JPH027B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention, whose inventor is Mr. Arnaud Müller-Fuga, relates to an enclosure for the cultivation of marine animals, particularly fish, for use in the open ocean.

The invention likewise relates to a marine aquaculture installation having at least one such enclosure.

In view of the need to increase the sources of human food, especially protein, the production of animals, especially molluscs, crustaceans and fish, as well as plants, especially seaweeds, should be regulated and made economically possible. Many attempts have been made in recent years to develop marine aquaculture, ie the exploitation of aquatic resources, in order to develop it profitably.

Marine aquaculture was first established at the interface between water and land, ie along the seawater and the coast.

Later, with the advent of floating cages and hanging aquaculture, it became possible to extend this geographically limited area into bays that were severely sheltered from the wind.

However, the use of the techniques known to date requires very demanding conditions such as shelter from the elements, space occupancy, topographical contours and water quality. This significantly limits the possible development locations.

The scarcity of practical space is further compounded by the often incompatible nature of life at sea and most of the coastal activities, such as industry, towns, land or sea transport.

The present invention relates to an aquaculture enclosure and at least one such enclosure which can be installed anywhere in the sea and is therefore not bound by the various limitations known to date that limit the possible installation locations. It is precisely proposed to provide an aquaculture device having the following features.

The present invention also aims to reduce reliance as much as possible on human assistance from the shore and furthermore provide the aquaculture enclosures with this function, i.e. in particular the storage of feed for the fish, an energy source which allows the fish to be fully self-sustaining. It is proposed to create a farming device that brings together all the functions associated with this, and in particular the facilities for the workers, which provide a living area that allows fish to be cultured in comfortable conditions.

The present invention is a waterproof inflatable membrane made of plastic material, and a completely submersible enclosure consisting of a soft membrane that is neutral to the surrounding seawater, in which the surrounding seawater An inflow hole for allowing high-pressure seawater to flow into the interior from the holding mechanism compared to the holding mechanism, and an outflow hole for letting the seawater in the enclosure flow out into the surrounding seawater, and the enclosure is provided with a Object of the invention is a new industrial product consisting of an enclosure for the cultivation of marine animals, in particular fish, for use in the open sea, characterized in that it has a connecting device for connecting.

In this way, each enclosure consisting of an inflatable membrane forms an aquaculture unit and delimits a volume of sea water in which one or more inlet holes and one or more inlet holes for high pressure sea water are formed. A forced circulation is ensured through several outflow holes, which ensures the renewal of the seawater according to the needs of the farmed animals, as well as the expansion and maintenance of the shape of the enclosure.

In a special embodiment, the enclosure according to the invention has a lenticular shape, produced by the connection of two parts of a plane-cut sphere of concave oval or ellipsoidal shape, Advantageously, this enclosure is provided with a support frame, for example consisting of a toroidal strut inflated with seawater under high pressure, made of a plastic material which is also soft, waterproof and neutral to the surrounding seawater. , one of these toroidal struts being provided, for example, in the equatorial plane of the enclosure, and one or several other toroidal struts serving to connect the enclosure to a holding mechanism submerged in seawater. , the entire toroidal strut is in communication with a device that inflates it with seawater under high pressure.

Particularly in this embodiment, the membrane, i.e. one or several inlet holes for high-pressure seawater inside the volume of the enclosure, is advantageous if the periphery of the enclosure can be equipped, in particular with a deflection device, so that the seawater at the connection level between the submerged retaining mechanism and the enclosure, and one or more outflow holes are provided near the central axis of the enclosure.

In an advantageous embodiment, the outflow of seawater near the central axis of the enclosure is carried out by several holes or grooves made in the surface of a long hyperboloid of revolution forming a grid and crossing axially in its center. The surface of the hyperboloid of revolution that forms this lattice communicates with the surrounding seawater at its short parts. This elongated body, referred to below under the name of a grating, can have a cylindrical, tubular or, in particular, a hyperboloid of revolution surface shape.

The device for adjusting the surface of the outflow holes or grooves of the grid is
In this case, it is advantageous to have a hydraulically actuated shutter that can be operated remotely from the holding mechanism. This adjustment device in the face of the outflow hole makes it possible to keep the pressure at which the enclosure is inflated almost constant, even with changes in the flow rate of the seawater circulation during use. In order to avoid deformations of the enclosure under the influence of pressure caused by the movement of surrounding seawater, it would be advantageous if the inflation pressure could be similarly adjusted in response to changes in the seawater conditions. It is certainly possible to achieve a sufficiently low outflow of seawater to prevent the passage of animals during the various stages of development of aquaculture.

