Underwater excavating device suitable for vertical shaft with special-shaped section
By coordinating the excavation base station with external hoisting equipment, a level working reference surface was created and pipelines were managed, solving the instability of robot operations and pipeline entanglement problems in irregularly shaped vertical shafts, thus achieving efficient and safe underwater excavation operations.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2025-12-17
- Publication Date
- 2026-03-31
AI Technical Summary
Existing underwater excavation equipment struggles to provide a precise and flat working reference surface in irregularly shaped vertical shafts, and the complex pipeline layout leads to unstable robot movement and easy entanglement, increasing construction risks and operational difficulties.
By combining excavation base stations with external hoisting equipment, a leveling benchmark surface is created through controlled sinking, and pipelines are managed through pipeline transportation and conversion mechanisms. Combined with excavation robots, horizontal excavation and cleaning are achieved, integrating earthwork treatment.
It significantly improves the safety, efficiency, and adaptability of underwater excavation of irregularly shaped vertical shafts, reduces the reliance on precision underwater operations, simplifies the construction process, and improves equipment utilization and construction efficiency.
Smart Images
Figure CN121760408A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Technical Field
[0001] This invention relates to the field of shaft construction technology, and specifically to an underwater excavation device suitable for shafts with irregular cross-sections. Background Technology
[0002] In the construction of vertical shafts in Shenzhen, especially in complex urban environments such as subway station shafts, shield tunnel transition shafts, and tunnel ventilation shafts with irregular cross-sections, underwater excavation technology is often used to balance groundwater pressure and ensure the stability of the excavation face. However, in the underwater environment, existing excavation equipment faces a prominent technical challenge: how to provide a precise, flat, and stable initial working reference surface for the robot performing the excavation operation, while simultaneously solving the problem of pipeline layout for the robot in complex shaft structures.
[0003] For circular cross-section shafts, existing technologies typically employ large VSM (Vertical Spiral Mining) tunneling machines, whose rotary excavation method can naturally form a circular cross-section, but cannot adapt to non-circular irregular cross-sections. For irregular cross-sections, small underwater robots are often used. However, when these small robots are operating, the smoothness of the surface they travel on depends entirely on the operator's experience and control in the turbid underwater environment, making it difficult to guarantee accuracy. This can easily lead to unstable robot movement or getting stuck in soft soil, affecting operational safety and efficiency. In addition, irregular cross-section shafts often have a large number of lateral support structures inside, and the robot pipelines lowered vertically from the water surface are very likely to become entangled and interfere with these supports, increasing construction risks and operational difficulties.
[0004] Therefore, there is an urgent need for an underwater excavation device that can be specifically designed for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, autonomously create a flat working surface, and effectively manage pipelines. Summary of the Invention
[0005] The purpose of this invention is to overcome the shortcomings of the prior art. It can automatically and accurately create a flat initial working reference surface for the excavation robot underwater, and realize the orderly layout and conversion of working pipelines in complex well structures, thereby improving the safety, efficiency and adaptability of underwater excavation operations in irregular cross-section vertical shafts.
[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides an underwater excavation device suitable for irregular cross-section vertical shafts, including an excavation base station and an excavation robot carried and supplied by the excavation base station; The excavation base station is equipped with an excavation mechanism at its bottom for excavating the soil below it, and the excavation base station is also equipped with a hoisting interface for connecting external hoisting equipment; the excavation base station is configured to: excavate the soil below it through its excavation mechanism, and with the help of the coordinated lowering action of the external hoisting equipment connected through the hoisting interface, realize its controllable sinking to the bottom of the shaft, thereby establishing a flat initial excavation reference surface for the excavation robot. The excavation base station is also equipped with a pipeline delivery and conversion mechanism, which is used to manage the working pipeline connected to the excavation robot and convert the working pipeline between the horizontal working direction and the vertical delivery direction leading to the shaft opening; The excavating robot is configured to perform horizontal straight-line excavation operations relative to the excavation base station, based on the initial excavation work reference plane.
[0007] By adopting this technical solution, through the active excavation of the base station and the controllable sinking function achieved in conjunction with external hoisting equipment, an automated and precise working starting plane is created for the excavation robot, solving the fundamental problem of the lack of reliable reference points for the working face of the excavation robot in underwater excavation of irregular cross-sections. At the same time, through the pipeline transportation and conversion mechanism of the excavation base station, the pipeline management of the excavation robot is separated from the excavation robot body and systematized, so that its routing can adapt to complex well structures. The combination of these two functions constitutes a complete and dedicated underwater excavation solution for irregular cross-section vertical shafts, which significantly improves the safety, adaptability and operational standardization of such projects.
