Modular Marine Bioproduction Facility for Automated Harvesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current marine bioproduction facilities for farming sessile organisms face challenges such as labor-intensive operations, limited control over the physical environment, cross-contamination risks, and inefficient biomass harvesting, particularly due to traditional infrastructure and methods that are not cost-effective or sustainable.
Innovation Solution
A marine bioproduction facility featuring vertically extending growth surfaces within production modules with standardized infrastructure, allowing for automated or robotic tending and harvesting, and configurable in clusters to form enclosed habitats or barrier structures, enabling controlled growth and efficient biomass collection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If traditional cable and buoy infrastructure is used for suspending growth surfaces, then the facility can be deployed in water, but the operations become labor-intensive and harvesting efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The facility is divided into modular production modules that can be independently operated, maintained, and harvested. Each module contains standardized growth surfaces suspended from vertical cables, allowing selective access and harvesting of individual modules without shutting down the entire facility, thereby reducing labor intensity and improving harvesting efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs dynamically adjustable cable tensions and movable production modules that can be raised, lowered, and repositioned mechanically. This dynamic capability enables automated harvesting equipment to access growth surfaces at different depths and facilitates efficient biomass collection without manual intervention throughout the water column
2Device complexity
If growth surfaces are suspended in open water, then the facility structure is simple, but environmental control and protection from cross-contamination become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
Production modules are nested within the overall facility structure, with each module acting as a contained environmental zone. The modules can be individually enclosed with protective coverings or placed within larger enclosure structures, allowing environmental control and contamination prevention within discrete units while maintaining the simplicity of the overall suspended facility architecture
Solution Approach 2:
Flexible enclosure films or protective coverings can be deployed around individual production modules or sections of the facility. These flexible barriers provide environmental control and cross-contamination protection while maintaining structural simplicity and allowing the enclosures to be deployed or removed as needed without complex rigid structures
3Ease of manufacture
If traditional farming methods are used, then infrastructure requirements are minimal, but labor intensity increases and cost-effectiveness decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The production modules are designed as universal, multi-functional units that can be deployed for different types of sessile organism farming. The standardized modules incorporate integrated fixtures for growth surface attachment, mechanical connection points for harvesting equipment, and optional enclosure capabilities, providing multiple functions within a single modular unit that maintains cost-effective infrastructure while reducing labor intensity through design efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates self-service features including automated cable tensioning mechanisms, self-aligning module connection systems, and standardized interfaces that enable easy assembly and maintenance. These self-service capabilities reduce the need for complex manual operations and specialized infrastructure while maintaining cost-effectiveness
Data Source
Figure 1a~1b
Figure 1c~1d
Figure 1e~1f
AI summary
A marine bioproduction facility for farming of sessile marine organisms in a body of water is disclosed. The facility comprises an array of at least two production modules in contiguous geometrical relationship to each other, where each of the at least two production modules is adapted to be arranged within a vertical column with a predefined horizontal cross section and extending downwards from the water surface, where at least one of the at least two production modules comprises at least one growth surface for sessile marine organisms, and an upper part comprising at least one opening adapted to allow access to the vertical column. Further, a method for growth and harvesting of marine sessile organisms using the marine bioproduction facility is presented.