JPH0433330B2 - - Google Patents

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention (Related Industrial Field) The present invention relates to a variable plow width device for a submarine cable burying machine.

(Conventional technology) In submarine cables, the buried cable diameter is approximately 10 cm.
However, since the diameter of the repeater is approximately 30cm, the width of the plow for burying equipment was controlled and determined by the diameter of the repeater. However, only one repeater is connected to the cable every 4km. As most of the burying work involves burying the cable itself, a plow width (excavation width) of 10 cm should be sufficient for burying the cable, but since it is necessary to bury the repeater as well. , the width of the plow has been assumed to be 30 cm. Therefore, even when burying the cable, the excavation width was always 30 cm, which created an unnecessarily large excavation resistance, and it was necessary to equip the mother ship with a large-capacity winch. In addition, since the towing force becomes large, mutual operation between the mother ship and the buried machine becomes difficult, and cables and repeaters must be uniformly distributed.
Difficulties arose regarding secure burial.

(Problems and Objectives to be Solved by the Invention) In a plow-type submarine cable burying machine, the towing force of the burying machine of the mother ship is reduced by reducing the digging resistance of the plow that excavates the cable burying trench. The purpose of this project is to reduce the capacity of onboard equipment such as the winch for towing the burial machine installed on the mother ship, facilitate mutual operation between the mother ship and the burial machine, and ensure stable cable burial work.

(Solving Means by the Invention) A main plow 4 is attached to the body of the burying machine so that it can be raised and lowered by an elevating arm 8 that is pin-coupled to the body of the burying machine, and has a necessary minimum width for burying cables, and a main plow 4 on both sides of the upper part of the main plow 4. Auxiliary plows 19, 1 are mounted so as to be able to be raised and lowered by an auxiliary plow lifting cylinder 21, and are designed to have a minimum width required for burying the repeater when combined with the width of the main plow 4.
9 constitutes a plow, and only when burying a repeater 20, the auxiliary plow 19 is lowered to cooperate with the main plow 4 to excavate.

(Example) An example will be described below with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 shows an underwater cable burying machine in which the present invention is implemented, and FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1. The body 1 of the burying machine is towed by a towing rope 3 from a cable-laying ship (not shown) on the sea, and slides on the seabed surface 2. Reference numeral 4 denotes a main plow, which has a cable guide section 6 at its rear via a hinge 5. The main plow 4 is attached by a pin 9 to a main plow lifting arm 8 whose one end is pivotally connected to the machine body 1 by a pin 7. Hydraulic cylinders 10, 10 are attached to the left and right sides of the lifting arm 8 with pins 11, and the other end of the hydraulic cylinder 10 is attached to the body 1 with a pin 12, and when the hydraulic cylinder 10 expands and contracts, The lifting arm 8 is configured to move up and down in the vertical direction.

Another hydraulic cylinder 1 is attached to the lifting arm 8.
3 is attached with a pin 14, and the hydraulic cylinder 1
The other end of 3 is connected to the head of the main plow 4 with a pin 15.

A buried cable 16 supplied from a laying ship is guided by a cable guide 17, passes through the upper part of the main plow 4, and is laid at the bottom of the excavation trench via a cable passage 18.

Now, 19 is an auxiliary plow with a width of about 10 cm, which is pivotally connected to the cable guide part 6 on both sides of the main plow 4 by means of pins 22, and is also attached to the top of the guide part 6. The auxiliary plow can be raised and lowered by a cylinder 21 for raising and lowering it. The width between the auxiliary plows 19, 19 on both sides is the minimum width necessary for burying the repeater 20. Buried cable 1
When burying the cable, use only the main plow 4 (approximately 10 cm wide) to dig a trench for burying the cable, and do not use the auxiliary plow 19.
The buried cable 16 passing through the cable guide 17 and the cable passage 18 will fit into this approximately 10 cm wide excavated groove and be buried. Only when burying the few repeaters 20, both the main plow 4 and the auxiliary plow 19 are used simultaneously to dig a trench about 30 cm wide, and the repeaters 20 are buried in this.