[0008] Furthermore, the excavating robot includes: The robot's main body is equipped with walking tracks at its bottom and integrates a power unit, an earthmoving unit, and a positioning unit inside. An excavation actuator, connected to the robot body, is used to scoop up soil and transport it to the soil processing unit; An attitude adjustment mechanism is connected to the excavation actuator for adjusting the working angle and penetration depth of the excavation actuator.
[0009] By adopting this technical solution, it is clear that the excavating robot possesses integrated walking, power, processing, and perception capabilities, making it an intelligent agent capable of autonomously moving and executing complex commands in turbid underwater environments. At the same time, by defining independent excavation execution mechanisms and attitude adjustment mechanisms, it is ensured that the robot can not only excavate but also make precise and dynamic adjustments to its excavation actions. This is the key to achieving high-quality, controllable flat operations and forms an operational closed loop with the reference plane created by the excavation base station.
[0010] Furthermore, the earthwork processing unit includes a soil-to-liquid slurry tank and slurry pumping equipment; The excavation actuator is connected to the soil-to-liquid slurry tank via a compression conveying structure, which is used to compress and convey the excavated soil into the soil-to-liquid slurry tank for processing into a mud-water mixture, and then pump it out of the shaft through the working pipeline by the mud-water pumping equipment.
[0011] By adopting this technical solution, a highly integrated and continuous operation of excavation, transportation, and discharge is achieved. Solid soil is directly converted into mud and water inside the excavation robot and pumped, completely avoiding the traditional discrete operation links such as grabbing, lifting, and transportation in the underwater environment. This greatly reduces equipment complexity, energy consumption, and potential failure points, and is especially suitable for the requirements of deep water and long-distance soil discharge, significantly improving the overall efficiency of excavation and soil discharge.
[0012] Furthermore, the excavating robot also includes: A side cleaning mechanism, which includes a rotatable cleaning brush cylinder; An adjustment mechanism, connected to the cleaning brush cylinder, is used to adjust the relative position between the cleaning brush cylinder and the inner wall of the shaft in order to perform cleaning operations on the inner wall of the shaft.
[0013] By adopting this technical solution, the underwater excavation device can simultaneously or in stages clean the sidewalls of the shaft while completing the excavation of the bottom soil; it achieves multiple uses in one machine, reduces the number of times and time required to lower special cleaning equipment during construction, simplifies the construction process, and improves the overall construction efficiency.
[0014] Furthermore, the pipeline transport and conversion mechanism includes at least one reel device capable of horizontally retracting and extending pipelines. The reel device is connected to the excavation base station and is used to retract and extend the working pipelines connecting the excavation robot, and to convert the pipelines from a horizontal retraction state to a vertical transport state along the shaft wall through a guide structure.
[0015] By adopting this technical solution, a reliable, controllable and space-saving physical means of pipeline management is provided. Specifically, the reel device can realize the orderly winding and unwinding of pipelines, avoiding underwater clutter; its ability to switch between horizontal winding and vertical guidance is a direct technical guarantee for pipelines to avoid obstacles such as lateral supports in the well.
[0016] Furthermore, the hoisting interface is used to connect external hoisting equipment to realize the overall lifting and horizontal position adjustment of the excavation base station and the excavation robot in the shaft.
[0017] By adopting this technical solution and cooperating with external hoisting equipment, the excavation base station and excavation robot can be treated as a whole unit, and can be quickly and accurately lifted and moved horizontally within the shaft. This allows the device to be flexibly transferred from one work area to another, which is the basis for realizing the zonal construction and cyclical advancement operation mode for large areas or irregular cross sections, greatly improving equipment utilization and construction flexibility.
[0018] Furthermore, the excavation mechanism includes multiple sets of excavation drive units arranged along the bottom of the excavation base station, used to collaboratively cut and remove the soil directly below the excavation base station in a full or partial manner.
[0019] By adopting this technical solution, multiple sets of excavation drive units work together to perform comprehensive and uniform cutting of the soil at the bottom of the excavation base station, thereby ensuring the flatness of the resulting reference surface.
