Two-belt continuous line bucket system: Its concept design and fundamental bucket motion experiments

In order to stabilize the trajectory of buckets traveling on the sea floor for mining mineral resources, this study proposes a novel method to mine these mineral resources with traveling buckets whose trajectories are straight and predictable with the use of two axially moving belts. A concept design of the two-belt continuous line bucket (TBCLB) system is first introduced and then an experiment is then conducted using a model to examine the motion of the buckets near the floor. The results obtained demonstrate that with the TBCLB system the trajectory of the buckets can be stabilized as expected, and that special attention should be paid to the stagnation of the bucket traveling that occurs depending on the attitude angle of the buckets at touchdown instants.