Rotating Filter Waste Removal for Healthy Plankton Culture
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Solution Overview
Problem
Maintaining healthy plankton populations in aquaculture is challenging due to waste accumulation, which can lead to toxicity and oxygen depletion, especially at higher concentrations.
Innovation Solution
A method and apparatus for rotating filters to lift particles from the culture medium, using impact forces to remove waste, and a treatment system to convert toxins and add oxygen, while intermittently filtering and cleaning to prevent biofouling.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If rotifers are contained in a tank at higher concentrations for aquaculture, then food production efficiency is improved, but waste accumulation increases leading to toxicity and oxygen depletion
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts harmful waste particles from the culture medium using a filter that separates particulate waste from the water column. The filter removes uneaten food and other particulates that would otherwise accumulate and decompose into toxic dissolved wastes, thereby extracting the harmful component while maintaining high rotifer concentrations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces an intermediary filtration system between the rotifer culture and the environment. This filter acts as a mediator that captures particulate waste before it can decompose into toxic dissolved substances, preventing the harmful transformation while allowing continuous high-density culture.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If particulate waste is not removed from the culture medium, then dissolved waste accumulation increases, but implementing removal systems increases device complexity
Solution Approach 1:
The filter is designed to be self-cleaning through backflushing, where accumulated particulate waste is automatically removed by reversing the flow direction. This self-service mechanism eliminates the need for manual cleaning or complex disassembly systems, reducing operational complexity while maintaining effective waste removal.
Solution Approach 2:
The system employs periodic backflushing cycles to remove accumulated waste from the filter. Rather than continuous complex mechanical cleaning, the system uses periodic reversal of fluid flow to detach and remove particulate buildup, simplifying the overall system design while maintaining filtration efficiency.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Effectively maintains plankton populations by removing waste and toxins, preventing oxygen depletion, and ensuring a healthy environment for plankton growth.
Implementation Method 1
rotating a filter body to lift the particles from the culture medium with a filter of the filter body
Implementation Method 2
directing a removal fluid toward the filter body to move a second portion of the lifted particles off the filter and into the conduit with impact forces applied by the removal fluid
Implementation Method 3
converting the filtered flow into a processed flow by removing toxins from the filtered flow
Implementation Method 4
adding oxygen to the filtered flow
Data Source
AI summary
One aspect of this disclosure is a method for maintaining a plankton population in a culture medium by removing particles from the culture medium. The method may comprise rotating a filter body to lift the particles from the culture medium with a filter of the filter body, positioning the filter relative to a conduit so that a first portion of the lifted particles fall into the conduit, directing a removal fluid toward the filter body to move a second portion of the lifted particles off the filter and into the conduit with impact forces applied by the removal fluid, and/or outputting an effluent flow from the conduit. The effluent flow may comprise the first and second portions of the lifted particles and a portion of the removal fluid. Aspects of related apparatus, methods, and systems also are disclosed.