System Design and Analysis of a Novel Deep-sea Hovering Mining Mode

doi:10.3901/JME.2025.18.204

Abstract

Abstract: During deep-sea polymetallic nodule mining operations, conventional tracked mining vehicles can cause destructive indentation of the seafloor benthos and strong disturbance plumes to the sediment due to their weight and mining mode, leading to irreversible changes in the benthic ecosystems and serious damage to deep-sea habitats. To address the above problems, China Ship Scientific Research Center proposes a novel hovering mining mode based on remotely operated underwater vehicles, which minimizes the impact of the mining system on marine habitats by controlling the penetration depth of the mining equipment and reducing the operating power of the system. With hovering operation mode, the mining vehicle will not only be disturbed by sea currents, but also by drag and longitudinal pitch moment caused by sediment accumulated during the mining process. In addition, the time-varying mass of the nodules temporarily stored inside the vehicle during the mining process is another uncertainty that leads to instability. Based on the background above, the structural arrangement of each component of the new deep-sea hovering mining system is firstly introduced; then, the working principle of the deep-sea hovering mining system is systematically elaborated with the forces of the mining vehicle in the working process analyzed; next, the mining vehicle dynamics model with time-varying mass and center of gravity is established and the variation of vehicle mass parameters during the mining process of this new mining mode is analyzed in detail; Finally, the motion response of the mining vehicle under different working conditions and corresponding control inputs are analyzed by simulations to verify the feasibility of this new mining mode. The simulation results show that the mass of nodules in the collecting head decreases the roll motion response of the mining vehicle, however increases its instability in the yaw motion under external perturbations. Under preset extreme operating condition, the thrust of the mining vehicle is increased by up to 22.4%, which is still within the effective operating range and will not affect the system's stable operation. The analysis results are instructive for applying hovering mining mode in engineering.

Key words: deep-sea mining, hovering mining mode, underwater vehicle, dynamic modelling, time-varying mass

CLC Number:

TD857
TD424

XIAO Jialuan, SUN Yanjie, CAO Yang, DU Xinguang, CAO Junjun, YAO Baoheng, LIAN Lian. System Design and Analysis of a Novel Deep-sea Hovering Mining Mode[J]. Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2025, 61(18): 204-213.

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