Suspension Principle of Deep-Sea Miner and Drag Tests Available to Purchase

Suspension principle of deep-sea miner is proposed to make sure that the miner can walk on the soft sediments of seafloor effectively. The supporting mechanism and the driving mechanism are separated to avoid sinking. The supporting mechanism is a streamlined baseboard with large and smooth supporting area. The driving tracks serve as the driving mechanism to supply enough driving power. The height between driving track and the frame can be adjusted according to the operating condition to decrease the walking friction and to increase driving efficiency. Drag tests were carried out and the results indicate that the slipping friction is influenced by water film under the bottom of the baseboard, the shape of baseboard and the miner velocity. The water film works as lubrication to decrease the friction. The slim baseboard can also reduce the friction and the optimum length-width ratio of the baseboard should be obtained.