According to the invention, a support frame consisting of annular struts can be provided inside or outside the inflatable membrane delimiting the culture volume;
Since it is understood that the entire structure consists of an inflatable membrane, the supporting annular struts and the central grid must have approximately zero buoyancy.
That is, the soft plastic material used must have a density approximately equal to that of seawater;
Particularly those made of metal must have a buoyancy compensator.

The invention also relates, as a new industrial product, to an apparatus for the cultivation of marine animals, especially fish, which can be used in the open ocean. This device can be stacked in tiers along the submerged part of at least one enclosure or retaining mechanism, such as a floating buoy pole, for example of the so-called "Froude pole" type, as described above. The buoy pole has several enclosures, in particular in its lower part, each enclosure with the pressure necessary to inflate this enclosure, for example by drawing seawater from the surroundings into the lower part of the buoy pole. It has a pumping device in the form of a low-pressure pump with a propeller that allows seawater to flow into it. If necessary, tensioning and pressurization of the annular support of the support frame integrated into this enclosure can be ensured by a separate pump device.

The buoy pole shall be provided with a mooring device having a single mooring line that can be coupled to the seabed by one end and equipped at the other end with a device that can slide along a guide rail provided along the buoy pole. It is advantageous if

The pole of the buoy, which has several enclosures tiered over the entire length of its submerged part, provides extremely high stability in a wide variety of wave conditions, especially in rolling, pitching, and wave conditions. Remarkably and surprisingly, it has been demonstrated that it has remarkable stability against the effects of

This stability, especially against pitching, creates stresses at the level of the connection between the enclosure and the pole, with the highest stress in particular due to the large relative vertical movement of the enclosure with respect to the pole. This relative vertical movement, and therefore this stress, can be reduced by placing stabilizers at the level of the poles corresponding to each enclosure, which inhibit their horizontal rotation and vertical up-and-down movement. It can be weakened.

Besides certain conventional equipment such as weights, ballast, mooring winches, etc., the buoy pole has one or several storage tanks in its vertical body for the food of the farmed animals, and It would be convenient to provide housing for the workers above the exposed area.

Other advantages and features of the invention will become apparent from the following description, in which embodiments of enclosures and aquaculture devices according to the invention are given by way of illustration and not by way of limitation.

Referring first to FIGS. 1-4, this shows an aquaculture apparatus according to the present invention.

In the illustrated embodiment, the aquaculture device according to the invention has a floating buoy pole 1 of the "pole of fluid" type, which has a generally tubular vertical body 2 partially above the water. , has an entirely above-water upper part 3 which is larger in diameter.

The upper part 3 is provided with a residence for a worker, a device for controlling the cultivation status, a device for indicating the degree of growth, and a device for supplying the energy necessary for the operation to the cultivation device. In order to be energy self-sufficient, these devices may be solar energy, water pump energy, wave energy and/or tidal current energy capturers.

Along the vertical body 2 the buoy pole 1 has several aquaculture pens 4, which will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 5 to 8.

Each enclosure 4 has a vertical tube 5, each corresponding to the enclosure, located in the pole 1 of the buoy and communicating with the surrounding seawater at the lower part 6, as shown with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
It can be arranged by contacting. A pumping device, schematically indicated at 7 in FIGS. 3 and 4, for example in the form of a low-pressure pump with a propeller, is arranged at the bottom of each tube 5. As indicated by the arrow in FIG. 3, this pumping device 7 pumps the buoy with the desired pressure up to the corresponding enclosure by actuation of a valve 8 located in the pipe 5 at the level of the corresponding enclosure. The seawater collected at the level of the lower part 6 of the pole 1 can be pushed up into the corresponding pipe 5.

Figure 4 schematically shows how the evacuation of animals, especially the fish cultured therein, from the enclosure takes place.

The buoy pole is weighted until the sorting pond 9 in the upper part 3 is placed in seawater. This sorting basin 9 has a drainage pump, schematically indicated at 11, which pumps out the seawater contained in the enclosure via the pipe 5 and the sorting basin 9 after closing the valve 8. When the culture volume decreases, the animals attempt to escape through the tubes 5 and ascend into the sorting pond 9. Fish can be collected or their sizes can be measured in the sorting pond 9.

Valve 8 from the surface to introduce the animal into the enclosure
pushing the fish back into the tube 5 corresponding to the enclosure to the level of
The fish are kept in place by the circulating flow generated by the operation of the pump device 7 at the bottom of the buoy pole 1.

