JP2022129660A - Aquarium apparatus and liquid circulation method - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide an aquarium apparatus capable of uniformizing flow of liquid to be housed.SOLUTION: An aquarium apparatus equipped with an aquarium, which has a raising region R1 capable of housing liquid, and a storage region R2 which is partitioned from the raising region R1 and is capable of storing liquid overflowing from the raising region R1, comprises: a pump 14 which recovers liquid from the storage region R2 and circulates it to the raising region R1 side; a chamber 24 which is connected to a discharge side of the pump 14 via a pipeline and has a cross-sectional area larger than a pipe diameter of the pipeline; and a supply pipe 26a which is connected between the chamber 24 and the raising region R1 and discharges liquid supplied from the chamber 24 side from a plurality of holes formed in the range of the raising region R1.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a water tank suitable for breeding and culturing animals and plants, and more particularly to a water tank apparatus capable of suppressing changes in water flow in a liquid.

In recent years, facilities and devices for cultivating plants such as algae for food or as so-called biomass resources have been extensively developed. As an example of such a device, patent literature discloses a closed photobioreactor that promotes photosynthesis of algae in the culture solution while stirring the culture solution in a tower-type water tank, thereby culturing the algae. It is

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2020-10

Gases containing carbon dioxide and a new culture solution are supplied to the water tank configured as described above to promote culture, so that a water flow is generated that circulates vertically in the water tank. , the flow is likely to be non-uniform, and for example, a stagnation region in which the flow is stagnant occurs in regions other than the main water flow. In addition, algae and other plants to be cultured tend to accumulate in the stagnant region, and there is a disadvantage that unintended bacteria and filamentous algae tend to grow. In addition, for example, in a tank for breeding tropical fish, it is common to filter breeding water pumped up from the tank with a filtration device installed at the top of the tank, and then discharge the water toward the liquid surface. Even with such a configuration, localized water flow occurs in the water tank, and other areas become stagnant areas, which adversely affects the breeding environment for animals and plants, such as adhesion of dirt to the inner wall of the water tank.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and provides a water tank apparatus and the like capable of equalizing the flow of liquid contained therein.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a configuration according to the present invention includes a water tank having a growth area capable of containing a liquid and a storage area partitioned from the growth area and capable of storing the liquid overflowing from the growth area. A device comprising: a pump that collects liquid from a storage area and circulates it to the growing area; and a chamber that is connected to the discharge side of the pump via a conduit and has a cross-sectional area larger than the diameter of the conduit. and a supply pipe connected between the chamber and the growth area for discharging the liquid supplied from the chamber side through a plurality of holes formed in the range of the growth area.
As another configuration, a perforated plate having an opening ratio substantially equal to the bottom area of the growth region is provided above the supply pipe in the growth region.
Further, as another embodiment, a liquid circulation method in a water tank having a growth area capable of containing a liquid and a storage area partitioned from the growth area and capable of storing liquid overflowing from the growth area, comprising: The liquid collected from the storage area by the driving of the pump is passed through a chamber having a larger cross-sectional area than the pipe diameter of the pipe on the discharge side of the pump, and the liquid in the chamber is transferred to a plurality of growth areas provided below the growth area. It was set as the form supplied in the said growth area|region through a hole.
It should be noted that the above outline of the invention does not list all the necessary features of the present invention, and subcombinations of these feature groups can also be inventions. Further, the present invention will be described in detail through embodiments of the invention below, but the following embodiments do not limit the invention according to the scope of claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are It also includes configurations or steps that are not necessarily essential to the solution of the invention and that are selectively adopted.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS It is a schematic perspective view which shows the whole structure of the water tank apparatus which concerns on this invention. 4 is a cross-sectional view showing an outline of a rectifying section; FIG.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a water tank device 1 according to the present invention. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the water tank device 1. As shown in FIG. As shown in each figure, the water tank apparatus 1 includes a water tank body 3 capable of containing liquids (culture fluid, breeding fluid) necessary for culturing and raising animals and plants, and a collection mechanism 10 for collecting the liquid from the water tank body 3. , and a straightening section 20 for supplying the liquid recovered by the recovery mechanism 10 into the water tank main body 3 again. The liquid circulates through the water tank body 3, the recovery mechanism 10, and the straightening section 20 by driving the pump 14 attached to the wall surface of the water tank body 3 via a jig (not shown).

