KR101240626B1 - Automatic feeding apparatus and system for offshore submersible marine aquaculture - Google Patents

Abstract

An automatic feeder and its system for offshore cage farming are presented. Automatic feeding device of the offshore underwater cage farms associated with the present invention, the housing is formed to be suspended in the state confined by the mooring rope, the housing is provided with a hopper to accommodate the feed; A feed hose extending from the housing to the underwater cage; And an automatic feeding part configured to supply the feed in the hopper through the feeding hose according to a control signal, wherein the automatic feeding part comprises: a solar cell disposed on an upper portion of the housing; A feed screw formed to transfer the feed collected at the lower portion of the hopper to a predetermined height from the surface of the sea; A motor installed at an upper end of the transfer screw and configured to provide a rotational force to the transfer screw; A pump configured to pump sea water to a certain height from the sea surface; And a feed disposed in the housing at a position higher than the sea level, such that feed fed by the feed screw can flow by gravity into the underwater cage along the feed hose along with the sea water pumped up by the pump. A water flow mixer.

Description

AUTOMATIC FEEDING APPARATUS AND SYSTEM FOR OFFSHORE SUBMERSIBLE MARINE AQUACULTURE}

The present invention relates to a feeding device and a feeding system for automatically supplying food to an underwater cage formed so as to erode farming in an offshore sea away from the coast.

Coastal cage farming has long prevailed for ease of access and management. However, as the population grows and the farms are concentrated in the offshore, the farming environment is deteriorating due to excessive inflow of domestic and industrial wastewater and aquaculture feeds, which causes coastal ecosystem eutrophication and harmful red tide.

Recently, as an alternative to such offshore farming, aquaculture farming has emerged in a relatively clean area offshore. The offshore farming has attracted much attention as a new fisheries policy in that it is possible to farm even fish that are difficult to grow in high polluted waters.

Unlike offshore farming, which is naturally protected by land and terrain, offshore farming is directly exposed to the effects of relatively strong tidal currents, waves, especially wind, or wind, so cages overcome such harsh conditions. Maintaining a stable and stable form is key. One known offshore farming method is to ensure that the cages are placed at a certain operating depth during the farming and that the cages are only surfaced at certain times, such as harvesting or feeding tuna, or maintaining the cages. There is). Such an edging cage device is required to safely maintain the shape and posture of the cage under all conditions, such as injuring the cage to the surface, when the cage is floating, or when the cage is in the water.

The stable (regular) supply of feed to offshore cages located hundreds of meters or kilometers away from the coast is often subject to restrictions on entry and exit of farm management vessels due to frequent storm warnings (about 100 days in our country). It is very difficult considering the fact that it is under the influence of high waves even in normal times.

To this end, Korean Utility Model Application No. 20-2009-0000249 filed by the present applicant has a temporary storage tank for temporarily storing feed discharged from a rotary valve with an air ejector, and connected to the temporary storage tank to provide a first discharge valve. A mixer for mixing the feed supplied through the seawater drawn from the pump, a distributor for discharging and distributing the feed mixed with the seawater from the mixer, a plurality of shutoff valves connected to the distributor, and a shutoff valve Disclosed is a feeder comprising a feed hose each connected to feed the feeder.

Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2009-0109978 discloses an automatic feeding device for marine cages formed to automatically feed a plurality of cages at once.

Patent No. 10-0968527 is to install a marine culture cage around the marine facilities, and to include a feed storage tank and a feed device installed in the marine facilities to feed the fish farmed in the cages It is starting.

As such, the conventional feeder for aquaculture farms is a method of feeding the feed to a plurality of cages to a long distance with a high-pressure motor or pump. However, this method requires a large capacity generator, a pressure tank, or a large-scale facility to support them for the forced transport of food or mixtures of food up to a distance. However, there are many limitations in installing and maintaining large-scale facilities in the open sea, given the frequent weather alerts or warnings and seasonal typhoons are easily affected.

Moreover, when feeding several cages at once, the feed hoses connected to each cage are also increased, and some of them are relaxed by the movement of birds and waves, and some are tensioned. The problem of repeated fractures and severe fractures caused by fatigue has been reported continuously.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above, and an object thereof is to minimize the configuration of a power source of a device to be automatically fed to an underwater cage, or to reduce the frequency of repair or maintenance due to damage by minimizing the configuration of the device.

Another object of the present invention is to reduce the power required for the feeder and to cover it with petroleum alternative energy that can be supplied indefinitely to enable environmentally and self-sufficient operation.

In order to solve the above point, the automatic feeding device of the offshore underwater cage farm according to the present invention is formed to be suspended in a state bounded by the mooring rope in the underwater cage, and the hopper to accommodate feed therein The housing is provided; A feed hose extending from the housing to the underwater cage; And an automatic feeding part configured to supply the feed in the hopper through the feeding hose according to a control signal, wherein the automatic feeding part comprises: a solar cell disposed on an upper portion of the housing; A feed screw formed to transfer the feed collected at the lower portion of the hopper to a predetermined height from the surface of the sea; A motor installed at an upper end of the transfer screw and configured to provide a rotational force to the transfer screw; A pump configured to pump sea water to a certain height from the sea surface; And a feed disposed in the housing at a position higher than the sea level, such that feed fed by the feed screw can flow by gravity into the underwater cage along the feed hose along with the sea water pumped up by the pump. It may comprise a water mixer.

As an example related to the present disclosure, a battery may be further included in the housing to store the generated power of the solar cell, and the battery may be configured to supply power to the motor and the pump.

As an example related to the present invention, the transfer screw is installed in a form perpendicular to the center of the hopper, the motor may be disposed vertically coaxially with the transfer screw.

