Vertical Transport from start to …

04_Vertical_transport_demonstrator_29 August 2016
Downscaling 6000 meters of riser length to ‘laboratory scale’ still leaves one with quite a large test setup. Such is the experience of the scientists and engineers from TU Bergakademie Freiberg and Royal IHC, who are building a vertical hydraulic transport test setup in Lichtloch VIII, a mineshaft near Freiberg.

  • 31 August 2017 Freiberg Demonstration tests

    Before entering deep sea mining operations many kilometers down on the seafloor, one needs to be sure about every detail. In Halsbrücke, near Freiberg, German and Dutch researchers are investigating the vertical hydraulic transport of sediments over a distance of more than 130 meters. The test program is one of the Blue Mining demonstration activities, with which the consortium aims at de-risking deep sea mining operations and looks for validation of the mathematical transport models used for design and engineering. Thursday August 31st the Blue Mining consortium was invited over to Halsbrücke to witness one of the experiments. Read more

  • August 2016: Preparations for the vertical transport demonstrator

    Development of the test setup is part of the Blue Mining project, an EU funded research and development project which aims at increasing the technology level for future deep sea mining. The test setup will consist of a 55 kW centrifugal pump, a separation plant and a fully instrumented flowloop of 291 meters in total. <Read more>

  • January 2016 The building of the electric motor

    One task of the project is to develop, build and use the test facilities for testing of the relevant Vertical Transport System. The most critical sub system is the booster station. Looking at the booster station the electric motor is the component with the lowest Technology Readiness Level and the highest technical risk. To de-risk this component MTI and IHC have developed and built an electric motor suited for driving a centrifugal pump in an extreme compact execution for use in the deep sea and suitable for a booster station. The motor pump combination is designed to  be capable of transporting mined solids to the ocean surface. ..<read more>

  • November 2015: Wear and Tear tests

    Blue Mining focuses on developing breakthrough solutions for a Vertical Transport System. This implies developing the ability to ensure an adequate lifetime for the Vertical Transport System. Hereto the wear & tear of various potential liner materials is investigated. <Read more>

  • September 2015: Flexible riser basin tests at MARIN

    In September 2015 Marin has been busy with the preparation of the model basin tests with the flexible riser. Their approach and test limitations were discussed during a fruitful meeting with the Blue Mining partners in April. The model is nearly finished and is instrumented with 52 FBGs. Bending moments (Mx,My) at 13 locations will be derived from these sensors.

    The test campaign started October 5th 2015. Five days (double shifts) were been scheduled.  It is likely, that up to Wednesday we will be busy with the set-up and QA checks.