JPS6248801B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a winch for winding up a signal transmission cable connecting an underwater survey device and the sea.

Copper wire cables have generally been used as signal transmission lines between underwater survey equipment for observing and investigating the topography, structures, etc. of the sea, especially the seabed, and onboard equipment at sea. However, this type of copper wire cable has a large amount of voltage drop depending on the transmission distance, and also has a large amount of noise.To eliminate this to some extent, the wire diameter of the copper wire cable must be increased. Since the weight of the cable itself increases and the diameter of the cable increases, it is subject to tensile force due to tidal currents, so strong cables reinforced with tensile strength materials such as steel wires have been used. Furthermore, in deep seas, especially in cables that span thousands of meters, the amount of signal attenuation is large, and together with the tensile strength members, the weight of the cable increases significantly. Therefore, it is possible to use optical fibers that are thin in diameter, lightweight, and have low attenuation, but a winch must be used to wind up cables that are several thousand meters long. However, in the past, the optical fibers in the cables wound around the drum were
The use of optical fibers has been delayed because it has not been possible to create a winch that can guide signals from electrical converters or extract optical signals from underwater survey equipment sent via optical fibers.

The present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned points, and includes an optical/electrical converter built into the drum of a winch, and an electrical connection between the optical/electrical converter and a slip ring provided on the rotating shaft of the drum. The present invention provides a winch for underwater survey equipment that enables the use of optical fibers with an extremely simple configuration in which it is connected to a .

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of a winch according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a signal transmission cable, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are a schematic perspective view and a sectional view of the winch. . In these figures,
The winch, which is generally designated by the reference numeral 1, is installed on the hull or structure of a ship at sea, and has a pair of left and right support plates 3A, 3B erected on a base 2, and a winch between these support plates 3A, 3B. A drum 6 fixed to a rotatably supported rotary shaft 4 and around which a signal transmission cable 5 is wound around the outer peripheral surface of the drum 6; a pair of flanges 7A fixed to both end surfaces of the drum 6, respectively;
7B, and a cable insertion hole 8 is bored near one end of the drum 6.

As shown in FIG.
A pair of signal transmission optical fibers 11 are arranged, the outer periphery of which is covered with a cotton braid 12, and the cotton braid 1
2 is covered with an outer covering 13 of nylon, polyethylene, etc.
One end thereof is inserted into the drum 6 through the cable insertion hole 8 and is firmly fixed to the drum 6. The coaxial line 10 is used for power supply and signal transmission. Inside the drum 6, there is an insertion end surface of the cable 5;
In particular, a photo-electrical converter 14 and an electro-optic converter 15 are fixedly arranged opposite to the end face of the optical fiber 11.

One end of the rotating shaft 4 is provided with a plurality of, for example, four, annular conductive parts 16a to 16d at appropriate intervals in the axial direction on its circumferential surface, and a brush 17a that is in constant contact with these annular conductive parts 16a to 16d. ~
By providing 17d, a slip ring 18 is constructed. The four annular conductive parts 16a to 1
Two conductive parts 16a and 16b among the conductive parts 16d are electrically connected to the photo-electrical converter 14 and the electro-optic converter 15, respectively, and the remaining conductive parts 16c and 1
6d are electrically connected to the coaxial lines 10 of the cable 5, respectively. On the other hand, the brush 17a
17d are connected to a signal transmitter, a signal processing circuit, a control device, etc. (not shown) via conductive wires 19, respectively.

On the other hand, the other end of the cable 5 let out by the winch 1 is connected to an underwater launching device 21 via a cable clamp 20.
It is connected to a relay box 22 located at The underwater launching device 21 is formed into a basket shape, stores the underwater survey device 23, and is suspended in the sea by the cable 5, thereby being used to transport the underwater survey device 23 to a desired depth. These are connected by a cable 24 similar to the cable 5 described above. After the underwater investigation device 23 is carried to the desired depth by the underwater launch device 21, it is connected to the cable 5,
24, the underwater launching device 21 launches, and the cable 2 is launched underwater.
By moving freely within the range of the payout length of 4, the underwater television camera 25 installed at the front of the underwater television camera 25 photographs the topography, structures, etc. of the seabed, and after photographing, the underwater launching device 21 It is designed to be stored on the hull of the ship at sea by winding up the winch 1. Therefore, in addition to the underwater television camera 25, the underwater investigation device 23 includes:
A total of four thrusters (propulsion devices) 26, an underwater microphone 27, a pair of floodlights 28A, 28B,
It is equipped with various equipment such as a direction meter and a depth meter (not shown). The optical image of the subject captured by the underwater television camera 25 is converted into an electrical signal (or optical signal) by the camera electronic circuit in the underwater investigation device 23, and then sent to the monitoring control on the ship via the cables 24 and 5. It is sent to a board (not shown) and observed on a monitor. The cable 24 is wound up by a cable winding drum 29 of the underwater launch device 21, and its base end is led to the relay box 22 and electrically connected to the cable 5.

