Performance tests of a manganese nodule crusher

Abstract

Performance tests of a manganese nodule crusher of a pilot mining robot, MineRo-II, are carried out to investigate nodule breaking ability of the crusher. Manganese nodules should be crushed into smaller pieces in order to assure the slurry flow of lifting system. In this study, artificial nodules are used instead of real nodules. Artificial nodules are made of cement, zeolite, sand and water to simulate the properties of real manganese nodules: specific density in water and 3-axial strength. The manganese nodule crusher consists of crushing drum, crushing guide, power transmission device. Five types of crushing drum are comparatively tested. The crushing tests are conducted to investigate the crushing performance and to measure consumed hydraulic power. Crushing performance was sufficiently matched with the mining performance, the pick-up rate of nodules. The hydraulic power was also within the capacity of the hydraulic power unit of the mining robot (MineRo-II). Based on the test results, the developed nodule crusher model was successfully used for the in-shore mining test of MineRo-II. Copyright ？ 2013 by The International Society of Offshore and Polar Engineers (ISOPE).