[About the aquarium body]
The water tank main body 3 is made of, for example, glass, acrylic resin, stainless steel, or the like and has a box shape with an open top. The water tank main body 3 has a growth area R1 in which animals and plants to be cultivated and reared are accommodated together with liquid, and a storage area R2 in which liquid overflowing from the growth area R1 is temporarily stored. As shown in the figure, the growth region R1 extends between partition walls 5a; It is a vertically elongated region partitioned by the existing thin plate-like partition plate 7 . Moreover, the growth region R1 has a rectangular shape with a horizontally long cross section, and it is preferable to set the aspect ratio thereof to a certain extent.

Although the details will be described later, liquid is constantly supplied to the growth region R1 through a plurality of supply pipes 26a to 26c arranged below. The liquid exceeding the capacity of the growth region R1 overflows toward the storage region R2. Moreover, the upper end surface 7a of the partition plate 7 through which the liquid overflows is formed as a horizontal surface. By configuring the upper end surface 7a of the partition plate 7 as an outlet through which the liquid overflows in such a manner, the influence at the outlet of the growing region R1 is eliminated, so that the non-uniformity of the flow and the pressure fluctuation in the growing region R1 are eliminated. can be suppressed.

Liquid overflowing from the growth region R1 is temporarily stored in the storage region R2. The storage region R2 is a region defined by the side walls 3b; At the bottom of the storage region R2, a chamber 24, which is a horizontally long box-shaped body extending in the width direction of the water tank main body 3, is provided. A plurality of supply pipes 26a to 26c are provided from the front surface of the chamber 24 so as to pass through the partition plate 7 and reach the growing area R1.

[About the recovery mechanism]
The liquid stored in the storage area R2 is recovered and resupplied by the pumping pipe 12, the pump 14, and the discharge pipe 16 as the recovery mechanism 10. FIG. One end of the pumping pipe 12 is connected to the suction side of the pump 14, and the other end is set at a height at which the liquid stored in the storage region R2 can be sucked. When the liquid in the storage region R2 is recovered by driving the pump 14, the recovered liquid is discharged into the chamber 24 at a predetermined pressure through the discharge pipe 16 connected to the discharge side of the pump 14. . One end of the discharge pipe 16 is connected to the discharge side of the pump 14, and the other end is connected to the upper surface 24a of the chamber 24 disposed at the bottom of the storage region R2. It is fed into chamber 24 . Note that the connection position on the other end side is not limited to the upper surface 24 a of the chamber 24 .

[Regarding the rectification mechanism]
The straightening section 20 includes a chamber 24, a plurality of supply pipes 26a to 26c, and a straightening grid 28 arranged on the bottom side of the growing region R1. The chamber 24 is a horizontally elongated hollow box-shaped body that can accommodate liquid discharged from the pump 14 side through the discharge pipe 16 . As shown in the figure, the chamber 24 has a width corresponding to the width dimension of the storage region R2, and is larger than the cross-sectional area of the discharge pipe 16, so that the liquid passing through the discharge pipe 16 The flow velocity of is greatly reduced in the chamber 24, and variations in the flow velocity in the chamber 24 are made uniform.

The liquid that has been decelerated and homogenized in the chamber 24 is supplied to the growth area R1 through a plurality of supply pipes 26a-26c. The supply pipes 26a to 26c are arranged at equal intervals with respect to the width dimension of the growth region R1, one end is connected to the front surface of the chamber 24, and the other end is passed through the partition plate 7 for growth. The bottom of region R1 is reached. The arrangement of the plurality of supply pipes 26a to 26c is not limited to this, and for example, they may be arranged at equal intervals with respect to the height dimension of the growing region R1. Also, a single supply pipe or four or more supply pipes may be provided.

As particularly shown in FIG. 2, minute circular holes 27 are evenly drilled in the longitudinal direction and the circumferential direction in the range from the partition plate 7 to the growing region R1 in the extended length of the supply pipes 26a to 26c. is set. In this way, the liquid supplied through the supply pipes 26a to 26c flows out from the large number of circular holes 27 in the lower part of the growing region R1, so that the flow velocity is reduced throughout the lower part of the growing region R1, The homogenized liquid will be supplied toward the top of the growth area R1.

As shown in FIG. 2, a rectifying grid 28 that can be selectively installed is installed in parallel above the supply pipes 26a to 26c in the growth region R1 so as to correspond to the size of the bottom surface of the growth region R1. . The rectifying grid 28 is a rectangular so-called punching metal made of aluminum or stainless steel, and its opening ratio is as large as possible (for example, 90%) so as to be substantially equal to the bottom surface (cross-sectional area) of the growth region R1. above). By disposing the regulating grid 28 above (on the downstream side) of the supply pipes 26a to 26c, the mixed and homogenized liquid flowing out from the large number of circular holes 27 spreads over the entire growing region R1. Since the water is supplied to the upper part in a more uniform state, it is possible to suppress variations in the flow velocity in the growing region R1, and to further suppress the occurrence of stagnation regions due to the occurrence of local water flows. In the above example, punching metal is used as the rectifying grid 28, but it is not limited to this, and a member obtained by processing metal or resin into a grid or honeycomb shape can also be used.

When the water tank apparatus 1 is applied to the cultivation of algae or other plants, for example, a supply unit capable of supplying a gas such as carbon dioxide from the outside is connected on the path from the pumping pipe 12 to the discharge pipe 16. , the liquid mixed with gas may be sent into the chamber 24 . Further, when applying to rearing animals such as tropical fish, for example, a filtering mechanism and a supply unit capable of supplying gas such as oxygen may be connected to the path.
By applying the water tank apparatus 1 in this way, the occurrence of stagnant areas can be suppressed, so that it is possible to improve the breeding environment for animals and plants, such as the occurrence of unintended bacteria and filamentous algae, or the adhesion of dirt. Become.

Although the present invention has been described above using the embodiments, the technical scope of the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. It is obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications and improvements can be made to the above-described embodiments, and the technical scope of the present invention includes forms with such modifications and improvements. It is clear from the description of

1 water tank device, 3 water tank main body, 10 recovery mechanism, 14 pump 20 rectifying section,
24 chamber, 26a to 26c supply pipe, 28 rectifying grid

Claims (3)

A water tank apparatus comprising a water tank having a growth area capable of containing a liquid and a storage area partitioned from the growth area and capable of storing liquid overflowing from the growth area,
a pump that collects the liquid from the storage area and circulates it to the growing area;
a chamber connected to the discharge side of the pump via a conduit and having a cross-sectional area larger than the diameter of the conduit;
a supply pipe connected between the chamber and the growth area for discharging the liquid supplied from the chamber side through a plurality of holes formed in the growth area;
A water tank device comprising: 2. The aquarium apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a perforated plate having an opening ratio substantially equal to the bottom area of said growing area is provided above said supply pipe in said growing area. A liquid circulation method in a water tank having a growth area capable of containing a liquid and a storage area partitioned from the growth area and capable of storing liquid overflowing from the growth area,
causing the liquid collected from the storage area by driving the pump to pass through a chamber having a cross-sectional area larger than the pipe diameter of the pipe on the discharge side of the pump;
A liquid circulation method, wherein the liquid in the chamber is supplied into the growth area through a plurality of holes provided at the bottom of the growth area.

Images