Aquatic Trap Nested Stacking Tapered Frame Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current aquatic traps, such as crab, prawn, and shrimp traps, are labor-intensive and inefficient in terms of deployment and retrieval, as they require multiple trips to and from fishing grounds, and lack features for improved stacking and weight adjustment.
Innovation Solution
The design of improved aquatic traps featuring a trap frame with a larger ceiling area than floor area, connected by angled struts, allowing for nested stacking, self-erecting entrance frames, and a weight adjustment system, including a releasable ceiling mesh and tensioning elements for efficient deployment and storage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If traditional aquatic traps are used, then they can catch crustaceans effectively, but they require multiple trips to and from fishing grounds, increasing labor intensity and time consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements nested stacking capability where multiple aquatic traps are stacked inside one another when not in use. The tapered geometry of the traps allows them to be inserted into each other like Russian dolls, creating a compact storage configuration that reduces the number of trips needed to transport and deploy traps between fishing grounds and storage locations.
2Ease of operation
If traditional aquatic traps are used, then they can perform fishing operations, but they lack features for improved stacking, increasing device complexity and reducing ease of operation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs asymmetric tapered geometry where the ceiling opening area is larger than the floor area, creating a conical shape that naturally facilitates nested stacking. This asymmetric design allows traps to stack efficiently without requiring complex mechanical stacking mechanisms, reducing overall device complexity while improving ease of operation and storage.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates movable entrance frames that can transition between extended and retracted positions. When extended, the entrance frames provide adequate opening for crustacean entry; when retracted, they minimize the trap's external dimensions to facilitate nested stacking. This dynamic adjustment capability enables efficient stacking without permanently increasing device complexity.
3Adaptability or versatility
If traditional aquatic traps are used, then they can be deployed for fishing, but they lack weight adjustment features, reducing adaptability to different fishing conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements segmented weight adjustment through removable weights that can be independently attached or detached from the trap structure. This segmentation allows fishermen to adjust the total weight of the trap in discrete increments, enabling adaptation to different fishing conditions, bottom types, and water depths without requiring a completely different trap design.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal weight adjustment system that can be applied to various trap sizes and configurations. The standardized weight attachment mechanism allows the same principle to be used across different trap models, enabling a single design framework to serve multiple fishing conditions and purposes, thereby improving versatility without proportionally increasing complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
Aquatic traps disclosed herein can be used for trapping crustaceans such as crab, prawns and shrimp, as well as fish and including flat fish. The traps can include a trap frame surrounded by mesh. The trap frame can include a tapered side which allows nested stacking of traps. The mesh can include floor mesh, side mesh, entrance mesh, and ceiling mesh. The entrance mesh can extend inwardly from a portion of the tapered side, and attach to an entrance frame. A tensioning element may hold the entrance frame upright inside the trap, or otherwise, the entrance frame can be self-erecting. The ceiling mesh can be releasable to collapse the ceiling and the entrances, thereby facilitating nested stacking of the traps.