[0020] Furthermore, the maximum working depth of the excavating mechanism is configured to not exceed the height of the excavating robot's excavation actuator.
[0021] By adopting this technical solution, the reference surface is made into a shallow and precisely trimmed plane, which can meet the requirements of the excavation robot to walk smoothly and start excavation, while avoiding the waste of earthwork and energy consumption caused by over-excavation.
[0022] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: 1. By autonomously excavating from the base station and coordinating with external hoisting equipment for controlled sinking, a flat and solid initial excavation reference surface can be precisely formed at a set depth. The excavation robot uses this reference surface as a starting point for horizontal operations, which completely solves the problems of unstable walking and inaccurate control of working depth caused by uneven ground in traditional underwater robots, and significantly improves the accuracy and safety of operations.
[0023] 2. By excavating the pipeline delivery and conversion mechanism on the base station, the horizontal deployment and vertical delivery of the working pipeline are flexibly converted. This conversion mechanism allows the pipeline to extend horizontally close to the excavation face. When encountering complex structures such as lateral supports inside the shaft, it can effectively bypass obstacles, solve the problem of pipeline interference and entanglement, and greatly enhance the adaptability of the device to complex irregular cross-sectional structures such as subway station shafts.
[0024] 3. The device establishes a clear division of labor and collaborative operation mode in which the base station is excavated to create a reference surface and the excavation robot performs horizontal excavation. The operators mainly control the positioning and sinking of the base station and the large-scale operation commands of the robot, which reduces the reliance on underwater precision operation experience, simplifies the operation process, and improves construction efficiency.
[0025] 4. The excavation robot integrates multiple functions such as horizontal excavation, earthwork handling, and internal wall cleaning. It can complete multiple processes such as excavation, soil removal, and wall repair in one go, reducing the number of equipment and process changeover time, and improving the overall construction economy. Attached Figure Description
[0026] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to the present invention; Figure 2 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the excavation robot in the underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, according to the present invention. Figure 3 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the adjustment of the cleaning brush in an underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, as per the present invention. Figure 4 This is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the excavation base station in the underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, according to the present invention. Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the bottom structure of the excavation base station in the underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, which is applicable to the present invention. Figure 6 This is a schematic diagram of the initial lowering steps of the underwater excavation device suitable for irregularly shaped vertical shafts in the embodiment; Figure 7 This is a schematic diagram illustrating the steps for creating a reference surface for an underwater excavation device suitable for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, as shown in the embodiment. Figure 8 This is a schematic diagram of the horizontal excavation operation steps of the underwater excavation device applicable to irregular cross-section vertical shafts in the embodiment; Figure 9 A top-view diagram of a well with a complex, irregular cross-section.
[0027] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached drawings: 1. Excavating robot; 1.1. Robot body; 1.2. Excavating bucket; 1.3. Bucket adjusting cylinder; 1.4. Cleaning brush; 1.5. Adjusting mechanism; 2. Excavating base station; 2.1. Base station body; 2.2. Reel device; 2.3. Excavating mechanism. Detailed Implementation
[0028] The present invention will be further described below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
[0029] like Figures 1 to 9 As shown, the present invention provides an underwater excavation device suitable for irregular cross-section vertical shafts; the core of the device consists of two parts: an excavation base station 2 and an excavation robot 1.
[0030] like Figure 4-5As shown, the excavation base station 2 is the basic platform of the entire device, and its main structure is the base station body 2.1, which is usually a rigid frame structure. The top of the base station body 2.1 is equipped with multiple lifting interfaces for connecting wire ropes, chains and other lifting tools so that the crawler crane and other lifting equipment on the ground can lift it as a whole. The most critical part at the bottom of the excavation base station 2 is the excavation mechanism 2.3. The excavation mechanism 2.3 includes multiple sets of excavation drive units set along the bottom of the excavation base station 2. These excavation drive units are conventional active excavation structures, distributed at the bottom of the excavation base station 2, and can work together to cut and excavate the soil directly below the excavation base station 2 and discharge the excavated soil. The maximum excavation depth of the excavation mechanism 2.3 is generally designed not to exceed the height of the excavation bucket 1.2 of the excavation robot 1 to ensure that the established reference surface is suitable for the operation of the excavation robot.