(Function) The buried machine body 1 is towed by a mother ship (not shown) via a towing wire rope 3 and buries the buried cable 16 and repeater 20 that are fed out from the mother ship in the seabed. When burying the buried cable 16, the main plow 4 maintains the posture shown in the figure and
Dig a cm-wide trench into the seabed and bury it. At this time, the auxiliary plow 19 is raised by the auxiliary plow raising/lowering hydraulic cylinder 21 around the auxiliary plow pivot pin 22 to the position shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. In other words, when burying the buried cable 16, the main plow 4 alone is used to bury the buried cable 16 by approximately 10 cm.
Dig a wide trench and bury the cable.

On the other hand, when the repeater 20 passes through the cable guide 17 and the cable passage 18 and is buried in the seabed, the main plow 4 maintains the position shown in the figure, and at the same time the auxiliary plow 1
9 is also lowered by the hydraulic cylinder 21 for raising and lowering the auxiliary plow to the same excavation depth as the main plow 4, excavates a groove with a width of about cm, including the excavation width of the main plow 4, as shown in FIG.
0 is placed in this groove and buried.

After completing the burying of the repeater 20, the auxiliary plow 1 is used again.
9 is lifted above the seabed by the auxiliary plow elevating hydraulic cylinder 21, and an excavation trench about 10 cm wide is dug using only the main plow 4, in which the buried cable 16 is buried.

As described above, when burying only the cable 16, only the main plow 4 is used, and when burying cables near the repeater 20 that connects the cables, the auxiliary plow 19 is lowered and the main plow 4 and the auxiliary plow 19 are used to dig the trench. excavate. In this way, different plows are used depending on the diameter of the buried object.

(Effect) The main plow is installed so that it can be raised and lowered by an elevating arm and has the necessary minimum width for burying the cable, and the auxiliary plow is installed on both sides of the upper part of the main plow so that it can be raised and lowered by means of auxiliary lifting cylinders. Therefore, the plow is constructed so that the auxiliary plow is lowered only when burying the repeater to cooperate with the main plow, so that the digging resistance of the plow during cable burying work, which occupies most of the burying work, is reduced. It is possible to reduce the towing power of the buried machine on the mother ship, and it is possible to reduce the capacity of onboard equipment such as the towing winch on the mother ship.

Additionally, with the reduction in the towing power of the burying machine, mutual operation between the mother ship and the burying machine has become easier, making the cable burying work more stable and reliable, and at the same time making it possible to increase work efficiency.

Furthermore, compared to conventional coaxial cables, the number of repeaters has been drastically reduced to 1/10 (1 repeater per 40 km), and today and in the future, where optical cables are frequently used, the above effects of the present invention will be even greater. You can expect something.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a submarine cable burying machine embodying the present invention. Figure 2 is also a plan view. The third is in Figure 1 -
Cross-sectional view. In the diagram; 1... fuselage, 2... seabed surface, 3...
...Tow rope, 4...Main plow, 5...Hinge, 6
... Cable guide section, 7 ... Pin, 8 ... Main plow lifting arm, 9 ... Pin, 10 ... Hydraulic cylinder,
11... Pin, 12... Pin, 13... Hydraulic cylinder, 14..., 15... Pin, 16... Cable, 17... Cable guide, 18... Cable passage, 19... Auxiliary plow, 20... ...Repeater, 2
1...Hydraulic cylinder, 22...Auxiliary plow pivot pin.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A main plow 4 which is attached to the body of the burying machine so that it can be raised and lowered by a lifting arm pin-coupled to the body and has the necessary minimum width for burying cables, and cylinders 21 for raising and lowering auxiliary plows on both sides of the upper part of the main plow 4. Therefore, the auxiliary plows 19, 1 are mounted so as to be able to be raised and lowered, and the width of the auxiliary plows 19, 1 is set to be the minimum width required for burying the repeater when combined with the width of the main plow 4.
9 constitutes a plow, and the auxiliary plow 19 is lowered to cooperate with the main plow 4 only when burying the repeater 20.