JPH0246546Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] (Field of industrial application) The present invention relates to an underwater vehicle for seabed excavation that lands on the seabed and performs excavation work.

(Prior art) When an underwater vehicle such as a submersible or an unmanned underwater vehicle lands on the seabed and performs excavation work such as test drilling, the underwater vehicle is subjected to a reaction force corresponding to the work. However, since the weight and buoyancy are almost balanced during underwater navigation, small underwater vehicles can obtain sufficient negative buoyancy on the seabed. This is difficult, and there is no prior example of installing an undersea drilling device that generates a large reaction force on a small craft.

(Problems to be solved by the invention) On the other hand, the test drilling direction of a dove-shaped submarine test drilling device, which is dropped from a mother ship and placed on the seabed for test drilling, is vertical. The reason for this is that if the test excavation is conducted horizontally, the yagura will fall over. Therefore, this type of submarine test drilling device is not suitable for horizontal test drilling on the vertical plane of a submarine fault.

(Means for Solving the Problems) The present invention addresses the above-mentioned problems, and includes a guide rod disposed along the front and back direction within the frame constituting the underwater vehicle; A guide ring supported so as to be movable back and forth, a thruster attached to the guide ring, and a thruster rotatably attached to the thruster via a gear device, and a tip part supported so as to be retractable from the front part of the frame. It relates to an underwater vehicle for seabed excavation characterized by comprising a digging tool and a buoyancy member attached to the guide ring via an arm, and the purpose of the underwater vehicle is a small underwater vehicle. Excavation such as trial digging can be carried out.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved underwater vehicle for seabed excavation that can simplify the structure of the underwater vehicle.

(Example) Next, the underwater vehicle for seabed excavation of the present invention was
2 and 3, 1 is a mother ship, 2 is a crane on the mother ship 1, and FIG. This shows a state in which the medium-sized vehicle main body 4 receives a signal from the mother ship 1 and is traveling underwater. Further, FIG. 2 shows a state in which the underwater vehicle main body 4 is seated on the seabed 5 and is excavating a test excavation in the vertical direction of a fault. FIG. 3 shows the internal structure of the underwater vehicle main body 4, and 3 is a composite cable for transmitting and receiving signals and supplying power between the mother ship 1 and the underwater vehicle main body 4. In addition, the underwater vehicle body 4
has two sets of horizontal thrusters to navigate underwater, and an appropriate number of thrusters to enable vertical movement; however, for ease of explanation, the horizontal Only one set of thrusters is shown. In addition, buoyancy materials are provided at key points to balance the weight and buoyancy during underwater navigation, but in this embodiment, illustrations are omitted except for buoyancy materials 19, which will be described later. This thruster consists of an underwater electric motor 6 and a propeller 7.
It is composed of. In addition, a guide rod 1 is inserted into a hole in a guide ring 9 at the tip of an arm 8 provided on the underwater electric motor 6.
0 is inserted, and the guide rod 10 is fixed to a frame 11 constituting the underwater vehicle. The other end of the shaft (not shown) of the underwater electric motor 6 is
It is connected to a test tube 13 via a gear system 12 . Moreover, 14 is a test tube 13 receiver. When using the underwater electric motor 6 propeller 7 as a thruster, the fixing metal fitting 15 is raised and a guide ring 9 is placed between the stopper 15 and the stopper 16.
Insert and secure. 17 is a cylindrical duct divided into two parts, which is used to increase the propulsion efficiency of the thruster.

18 is an upper arm fixed to the guide ring 9;
19 is a buoyancy material fixed to the same arm 18.

Further, 18 is an upper arm fixed to the guide ring 9, and 19 is a buoyant member fixed to the arm 18.

