Ocean mining system and process

An ocean mining system of the kind which picks up manganese nodules from the ocean floor and lifts the nodules to a surface ship, said system comprising,

• ocean bottom subsystem means including a self propelled, maneuverable, miner vehicle for picking up nodules from the ocean floor,
• ocean surface subsystem means including a ship for receiving the nodule material picked up by the miner vehicle,
• lift means for lifting the nodule material from the bottom subsystem to the ship and including a relatively rigid pipe string extending downwardly from the ship and having a lower end positioned a relatively short distance above the ocean floor,
• said bottom subsystem means including flexible linkage means comprising power, data and control lines for the miner vehicle and extending between the miner vehicle and a connection to the lower end of the pipe string, said linkage means being flexible both laterally and longitudinally and being long enough to permit the vehicle to operate longitudinally and laterally beneath the end of the pipe string within an area having a substantial lateral extent and within a boundary envelope determined by the flexible linkage,
• said bottom subsystem including sensor means for sensing the location of the miner vehicle within the permitted area of operation and for viewing the topography of the ocean floor adjacent the vehicle,
• indicator means located in the ship and operatively associated with the sensor means for indicating the location of the miner vehicle within the permitted area of operation and for displaying the topography viewed by the sensor means,
• said miner vehicle including drive means and manuevering means for self-propelling and maneuvering the miner vehicle on the ocean floor, and
• control means located in the ship for actively controlling the speed and direction of movement of the miner vehicle in response to the information indicated by the indicator means and for coordinating the movement of the ship with the movement of the vehicle to cause the ship and pipe string to follow the motion of the miner vehicle and to move the area of permitted operation along with and in the direction of the movement of the miner vehicle as required to retain the miner vehicle in the boundary envelope.

An ocean bottom system for mining manganese nodules from the ocean floor and comprising,

• a self-propelled, maneuverable miner vehicle constructed for operation on the ocean floor and having pick-up means for picking up nodules from the ocean floor,
• buffer means constructed for suspension above the ocean floor by a connection to the pipe string extending downwardly from a surface ship and having a storage section for temporary storage of the nodule material mined by the vehicle, and
• flexible linkage means inter-connecting the buffer means and the vehicle,
• said flexible linkage means being flexible both longitudinally and laterally and being long enough to permit the miner vehicle to operate beneath the buffer means within an area having a substantial lateral extent and within a boundary envelope determined by the flexible linkage means, and
• said flexible linkage means comprising an electrical umbilical conduit effective to conduct all power transmission and all control functions to the vehicle and data transfer to and from the vehicle through the flexible linkage means and a nodule material hose for transferring nodule material from the vehicle to the buffer storage section through the flexible linkage means.

A buffer for an ocean mining system of the kind in which the manganese nodules are picked up from the ocean floor by a self-propelled, maneuverable, miner vehicle and are then transferred to a temporary storage in the buffer and are later lifted to a surface ship through a pipe string, said buffer comprising,

• a storage section for temporary storage of nodule material,
• connecting means for suspending the buffer above the ocean floor from the lower end of a pipe string extending downwardly from a surface ship,
• feeder means for feeding the nodule material from the storage section to a lift system which lifts the nodule material to a surface ship, and
• an equipment section comprising power units and electrical controls for powering and contolling the operation of the miner vehicle.

A flexible linkage for an ocean mining system of the kind in which manganese nodules are picked up from the ocean floor by a self-propelled, maneuverable, miner vehicle and are then transferred to temporary storage in a buffer and are later lifted to a surface ship through a pipe string, said flexible linkage being constructed to interconnect the vehicle and the buffer and comprising,

• power lines effective to conduct all power transmission to the vehicle through the flexible linkage,
• control lines effective to conduct all control functions to the vehicle through the flexible linkage,
• a nodule material hose for transferring nodule material from the vehicle to the buffer storage through the flexible linkage, and
• suspension means operatively associated with the power lines, control lines, and nodule material hose for maintaining the lines and the hose suspended above the miner vehicle during operation of the vehicle on the ocean floor.

A miner vehicle for an ocean mining system of a kind in which manganese nodules are picked up from the ocean floor and lifted to a surface ship, said vehicle comprising,

• a main frame,
• crusher means mounted on the main frame for crushing the pick-up nodules to produce a nodule slurry,
• a nodule pick-up and handling mechanism mounted on the main frame,
• said nodule pick-up and handling mechanism including a pick-up rake having laterally spaced apart tines for picking up the nodules,
• conveyor means for conveying the nodules from the pick-up rake to the crusher means,
• washing means for washing the nodules on the conveyor to remove soil picked up by the rake mechanism prior to crushing the nodules,
• stripper means for removing the nodules from the conveyor at the inlet to the crusher means, and
• propulsion means and maneuvering means for propelling and maneuvering the vehicle on the ocean floor.

A nodule pick-up and handling mechanism for mining manganese nodules from the ocean floor and comprising,

• rake means for picking up the nodules from the ocean floor,
• said rake means having laterally spaced tines inclined at an angle to position the lower ends of the tines forwardly of the upper ends of the tines in the direction of pick-up movement of the mechanism,
• positioning means for varying the depth of penetration of the tines in the soil in the ocean floor,
• conveyor means for conveying the picked-up nodules away from the rake means,
• nodule washing means for washing the nodules on the conveyor, said washing means including a plurality of nozzles located to direct pressurized jets of water against the nodules on the conveyor means to remove the soil picked up by the rake means, and
• wherein the conveyor means include an outer surface on which the nodules are supported and have outwardly projecting fingers effective to stabilize the nodules in position on the conveyor before and during washing so that relatively high washing pressures can be used in the nozzles to accomplish efficient removal of soil from the nodules without dislodging the nodules from the conveyor.

A method of mining manganese nodules from the ocean floor and comprising,

• picking up the nodules from the ocean floor by a rake mechanism having laterally spaced tines,
• conveying the pick-up nodules away from the rake mechanism by a moving conveyor,
• washing the nodules on the conveyor by pressurized jets of water to remove the soil picked up by the rake mechanism, and
• stabilizing the nodules in position on the conveyor before and during washing so that relatively high pressures can be used to accomplish efficient removal of soil without dislodging the nodules from the conveyor.