[0031] On the base station body 2.1, at least one set of pipeline conveying and conversion mechanism is also configured. In this embodiment, two independent reel devices 2.2 are preferred. One reel is used to reel in and out the sludge discharge pipeline, and the other is used to reel in and out the integrated pipeline (which contains hydraulic pipes, power cables, communication cables, etc.). The reel device 2.2 can realize the horizontal reeling and unreeling of the pipeline. After the pipeline is released, the horizontally extending pipeline is converted to be conveyed upward along the vertical shaft wall to the ground through the guide structure on both sides of the reel or a specially set guide structure (such as guide pipe or pulley block), thereby completing the "horizontal-vertical" conveying conversion.
[0032] like Figure 2-3 As shown, the excavating robot 1 is the main body that performs specific excavation tasks. Its robot body 1.1 integrates power drive equipment (such as hydraulic pumps and motors), a soil-to-liquid slurry tank, slurry pumping equipment, and a sonar device for precise underwater positioning; a tracked walking mechanism is installed at the bottom of the robot body 1.1.
[0033] At the front end of the robot body 1.1, a digging bucket 1.2 is hinged as a digging execution mechanism. The rear of the digging bucket 1.2 is connected to the soil-to-liquid slurry tank inside the robot body 1.1 through a screw extrusion structure. The soil scooped up by the digging bucket 1.2 is sent into the extrusion structure. Under the stirring and extrusion action of the screw, the soil and the injected water are mixed into a slurry and enter the slurry tank. The bucket adjustment cylinder 1.3 connected to the digging bucket 1.2 serves as an attitude adjustment mechanism, which can precisely control the lifting and lowering angle of the digging bucket 1.2, thereby achieving precise control of the elevation of the excavation layer and the leveling of the ground after excavation, ensuring that the tracks of the digging robot 1 can pass smoothly.
[0034] In addition, a side cleaning mechanism is provided on the side of the excavation robot 1. This mechanism includes a cleaning brush cylinder 1.4 with a steel wire brush attached to its surface and capable of high-speed rotation, and an adjustment mechanism 1.5 for controlling its lateral extension and retraction. The distance between the cleaning brush cylinder 1.4 and the inner wall of the shaft can be changed by the adjustment mechanism 1.5, so that it can effectively scrub and clean the concrete inner wall or rock wall of the shaft during the robot's movement.
[0035] The specific implementation process of this invention is as follows (in conjunction with...) Figures 6-8 ): Initial distribution ( Figure 6 After construction reaches the dry and wet excavation interface and water is injected, the excavation base station 2, which carries the excavation robot 1, is lowered into the shaft as a whole using hoisting equipment, close to the soil surface to be excavated.
[0036] Reference plane creation ( Figure 7 When the excavation base station 2 approaches the soil surface, the excavation mechanism 2.3 at its bottom is activated, and multiple sets of excavation drive units begin to cut and remove slag from the soil directly below the excavation base station 2. At the same time, the ground hoisting equipment slowly and synchronously lowers the hoisting rope according to the sinking requirements of the base station. Under the combined action of autonomous excavation and external collaborative lowering, the excavation base station 2 sinks smoothly and controllably to the design depth. At this time, the soil surface that the bottom of the excavation base station 2 contacts, which has been leveled, is the initial excavation reference surface established for the excavation robot 1. The reel device 2.2 on the excavation base station 2 releases a certain length of pipeline as needed.
[0037] Horizontal excavation operation ( Figure 8 The excavating robot 1 departs from the excavation base station 2 and begins horizontal straight-line excavation on the flat reference surface. The excavating bucket 1.2 of the excavating robot 1 excavates the soil, which is then extruded by a screw and transported to the mud and water tank to be converted into mud and water. The mud and water pump then pumps the mud and water to the ground through the mud discharge pipeline. The bucket adjustment cylinder 1.3 adjusts the working angle in real time, controls the excavation depth, and levels the ground. The side cleaning mechanism can simultaneously perform wall brushing operations.
[0038] Shifting loop: After the excavating robot 1 completes the excavation of the current area (such as a fan-shaped or rectangular area around the base station), it returns to the excavating base station 2. Then, the entire excavating base station 2 (along with the excavating robot 1) is lifted and moved horizontally to the next adjacent area to be excavated by the hoisting equipment.