The transport of the bait towards the enclosure is likewise carried out using the pump device 7.
by means of a circulating flow device produced by the actuation of a continuous feed ration in the circulating flow introduced from the surface by the movement of seawater leading between the valve 8 and the connecting area of the enclosure to the pole. be done.

As shown in FIG. 2, the buoy poles 1 are connected by mooring lines 12, which are connected to slides 13 which are movable along the buoy poles 1 in guide rails 14.

Along the submerged portion 2 of the vertical body of the buoy pole 1 there is provided a horizontally and vertically pivotable stabilizer 15 which can assume various positions, as also shown in FIG.

Reference is made in more detail to FIGS. 5-8. This shows one embodiment of an enclosure according to the invention.

The enclosure 4 according to the invention consists of an inflatable membrane 16 in the form of a lens, which inflatable membrane is soft, waterproof, neutral to the influence of the surrounding seawater and has a density approximately equal to that of the seawater. It can be made from any material of equal density.

In the illustrated embodiment, it is furthermore likewise soft, waterproof and neutral to the influence of surrounding seawater;
A support frame 17 is provided which consists of several annular struts made of any material having a density approximately equal to that of seawater. As shown, one of the annular struts near its equatorial plane forming a rim,
It surrounds an inflatable membrane 16.

As shown schematically in FIG.
is connected to the buoy's pole 1 so that it can be inflated with seawater under high pressure, which is necessary to ensure rigidity.

Similarly, the interior of the inflatable membrane 16 is
Because it receives seawater at a higher pressure than the surrounding seawater,
I am in contact with buoy Paul 1. This seawater is directed tangentially to the periphery of the inflatable membrane by a deflection device 19. The volume of seawater contained in the inflatable membrane and confining the fish to the culture space is subjected to an impulse that rotates it, while renewal of the seawater takes place.

The membrane 16 that can expand near the central axis is
A grating 21 passes through this, and grating 20 will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 9-11.

Furthermore, the chamber fixed to the buoy pole is closed off with a plate 21, with an inflatable joint shape.
A device is provided for fixing each enclosure 4 on the pole 1 of the buoy, and on the plate 21 the end of the inflatable membrane of the toroidal strut is fixed, and this is shown in FIG.
The buoy is placed in its chamber by sliding along a guide rail along the pole of the buoy, indicated at 1. The inflatable joints are designed to ensure a perfect connection between the buoy pole 1 and each enclosure 4 and, in particular, to establish a watertight connection between the pressure passage of the buoy pole and the corresponding passage of the enclosure. Board 2 to be
Collaborate with 1. The passageway allows for the opening of the grid 20, the annular struts, and the circulating seawater inlet device by remote hydraulic control.

Although the support frame is shown in FIGS. 5 to 8 in the form of annular struts within the inflatable enclosure 16, it is understood that the present invention is not limited to this embodiment and that other support supports may be used. It is of course possible to make the material external to the inflatable membrane.

An embodiment of a central grid 20 for an enclosure according to the invention is shown in FIGS. 9-11.

As shown in FIG.
side plates 22 and a central region 23 in the shape of a hyperboloid of revolution.
has. The side plate 22 contains a mechanical device which makes it possible to adjust the drainage surface of the grate 20, an embodiment of which is shown in detail in FIG. Contains an incompressible, low-density material such as oil used in

As shown in FIG. 11, the communication between the interior 25 of the grid 20 and its exterior, i.e. the seawater contained in the inflatable membrane 16, is carried out through several grooves 26, each with a shutter 27 in the interior hole. ensured by

As shown in FIG. 12, a mechanism may be provided which allows the surface of the hole inside the groove 26 to be adjusted by actuating the shutter 27.

This mechanism can, for example, consist of a sluice box having a circular device 28 similar to that used in Francis turbines and actuated by a hydraulic jack 29, which is connected to a connecting rod 30.
Water is supplied from the operating tube 32 to change the inclination of the shutter 27 via the shutter 27.

