• Ocean and Polar Research
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• 제36권4호
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• pp.367-371
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• 2014

In early 1990s, the Korean government has launched a deep-sea research program to secure the stable long-term supply of strategic metallic minerals including Cr, Cu and Ni. Through the pioneering surveys, Korea registered $150,000km^2$ of Mn-nodule field in the Clarion-Clipperton area, the NE equatorial Pacific to the international sea-bed authority (ISA) in 1994. Following the ISA exploration code, the final exclusive exploration area of $75,000km^2$ was assigned in 2002, based on results of eight-year researches of chemico-physical properties of nodules, bottom profiles and sediment properties. Since that time, environmental studies, mining technical developments including robot miner and lifting system and establishment of smelting systems were accompanied with the detailed geophysical studies to decipher the priori mining area until 2009. Major points of the recent Korea Mn-nodule program are deployed on a commercial scale until 2015. In order to meet the goals, we developed a 1/5 scaled robot miner compared to commercial one in 2012 and performed a mining test at the water depth of 1,370 m in 2013. In addition, detailed 25,000 scaled mining maps in the priori area, which can provide operation roots of the miner, will be prepared and an environmental-friendly mining strategy will be pursued based on the environmental impact test and environmental monitoring.

• 한국산업융합학회 논문집
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• 제22권6호
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• pp.689-702
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• 2019

This paper deals with the verification of the functions about mining robot, which is the system for developing deep seabed resources by applying V&V(verification and validation). In order to overcome water pressure of 500 bar and to travel on soft ground, and to operate in deep sea environment with bad conditions, it is necessary to develop a robot that can satisfy various deepsea conditions. A mining robot has been developed based on simulation based design and Multidisciplinary design optimization. In order to verify the developed robot, lab test and real sea test should be performed for various marine environment conditions. There are too many requirements to consider, such as space, time, cost, personnel, and environment to do performance test. So it is costly and time consuming for developing robot. In order to solve this problems, V&V technique was applied to mining robot. The stages of mining robot design, fabrication and commission were verified.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제27권2호
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• pp.80-86
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• 2013

KIOST developed a deep-sea mining robot called "MineRo" to collect manganese nodules in 2007. MineRo operates on flat ground. SMS (seafloor massive sulfide) deposits are shaped like undulating mountains. This paper deals with a numerical analysis model of a mining robot for SMS deposits. The mining robot consists of a tracked vehicle, chassis structure with a turntable, boom arm with 2 articulations, excavation tool, discharging unit, hydro-electric system, and sensing-and-monitoring system. In order to compare and analyze the dynamic responses of the driving mechanism, various tracked vehicles are modeled using commercial software. Straight driving simulations are conducted under undulating ground conditions. A conceptual design of a mining robot with four track systems for SMS deposits is modeled on the basis of these results.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제29권2호
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• pp.128-134
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• 2015

Axial vibration analysis is very important for a deep-seabed mining system. In this study, an axial vibration analysis was carried out to estimate the natural frequencies and tensions of the umbilical cable using experimental data obtained from the first pre-pilot mining test. The axial vibrations of the umbilical cable with a pilot mining robot at the bottom end were analytically determined. The range of the added mass coefficients of the pilot mining robot is estimated by comparing the experimental and analytical data. The natural frequencies and maximum tensions are calculated using four estimated added mass coefficients.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.167-176
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• 2014

This paper proposes an optimum curve driving method for adeep-seabed mining robot(MineRo) in deep-sea soft ground. MineRo was designed as afour-row tracked vehicle. A study on the turning methods for the four-row tracked vehicle was conducted using three case by changing the velocity profile of each track. The configuration of the four-row tracked vehicle and soft ground equation are introduced, along with the dynamics analysis models of MineRo and soft ground, which were constructed using the commercial software DAFUL. Because the purpose of this study was to investigate a driving method on soft ground, the marine environment of the deep sea was not considered.

• 한국해양공학회지
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• 제28권2호
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• pp.152-159
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• 2014

KRISO(Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean Engineering) designed and manufactured a pilot mining robot called "MineRo" in 2012. MineRo is composed of four track modules. In general, much time and money are needed for deep-sea tests. Therefore, a numerical analysis to predict the dynamic behaviors has to be performed before a deep-sea test. In the numerical analysis, the information about the mining robot and soil properties are the most important factors to analyze the driving performance and dynamic response of MineRo. A terra-mechanics model of extremely cohesive soft soil is implemented in the form of the relationships between the normal pressure and sinkage, and between the shear stress and shear displacement. It is possible to acquire information about MineRo from the CAD model in the design phase. The Wong model is applied to the terra-mechanics model. This model is necessary to acquire many soil coefficients for a numerical analysis. However, in soil testing, the amount of soil property data obtained is limited. Moreover, it is difficult to analyze all of the cases for the many soil coefficients. In this paper, the dynamic behaviors of MineRo are analyzed according to the driving velocity, steering ratio, and variable extremely cohesive soft soil properties using a table of orthogonal arrays. The dynamic responses of MineRo are the turning radius, sinkage, and slip ratio. The relationships between the dynamic responses and variable soil properties are derived for MineRo.

• Ocean and Polar Research
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• 제37권1호
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• pp.73-80
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• 2015

In order to determine the appropriate volume of the a pressure compensator of deep seabed mining robots, this paper reports on an experimental test for oil volume change in an oil-filled box. At the design stage of underwater robots, it is crucial to determine the capacity of the hydraulic compensator which is replenished as much as the contracted oil volume of the robots. A pilot mining robot, MienRo was designed to work under 6,000 m in the deep sea. The hydraulic actuating oil and pressure compensating oil of MineRo may be exposed at a hydrostatic pressure environment of 600 bar. Although the oil can be assumed to be incompressible, its volume is actually changed under high pressure conditions due to air contained in the oil and oil contraction. To determine the capacity of the pressure compensator, the oil contraction rate should be verified through an experimental test using a hyperbaric chamber.

• 대한기계학회논문집A
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• 제36권12호
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• pp.1627-1633
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• 2012

심해저 장비에 사용되는 압력용기는 내장된 전자장비를 대기압 상태로 보호할 수 있도록 설계되어야 한다. 따라서 해수에 노출되지 않도록 수밀성과 심해의 높은 압력을 견딜 수 있는 구조적 안전성을 확보해야 한다. 본 연구의 압력용기는 원통형이며, 중앙부의 원통형 용기와 양 끝단의 평판형 덮개부로 이루어져있다. 일반적으로 압력용기 내부 전자장비와의 통신 및 전력전송을 위해 압력용기 덮개판에 다양한 수중 커넥터를 배치 한다. 그러나 한정된 덮개판 공간에 다수의 홀이 배치되면 응력집중을 유발하여 압력용기 덮개판의 구조적 안전성에 영향을 줄 수 있다. 본 논문에서는 구조적 안전성을 고려한 압력용기 덮개판의 홀 배치 최적화 기법에 대한 연구를 수행하였다.