[0039] Repeat the above steps, excavating base station 2 creates a new reference surface at the new location, and excavating robot 1 performs new horizontal excavation. This cycle continues, similar to a sweeping robot using the base station as a mobile charging station to perform zoned cleaning, until the entire irregular cross-section is completed (e.g., ...). Figure 9 Underwater excavation construction within the design scope of the subway station with irregular cross-section shown.
[0040] Multi-machine collaboration: For large cross sections, two or more sets of this device can be used for simultaneous construction. Each excavation base station 2 can be used as a known fixed reference point. Through its sonar or other positioning system, the relative position of each excavation robot 1 underwater can be determined more accurately, thus achieving efficient collaboration. Example
[0041] The difference from Embodiment 1 is that the excavation mechanism 2.3 at the bottom of the excavation base station 2 can be arranged non-uniformly according to the cross-sectional shape or use drive units with different power to better adapt to the excavation needs of non-rectangular or irregular cross-sectional edges. Example
[0042] The difference from Embodiment 1 is that the pipeline delivery and conversion mechanism is not limited to the form of a reel. It can also be a linear winding and unwinding mechanism with guide pulleys or a folding arm mechanism, as long as it can achieve the horizontal connection of the pipeline between the robot and the base station and the vertical guidance to the wellhead.
[0043] The present invention has been described in detail above with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments. Those skilled in the art can make various modifications to the present invention based on the above description. Therefore, certain details in the embodiments should not be construed as limiting the present invention, and the scope of protection of the present invention shall be defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. An underwater excavation device suitable for irregularly shaped vertical shafts, characterized in that, This includes a base station for excavation and the excavation robot supported and supplied by the base station; The excavation base station is equipped with an excavation mechanism at its bottom for excavating the soil below it, and the excavation base station is also equipped with a hoisting interface for connecting external hoisting equipment; the excavation base station is configured to: excavate the soil below it through its excavation mechanism, and with the help of the coordinated lowering action of the external hoisting equipment connected through the hoisting interface, realize its controllable sinking to the bottom of the shaft, thereby establishing a flat initial excavation reference surface for the excavation robot. The excavation base station is also equipped with a pipeline delivery and conversion mechanism, which is used to manage the working pipeline connected to the excavation robot and convert the working pipeline between the horizontal working direction and the vertical delivery direction leading to the shaft opening; The excavating robot is configured to perform horizontal straight-line excavation operations relative to the excavation base station, based on the initial excavation work reference plane.
2. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 1, characterized in that, The excavating robot includes: The robot's main body is equipped with walking tracks at its bottom and integrates a power unit, an earthmoving unit, and a positioning unit inside. An excavation actuator, connected to the robot body, is used to scoop up soil and transport it to the soil processing unit; An attitude adjustment mechanism is connected to the excavation actuator for adjusting the working angle and penetration depth of the excavation actuator.
3. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 2, characterized in that, The earthwork treatment unit includes a soil-to-liquid slurry tank and slurry pumping equipment. The excavation actuator is connected to the soil-to-liquid slurry tank via a compression conveying structure, which is used to compress and convey the excavated soil into the soil-to-liquid slurry tank for processing into a mud-water mixture, and then pump it out of the shaft through the working pipeline by the mud-water pumping equipment.
4. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The excavating robot also includes: A side cleaning mechanism, which includes a rotatable cleaning brush cylinder; An adjustment mechanism, connected to the cleaning brush cylinder, is used to adjust the relative position between the cleaning brush cylinder and the inner wall of the shaft in order to perform cleaning operations on the inner wall of the shaft.
5. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 1, characterized in that, The pipeline transport and conversion mechanism includes at least one reel device capable of horizontally retracting and extending pipelines. The reel device is connected to the excavation base station and is used to retract and extend the working pipelines connecting the excavation robot. It also uses a guide structure to convert the pipelines from a horizontal retraction state to a vertical transport state along the shaft wall.
6. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 1, characterized in that, The hoisting interface is used to connect external hoisting equipment to realize the overall lifting and horizontal position adjustment of the excavation base station and the excavation robot in the shaft.
7. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 1, characterized in that, The excavation mechanism includes multiple sets of excavation drive units arranged along the bottom of the excavation base station, used to collaboratively cut and remove the soil directly below the excavation base station in a full or partial manner.
8. The underwater excavation device for irregularly shaped vertical shafts according to claim 1, characterized in that, The maximum working depth of the excavating mechanism is configured to not exceed the height of the excavating robot's excavation actuator.