Although the invention has been described in terms of preferred embodiments,
It is quite obvious that the present invention is not limited thereto and that numerous modifications can be made thereto without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is an overall view of an embodiment according to the present invention, and FIG.
3 and 4 show the aquaculture apparatus of FIG. 1 in use with some or all aquaculture enclosures omitted for greater clarity; FIG. 5 shows an aquaculture enclosure according to the present invention; FIG. The top view of Fig. 6 is the − of Fig. 5.
7 is a perspective view of the enclosure of FIGS. 5 and 6; FIG. 8 is a support ring of the enclosure showing the support torus and the deflection device in the event of the arrival of high-pressure seawater; FIG. 9 is a side view of the central grid that can be used in the enclosures of FIGS. 5 to 8; FIG. 10 is a top view of the grid according to FIG. 9; FIG.
1 is a sectional view taken along the line XI--XI in FIG. 9, and FIG. 12 is a partially exploded view of a mechanism that allows adjustment of the surface of the drain hole of the grid shown in FIGS. 9 to 11. In the diagram, 1 is the buoy pole, 4 is the aquaculture enclosure, and 5 is the buoy pole.
is a vertical pipe, 7 is a pump device, 9 is a sorting pond, 11 is a drainage pump, 12 is a mooring line, 20 is a grid, 2
9 each indicates a hydraulic jack.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A completely submersible enclosure consisting of a waterproof inflatable membrane made of plastic material and a soft membrane neutral to the surrounding sea water, in which the surrounding an inflow hole for injecting seawater at a higher pressure than the seawater into the interior from the holding mechanism;
A marine animal, particularly a fish, characterized in that the enclosure is provided with an outflow hole for draining seawater in the enclosure into surrounding seawater, and has a connecting device for connecting the enclosure to a holding mechanism submerged in seawater. Aquaculture enclosures for use in the open ocean. 2. The enclosure according to claim 1, which is connected by a support frame and has a lens-like shape. 3. The support frame consists of an annular strut made of a plastic material that is soft and waterproof and neutral to the surrounding seawater, the annular strut being placed in the equatorial plane of the enclosure;
It constitutes a connection device between the holding mechanism submerged in seawater and the enclosure together with other struts, and the entire annular strut can communicate with the enclosure, which is inflatable with seawater under high pressure. An enclosure as claimed in claim 2. 4. Claim 2, characterized in that the lens-like structure is obtained by connecting two hemispheres obtained by cutting an oval or elliptical sphere with a plane. An enclosure as described in any of paragraph 3. 5 An inlet hole is made at the periphery of the enclosure for introducing seawater at a higher pressure than the surrounding seawater into the volume of the enclosure, and an outflow hole is made for draining the water inside the enclosure into the surrounding seawater. The enclosure according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the enclosure is constructed near the central axis of the enclosure. 6 The inlet of seawater, which has a higher pressure than the surrounding seawater,
A patent characterized in that the inflatable enclosure is provided with a deflection device for directing incoming water in a tangential direction at the periphery of the inflatable enclosure, which is made at a level that connects the enclosure with a submerged retention mechanism. An enclosure according to claim 5. 7 The outflow of seawater near the central axis of the enclosure takes place through a plurality of holes or grooves made in a long revolving surface forming a lattice; Claim 5, characterized in that it is adapted to communicate with surrounding seawater.
An enclosure according to any of paragraphs 1 and 6. 8. Enclosure according to claim 7, characterized in that the elongated lattice has the shape of a cylinder or a hyperboloid of revolution. 9. Claims characterized in that the device for adjusting the surface of the outflow hole for discharging the seawater in the enclosure into the surrounding seawater is a shutter that can be actuated in particular by hydraulic power and can be remotely controlled from a holding mechanism. The enclosure according to any of the above items. 10. An enclosure according to any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that the support frame is provided outside the inflatable membrane. 11. An enclosure according to any one of claims 2 to 9, characterized in that the support frame is provided inside the inflatable membrane. 12 A waterproof, inflatable membrane made of plastic material and entirely submersible in the surrounding seawater, into which seawater at a higher pressure than the surrounding seawater can flow into the interior through a retention mechanism. A connection device of the enclosure is provided with an inlet hole and an outlet hole for allowing the seawater in the enclosure to flow out into surrounding seawater, and the connection device of the enclosure is connected to a portion having a valve in a vertical pipe in a pole of a submerged holding mechanism buoy. A cultivation device for use in the open ocean for marine animals, especially fish, characterized in that 13. Retaining mechanisms, in particular several enclosures layered in stages along the submerged part of the floating buoy pole with an opening in the lower part of the downpipe communicating with the surrounding seawater and a pumping device for pushing up the seawater. The aquaculture device according to claim 12, characterized in that it has the following. 14. The mooring device is in the form of a mooring line, in particular provided with a device that allows it to be connected to the seabed by one of its ends and to slide along a guide rail provided along the pole of the buoy at the other end. The aquaculture device according to any one of claims 12 and 13, characterized in that it has the following. 15. According to any one of claims 12 to 14, the buoy is provided with several stabilizing plates that rotate in horizontal and vertical positions along the part of the buoy pole that is submerged in seawater. aquaculture equipment.