Vertical Shaft Fish Bypass Using Buoyant Transport
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional fish passes and lifts are costly, energy-intensive, and often not feasible due to structural complexity and environmental concerns, particularly when dealing with large hydroelectric power plant sites and monument protection issues, requiring numerous basins or lifting the full weight of water-filled containers.
Innovation Solution
A fish pass arrangement with a vertically oriented shaft using a water-permeable transport container that moves by buoyancy, allowing fish to remain in their natural environment, with controlled water level changes and lure flows to gently guide them between water levels, reducing energy consumption and structural complexity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional fish passes with multiple pools are used to overcome water level differences, then fish can migrate between upstream and downstream areas, but the construction cost and structural complexity increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from horizontal pool sequences to a vertical shaft structure. Fish are transported vertically through a shaft with variable water levels rather than horizontally through multiple pools, fundamentally changing the spatial dimension of fish passage and reducing structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The shaft incorporates dynamic water level control mechanisms that allow the water level to be adjusted between upstream and downstream levels. This dynamic adjustment enables fish transport without requiring fixed multiple pools, reducing structural complexity while maintaining migration capability.
2Length of moving object
If fish lifts with water-filled troughs are used to transport fish vertically, then significant elevation drops can be overcome, but energy consumption increases due to lifting the full weight of water and fish
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs buoyancy as a counteracting force to gravitational weight. The transport container is designed to be buoyant, allowing it to rise with the water level in the shaft without requiring mechanical lifting of the full water weight, significantly reducing energy consumption while maintaining elevation overcome capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses hydraulic principles by utilizing water level changes in the shaft to provide buoyant force. The container moves with the water level rather than being mechanically lifted through the water, leveraging hydraulic buoyancy to reduce the energy required for vertical transport.
3Length of moving object
If fish are removed from water in closed containers for transport, then they can be moved between water levels, but they are exposed to air which is harmful to them
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses the water in the shaft as an intermediary medium. The transport container remains filled with water and is submerged in the shaft's water column during transport, allowing fish to remain in their natural aquatic environment throughout the vertical transport process without exposure to air.
Solution Approach 2:
The container and surrounding environment are made homogeneous by ensuring the container is filled with water matching the shaft water. This eliminates the harmful air-water interface that would expose fish to air, maintaining a uniform aquatic environment throughout the transport process.
4Quantity of substance
If large transport containers are used to accommodate fish, then more fish can be transported simultaneously, but the energy required to lift them increases
Solution Approach 1:
The buoyant container design provides counterweight support that scales with container size. As container volume and fish capacity increase, the buoyant force increases proportionally, maintaining energy efficiency regardless of transport capacity. The energy required does not increase linearly with container size because buoyancy offsets the additional weight.
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
This solution is energy-efficient, gentle on fish, and allows for larger transport containers, enabling fish to swim naturally between water levels without lifting the full weight of water, thus reducing construction costs and environmental impact.
Implementation Method 1
a container for aquatic animals, in particular for fish, which can be moved by buoyancy in the water from the downstream to the upstream level and from the upstream to the downstream level
Data Source
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AI summary
An arrangement on flowing bodies of water in the region of a transverse structure and/or waterworks, in the form of a fish bypass (13), for transporting aquatic animals, in particular fish, between tail water (4) and head water (5), has a substantially vertical shaft (17). The water level in the shaft (17) is variable between the tail water level and the head water level. A basket-like transport container (15) for aquatic animals which can be moved in the shaft (17) and along the shaft (17) is, on account of air-filled floats (16) provided thereon, moved from the tail water (4) to the head water (5) and from the head water (5) to the tail water (4) by the water which rises/lowers in the shaft (17).