(Function) Next, the function of the underwater vehicle for seabed excavation will be explained. The underwater vehicle body 4 is seated on the seabed 5 by injecting water into a ballast tank (not shown) installed inside the vehicle body 4 to give negative buoyancy, or by driving a vertical thruster (not shown). After that, the procedure for trial excavating the vertical surface 5a is as follows. First, fixing metal fittings 15
By tilting in the direction of the arrow by appropriate means,
Release the fixation of the guide ring 9. Next, the submersible electric motor 6 is rotated, and the rotation is transmitted to the exploration tube 13 via the gear device 12 to rotate it. At this time, the propeller 7 also rotates, so the rotational force and the thrust generated by the rotation of the propeller 7 are transmitted to the test tube 13, causing the test tube 13 to move forward, and as the test tube 13 moves forward, the guide rod The underwater electric motor 6 and the propeller 7 supported by the guide ring 9 and the underwater motor 10 also move forward to reach the state shown in FIG. When the test drilling is completed, the propeller 7 is reversed to generate thrust in the opposite direction, and the test drilling tube 1
3 is pulled out and moved backward until the guide ring 9 comes into contact with the stopper 16. When this state is reached, the fixture 15 is raised to allow the underwater electric motor 6 and propeller 7 to function as a normal horizontal thruster. Once the test drilling is completed, the vertical thruster (not shown) on which the underwater vehicle body 4 is mounted is driven, or fixed ballast (not shown) is dropped to obtain buoyancy and lift off the bottom. After that, the thrusters are driven vertically and horizontally to float the underwater vehicle main body 4 to the sea surface. In the above operations, it is extremely important to balance the weight and buoyancy of the entire underwater vehicle and the weight and buoyancy inside the underwater vehicle. Underwater electric motor 6 propeller 7 gear system 1
2 has a large negative buoyancy, and if they move as in this example, the weight balance inside the underwater vehicle will be disrupted, for example, the front part will become heavier and sink into the seabed, and the rear part will become lighter. Problems such as lifting may occur. In order to improve this problem, a buoyancy material 19 is connected to an arm 18 that is connected to the upper guide ring 9a and moves together with it, and the buoyancy material 19 absorbs the negative buoyancy of the underwater electric motor 6 propeller 7 gear device 12. Reduce or eliminate.

During the trial excavation, propeller 7 and trial excavation tube 14 were
The reaction force of the rotational torque may be canceled out by rotating the rotational torque in the opposite direction. In addition, two sets of horizontal thrusters are usually provided, but each of the two sets of thrusters is provided with a test tube 13 and a propeller 7, and the torsion angle of each propeller 7 is set in the opposite direction, so that they are rotated to the left and right during test drilling. Alternatively, the reaction force of the rotational torque may be offset by rotating in the direction. In addition, a propeller 7 is attached to one side of the rotor shaft of the underwater electric motor 6.
Although the gear device 12 and the test tube 13 are provided on the other side, the propeller 7 may be provided on the test tube 13 side.

(Effect of the invention) As mentioned above, the underwater vehicle for seabed excavation of the present invention can move forward and backward using the guide rod arranged along the front and back direction within the frame that constitutes the underwater vehicle. a supported guide ring, a thruster attached to the guide ring, and an excavator rotatably attached to the thruster via a gear device and having a distal end supported so as to be retractable from the front part of the frame; The guide ring is equipped with a buoyancy member attached via an arm, and when the excavating tool is used to excavate, the thrust becomes the thrust of the propeller of the cluster, and the reaction force of the propeller thrust is not transmitted to the excavating tool. ,
The sitting condition becomes stable. Additionally, as the excavation progresses, clusters with large negative buoyancy (prime mover and propeller) and gear devices move, but the buoyant materials also move with them, so the gravity and buoyancy distribution inside the underwater vehicle hardly change. From this point of view as well, the seating condition becomes stable. Therefore, even a small underwater vehicle can perform excavation such as trial digging. Furthermore, the cluster consisting of the prime mover and the propeller functions effectively to guide the underwater vehicle from the mother ship to the desired seabed. Also, if you release the cluster from the guide rod after it hits the bottom, the cluster will rotate and propel the digging tool, eliminating the need for a prime mover just for digging.
This has the effect of simplifying the structure.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Figure 1 is an explanatory diagram showing the state in which the underwater vehicle for seabed excavation according to the present invention is traveling underwater, and Figure 2 is an explanatory diagram showing the state in which it is seated on the seabed and test-drilling the vertical surface of the seabed. 3 are side views showing an example of the internal structure of the underwater vehicle. 4... Underwater vehicle body, 6, 7... Thruster,
9... Guide ring, 10... Guide rod, 11... Frame, 12... Gear device, 13... Excavation tool, 1
8... Arm, 19... Buoyancy material.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] A guide rod arranged along the front-rear direction within a frame that constitutes an underwater vehicle, a guide ring supported by the guide rod so as to be able to move forward and backward, a thruster attached to the guide ring, and the thruster. An excavator is rotatably attached to the guide ring via a gear device, and the tip thereof is supported so as to be retractable from the front of the frame, and a buoyancy member is attached to the guide ring via an arm. An underwater vehicle for seabed excavation featuring: