JP2542512Y2 - Laser irradiation device in the method of preventing organisms from adhering in water pipes - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention]

[0001]

This invention is applicable to equipment, piping and water pipes (collectively referred to as "water pipes") of nuclear power plants, thermal power plants or various factories utilizing a large amount of fresh water or seawater. Ecologically adherent organisms such as aquatic animals such as mussels, oysters and oysters, aquatic animals such as barnacles, algae, and aquatic microorganisms (collectively referred to as "aquatic organisms") adhere to the inner surface of water tubes The present invention relates to a laser irradiation device used for a method for preventing aquatic organisms from growing and reproducing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Laser irradiation is used in surgery in the field of clinical medicine due to its characteristic of irradiating a living body or a living body with light energy to one point of an object. There is no example of use for preventing the attachment of organisms.

Further, in a power plant or a factory using a large amount of freshwater or seawater, the above-mentioned aquatic organisms adhere to an intake pipe and other water pipes, breed, and narrow the flow passage area. For example, in nuclear power plants or thermal power plants that use large amounts of seawater as cooling water, aquatic organisms attach to equipment, pipes, and cooling water pipes, which grow and reproduce, reducing the amount of water withdrawal and heat. It causes various obstacles such as reduced efficiency and damage to exchangers and pumps. Therefore, it is necessary to prevent the adhesion, growth and reproduction of various aquatic organisms having the above-mentioned adhesive properties.

Conventional methods for preventing aquatic organisms from adhering include a chemical treatment method, a physical treatment method, and a mechanical treatment method. These are summarized below.

First, as a chemical treatment method, there are a chlorine injection method, a chemical liquid injection method, a hydrogen peroxide injection method, an antifouling coating, an electrolytic method, a copper ion method and the like. However, a problem common to these methods is the toxicity of the chemical substance used or the generated chemical substance, and environmental pollution due to this toxicity is regarded as a problem.

Next, as a physical treatment method, there are a hot water treatment method, a fresh water treatment method, a hot air drying treatment method, an electric shock method, an ultrasonic method, an external radiation method, and the like. However, when performing the hot water treatment method, fresh water treatment method and hot air drying treatment method, the cooling water system must be temporarily stopped, but temporarily stopping the cooling water system is a major problem in power plants and the like. . In addition, the electric shock method requires an electric field intensity of about 800 V / cm over the entire area of the water pipe, and the power consumption by continuous processing is large. Ultrasonic methods can damage the water tube walls. The ultraviolet irradiation method causes direct killing damage to aquatic living larvae, but larvae that do not die completely may be damaged by ultraviolet light, after which the growing organisms will have genetic variability. And may cause environmental problems.

[0007] Mechanical treatment methods include a method for preventing larvae from entering using a microstrainer, a method for removing attached larvae using a ball or a brush, a method for removing attached shellfishes using an underwater robot, and a manual operation using a tool or the like. There are work methods. However, these methods require an increase in the size of the device,
The need for complicated maintenance, the inadequacy as a treatment method in narrow pipes, a great deal of labor and time are problems, and the disposal of aquatic biological waste such as shellfish and seaweed generated after removal is also a problem. I have.

As described above, there are various problems with the conventional technology, and there is a strong demand for the development of a new technology.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a laser irradiation apparatus for preventing the adhesion of aqueous organisms, which can overcome all the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

[0010]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been devised to achieve the above-mentioned object. By arranging a specific member on the inner surface of a laser irradiation water pipe, the spiral flow of introduced water into the irradiation water pipe is improved. The present invention has been completed based on the finding that laser absorption to a target organism can be enhanced, and killing and damaging of the target organism can be performed efficiently.

That is, the laser irradiation apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus used in a method for irradiating a laser to the floating larvae of living organisms attached to a water pipe to prevent the adhesion of living organisms. Is provided with a spiral swirl flow forming vane.

More specifically, the present invention provides a method for directing a single or multiple laser beam in the equipment, pipes and water pipes of nuclear power plants, thermal power plants or various factories utilizing large amounts of water or seawater. A device used to irradiate parallel or perpendicular to the direction of the water flow to kill or weaken the floating life larvae of adherent organisms in water and their adults, and the inner surface of a laser irradiation water pipe Is a laser irradiation device in which a vane for forming a spiral flow is installed.

The types of lasers that can be used include an argon ion laser, a copper vapor laser, a YAG laser, a semiconductor laser, and a nitrogen laser. These lasers are used singly or in combination. The main factors that cause the laser irradiation to cause a killing effect on aquatic organisms include a laser wavelength, light energy per unit area of irradiation, and the like. Argon ion lasers and copper vapor lasers are particularly suitable because they have a very low water absorption due to the characteristics of each wavelength and therefore have good water permeability and can directly kill and damage aquatic organisms. is there. Available laser wavelength is 350
Approximately 1000 nm, and particularly effective killing results are expected to be 400-700 nm. This range (400
A wavelength of about 700 nm) has low absorption in water, has high water permeability efficiency, and can directly irradiate larvae in water, and therefore has good absorption of laser energy into a living body. In addition, although a laser having a wavelength in the ultraviolet or ultraviolet region has not been confirmed, it may act on a gene to induce mutation, and it is considered that there is an environmental problem. On the other hand, in the method of irradiating aquatic organism-containing water with light energy using a laser having the above-mentioned wavelength, there is no such a risk as expected by ultraviolet irradiation.

The laser irradiation apparatus according to the present invention is an apparatus used in the above-described method for preventing organisms from adhering to a living body by laser irradiation, wherein a vane for forming a spiral flow is installed on the inner surface of a laser irradiation water pipe.

The installation position and shape of the vane are not particularly limited as long as the spiral water is formed in the introduced water in the irradiation water pipe and does not hinder the progress of the laser beam.

[0016]

[Effects] The mechanism of killing aquatic organisms and reducing their vitality by laser beams will be described. Parallel to the water flow direction or perpendicular to the water flow direction (for example, screen shape)
When a laser is irradiated to the larvae, the laser directly hits the larvae of aquatic organisms floating or inhabiting in the water.
As a result, the laser energy is absorbed by the living body, and the living body's epidermis, dermis, tissues and organs inside the living body and each organ are carbonized and coagulated, and necrosis or damage of the living body occurs. And the ability to adhere to the inner surface of the water pipe is destroyed.

In the present invention, since the vane is provided on the inner surface of the laser irradiation water pipe, the introduced water is stirred by the vane in the irradiation water pipe to form a spiral swirling flow. As a result, the residence time of the water passing through the irradiation water pipe in the pipe becomes longer, the irradiation time of the living organism in the water receiving the laser beam becomes longer, and the probability of the laser irradiation due to the stirring effect of the target organism in the irradiation pipe becomes longer. Will be higher. Therefore, the absorbability of the laser to the target organism is enhanced, and the target organism is efficiently killed and damaged.

[0018]

An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

First, the aquatic organisms used in this example will be described. As test organisms for experiments, larvae of adherent aquatic organisms were not used, and Artemia (Artemia sali
na) Larvae were used. Artemia larvae closely resemble, in terms of morphology and behavior, the floating life larvae of barnacles, mussels and other shellfish, which are the main inhabiting organisms. Artemia larvae are organisms that can be artificially propagated and can be stably supplied for experiments. Therefore, there is no problem about the non-reproducibility of data, which is generally regarded as a problem in biological experiments and is caused by the instability of the condition of the test organism, and the reliability of the data is high.

Next, the structure of the experimental apparatus used in this embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings. The test organisms are stored in the seawater tank (1) together with the filtered seawater. This seawater containing aquatic organisms is injected from the seawater tank (1) into the inlet pipe (2) of the seawater by the injection pipe (6). Seawater is introduced into one end of the irradiation water pipe (3) by the introduction pipe (2), and is discharged from the other end of the irradiation water pipe (3) through the discharge pipe (4). The amount of seawater introduced into the irradiation water pipe (3) was kept constant during the experiment (500 ml /
), Seawater flows in the same pipe at a constant flow rate in the same direction (10 minutes).
cm / sec), and accordingly, the aquatic organism (B) also flows in the water flow direction. A laser beam entrance window (5) is provided on one end wall of the irradiation water pipe (3). A laser generator (7) is installed outside one end of the irradiation water pipe (3), and a laser beam (9) is sent from the laser head (8) to the laser beam entrance window.
After passing through (5), the light enters the irradiation water pipe (3), and the aquatic organism-containing seawater in the pipe is irradiated in parallel with the water flow direction.

As shown in FIG. 2, three vanes (10) are provided at equal intervals in the circumferential direction on the inner surface near one end of the irradiation pipe (3) made of steel (SUS304).

In the experimental apparatus having the above configuration, an argon ion laser was used alone as a laser, and Artemia larvae were used as test organisms as described above. The test organism irradiated with laser in the irradiation water pipe (3)
It was discharged together with seawater and collected in a container for observation.
The collected test organism was observed under a microscope, and the survival rate was examined.

For comparison, the same operation as described above was performed using a laser irradiation apparatus provided with an irradiation water pipe having no vane.

Table 1 summarizes the observation results.

[0025]

[Table 1]

As can be seen from Table 1, when the laser irradiation apparatus of the example is used, the survival rate of living organisms is remarkably lower than when the laser irradiation apparatus of the comparative example is used.

[0027]

[Effects of the Invention] By irradiating a laser to water containing aquatic organisms flowing through a water pipe using the laser irradiation device according to the invention, floating life of aquatic animals such as shellfish, aquatic plants such as algae, and aquatic microorganisms. It is possible to reliably prevent the larvae or adult larvae and the larvae or adults after adhesion from adhering, growing and breeding on equipment, piping and cooling water pipes.

Further, in the present invention, since the vane is provided on the inner surface of the laser irradiation water pipe, the introduced water is stirred by the vane in the irradiation water pipe to form a spiral swirling flow. As a result, the residence time of the water passing through the irradiation water pipe in the pipe becomes longer, the irradiation time of the living organism in the water receiving the laser beam becomes longer, and the probability of the laser irradiation due to the stirring effect of the target organism in the irradiation pipe becomes longer. Will be higher. Therefore, according to the present invention, it is possible to enhance the absorbability of the laser to the target organism, and to efficiently kill and damage the target organism.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an experimental apparatus used in an example.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 (1)… Seawater tank (2)… Introduction pipe (3)… Irradiation water pipe (4)… Drain pipe (5)… Laser beam entrance window (6)… Injection pipe (7)… Laser generator (8)… Laser Head (9)… Laser beam (10)… Bain (B)… Aquatic organism (test organism)

 ──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuing on the front page (72) Inventor Shigenori Onizuka 5-3-28 Nishikujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka-shi Inside Tachibashi Shipbuilding Co., Ltd. (72) Kingo Hayashi 5-28, Nishikujo, Konohana-ku, Osaka-shi (Japanese) JP-A-51-96142 (JP, A) JP-A-3-8912 (JP, A) JP-A-2-261999 (JP, A) JP-A-2-96 209696 (JP, A) JP-A-63-162090 (JP, A)

Claims (1)

(57) [Scope of request for utility model registration] 1. An apparatus used in a method for irradiating a laser to a floating living larva of attached organisms in a water pipe to prevent the attachment of organisms, wherein a vane for forming a spiral flow is provided on the inner surface of the laser irradiation water pipe. A laser irradiation device in a method for preventing organisms from adhering in a water pipe, which is provided.