loop-closed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system with a hydrocyclone, and after multiple cycles, the minerals will enter the plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust collection bin to the greatest extent.

[0065] Finally, it should be noted that the above content is only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, and is not a limitation on the protection scope of the present application. Simple modifications or equivalent replacements of the technical solutions of the present application made by those skilled in the art do not deviate from the essence and scope of the technical solutions of the present application.

Claims

1. A system for enriching seabed plate-like cobalt-rich crusts, characterized in that: It includes a circulation pipeline; a collector, a delivery pump and a separator are sequentially arranged on the circulation pipeline; the discharge port of the separator is connected to the collection device; The collector is provided with a flexible cover and a floating cutter head; The open area of ​​the flexible cover is the working area of ​​the collector; the cover body of the flexible cover is provided with a water inlet and a water outlet, which are respectively connected to the circulation pipeline through pipelines; The floating cutter head is located inside the flexible cover; the floating cutter head is provided with at least one set of cutter parts, and the cutter parts are connected to a power unit; The circulation pipeline is provided with a water inlet pipeline and a water outlet pipeline; the water outlet pipeline is connected to the liquid inlet of the separator, and the water inlet pipeline is connected to the liquid outlet of the separator; the delivery pump is connected in series to the water outlet pipeline; The circulation pipeline includes a main pipeline and a branch pipeline; the main pipeline is connected in series with the separator and the delivery pump, and the delivery pump is located upstream of the separator; each main pipeline is connected to multiple branch pipelines through a water divider; the cover body of the flexible cover is respectively provided with multiple water inlets and multiple water outlets, and the water inlets and the water outlets are symmetrically arranged; each water inlet and outlet is correspondingly connected to a branch pipeline.

2. The seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crust enrichment system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tool portion includes a tool and a floating bracket; The tool is mounted on the floating bracket; The floating bracket is connected to the power unit through a transmission member.

3. The system for enriching seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crusts according to claim 2, characterized in that: The floating bracket includes a fixed support, an elastic member and a universal buckle; The elastic member is provided between the fixed support and the universal buckle; The fixed support is slidably hinged to the universal buckle and is provided with a circumferential limiting structure; The universal buckle is fixedly connected to the cutter.

4. The seabed plate-like cobalt-rich crust enrichment system according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that: The power unit is an electric motor; The transmission member is a gear set; the output shaft of the power unit is installed with the driving gear of the transmission member; the floating bracket is rotationally connected to the mounting position of the floating cutter head, and the floating bracket is coaxially fixedly connected to the driven gear of the transmission member.

5. The system for enriching seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crusts according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tool of the floating cutter head is a grinding disc.

6. The system for enriching seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crusts according to claim 1, characterized in that: The diameters of various sections of the circulation pipeline are not all the same.

7. The system for enriching seabed plate-shaped cobalt-rich crusts according to claim 1, characterized in that: The delivery pump is a flexible vane pump.

8. The seabed plate-like cobalt-rich crust enrichment system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The separator is a hydrocyclone separator.

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