Note that the cable 5 connects the underwater survey device 2.
Among the electrical signals sent to the optical fibers 3, the signals for the optical fiber are guided to the electro-optical converter 15 via the brush 17a and the conductive part 16a, where they are converted into optical signals, and then transmitted to one of the optical fibers 11. and sent to the relay box 22. Then, this optical signal is converted into an electrical signal by an optical-to-electrical converter in the relay box 22 and then sent to the underwater survey device 23 via a cable 24, or the optical signal is directly transferred to the cable 24.
The signal is then sent to the underwater investigation device 23, where it is converted into an electrical signal. On the other hand, among the signals from the underwater survey device 23, the optical fiber signal is converted into an optical signal by an electro-optical converter installed in the survey device 23 or in the relay box 22, and is sent to the cable 5. , after being converted into an electrical signal by the photo-electrical converter 14 in the drum 6, the annular conductive portion 16b of the slip ring 18 and the brush 17
It is led to the conducting wire 19 via b.

Thus, according to the winch 1 having such a configuration, since signals are transmitted using the optical fiber 11, the weight of the cable 5 itself can be reduced compared to a conventional copper wire cable, and the optical fiber 11 also reduces signal attenuation. Since the transmission distance is small, the transmission distance is long, making it ideal for deep sea surveys. Furthermore, since the photo-electrical converter 14 and the electro-optical converter 15 are built into the drum 6, their relative positions with respect to the cable 5 do not shift even if the drum 6 is rotated, and therefore the signal Sending and receiving is reliable.

In addition, although the above embodiment describes the case where it is applied to a self-navigating type underwater research device 23, the present invention is not limited to this in any way, and can be applied to a suspended diving ball, a deep-sea research vessel, a towed observation device, etc. Of course, this method can be applied to all investigation devices such as devices.

Further, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which the signal transmission cable 5 is also used as a suspension cable for the underwater launch device 21, but these cables may be used separately.

Furthermore, in the above embodiment, a case has been described in which signals can be sent from the onboard equipment and the underwater investigation device 23 via the optical fiber 11.
The present invention is not limited to this, and can also be used in cases where signals are sent from only one side.
It is sufficient to place either one of them.

As explained above, according to the winch for underwater survey equipment according to the present invention, an optical fiber is incorporated into the cable for signal transmission, one end of which is connected to the underwater survey equipment, and the other end is connected to the drum of the winch. An optical-to-electrical converter is provided inside the drum, and a slip ring is provided on the drum shaft to electrically connect it to the optical-to-electrical converter, making it possible to transmit signals through optical fibers and reducing the weight and cable diameter of the cable itself. Moreover, since optical fiber has broadband transmission characteristics and low attenuation and noise, its effects are much greater than that of conventional copper cables, such as enabling deep-sea surveys.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is an overall perspective view showing an embodiment of the winch for underwater survey equipment according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a sectional view of a signal transmission cable, and FIGS. 3 and 4 are schematic perspective views of the winch and FIG. 1... Winch, 4... Rotating shaft, 5... Cable, 6... Drum, 10... Coaxial line (copper cable), 11... Optical fiber, 14... Photo-electrical converter, 15... Electro-optical converter, 18...slip ring, 23...underwater survey device.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 Connect one end of an optical fiber cable for signal transmission between the underwater survey equipment and the sea, or a transmission cable incorporating an optical fiber and a copper wire cable, to the underwater survey equipment, fix the other end to the drum of the winch, and 1. A winch for underwater survey equipment, characterized in that an optical/electrical converter is provided within the drum, and the optical/electrical converter is electrically connected to a slip ring provided on the rotating shaft of the drum.