As an example related to the present invention, a motor installation unit having a width narrower than the width of the housing may be further provided at an upper end of the housing, and the solar cell may be installed on the motor installation unit.

As an example related to the present invention, the water flow mixer is formed in the shape of a tub connected to the feed hose at the lower end, in the water flow mixer, the discharge portion for discharging the feed conveyed to the upper end of the conveying screw; And seawater discharge portion for discharging the seawater supplied from the pump may be installed to be introduced into a predetermined length, respectively.

As an example related to the present invention, the feed hose may be excluded from the valve so that the mixed water flow of the feed and sea water having a potential energy higher than the sea level can flow without limitation.

As an example related to the present invention, an end portion of the seawater discharge portion is positioned lower than an end portion of the feed discharge portion, and an overflow portion is formed to overflow the seawater discharged from the seawater discharge portion to a position lower than the end of the feed discharge portion. Can be.

As an example related to the present invention, an opening and closing device is further included at an end of the feed discharge unit, and the opening and closing device includes: a valve formed so that one side is hinged to the end of the feed discharge unit and opened only in one direction; And a weight connected to the valve to allow the weight to act in the closing direction of the valve.

As an example related to the present invention, the water flow mixer may be connected to the vent hole to be in constant communication with the external atmosphere.

The present invention also discloses an automatic feeding system for aquaculture farms in which a plurality of underwater cages are arranged. Such a feeding system includes: a plurality of housings provided to be suspended in a confined state for each of the underwater cages, and having a hopper to accommodate feed therein; A feeding hose extending from the respective housings to the corresponding underwater cages; And a solar cell disposed on the housing. A feed screw formed to transfer the feed collected at the lower portion of the hopper to a predetermined height from the surface of the sea; A motor installed at an upper end of the transfer screw and configured to provide a rotational force to the transfer screw; A pump configured to pump sea water from the sea surface to a certain height; A water flow disposed in the housing at a position higher than the sea surface, and configured to allow the feed conveyed by the conveying screw to flow by gravity into the underwater cage along the feed hose along with the sea water pumped by the pump. Mixer; And it may include a control unit for controlling the pump and the transfer screw of each housing.

As an example related to the present invention, a wireless communication unit may be further configured to wirelessly communicate with a control station on land with respect to the control of the pump and the transfer screw.

As an example related to the present invention, an underwater camera may be further installed in each of the underwater cages and may monitor a discharge state of the feed fed into each of the underwater cages.

According to the automatic feeding device of the offshore underwater cage farm, which is configured as described above, the size of the device can be reduced by using the power generation by the solar cell while reducing the elements that need to be controlled, such as mechanical elements or valves necessary for the operation of the system. And the power consumption can be minimized. This structure is simple and lightweight, automatic feeder can be more precise control, and has the advantage of dramatically reducing the possibility of damage caused by rough waves of the open sea.

In addition, by using the solar cell as the power generation power supply is not only possible infinitely, but also environmentally friendly and self-sufficient operation.

1 is a block diagram showing the automatic feeder associated with the present invention installed in an offshore underwater cage farm
2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of an automatic feeding device according to the present invention.
3 is a plan view of an automatic feeding system related to the present invention.
Figure 4 is a block diagram of an automatic feeding system related to the present invention
Figure 5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the water flow mixer associated with the present invention

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, the automatic feeding device and the system of the offshore cage cage farm related to the present invention will be described in detail.

1 is a block diagram showing the automatic feeder according to the present invention installed in the offshore cage cage, Figure 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the automatic feeder according to the present invention, Figure 3 is an automatic feeding associated with the present invention This is a plan view of the system.

According to FIG. 1, the automatic feeding device 100 can float on the sea surface in a state in which the mooring rope 110 is confined to the underwater cage 20 located at a certain depth.

The underwater cage 20 is connected to the plurality of mooring ropes 12 so that it is possible to maintain the installed position while swimming in a certain space of the water according to the algae. The mooring rope 12 is connected to an anchor block 10, a mooring line 11 and a grid line 16 formed by a plotter.

The cage 20 is configured to be able to move between a submerged state located in the water and an injured state located in the water. In other words, it is settled in most of the time-consuming farming, so it is protected from typhoons, red tide, etc., and it is installed so that it can be put on the surface only when necessary for harvesting the fish, inflowing fry, or for maintenance. It is. As such an example, the cage 20 generally includes an upper rim 21, a lower rim 22, a mesh, a weight 25, and the like. The weight 25 is in the form of hanging in a plurality of places along the circumferential direction of the lower rim 22, the upper rim 21 is in the form of being restrained by a mesh rope in the vertical direction to the lower rim 22 It is. The net is supported by the upper rim 21 and the lower rim 22 to provide a space for farming fish and the like. By including a separate partition network inside the mesh can be configured to distinguish between the fry and the fish.

The upper rim 21 and the lower rim 22 are arranged horizontally to form the size and appearance of the cage, and in particular, so that the fish can easily turn along the edge of the habit, as shown in FIG. It may be formed in a shape close to.

As shown in FIG. 2, the automatic feeder 100 includes a housing 102 formed to float in a state in which the water cage 20 is restrained by the mooring rope 101. The inside of the housing 102 is provided with a hopper 103 to accommodate the feed, it is connected to the underwater cage 20 in the lower by the feed hose 110. The lower end of the feed hose 110 is connected to the connecting device 40 provided on the upper surface of the cage 20, the feed supplied to the feed hose 110 flows downward to the inside of the cage 20 Inflow.

The housing 102 includes an automatic feeding part configured to supply the feed in the hopper 103 through the feeding hose 110 according to a control signal. In particular, such automatic feeding part includes a configuration that can prevent the enlargement of the device and save the power consumption, as well as reduce the risk of damage caused by waves or the like on the operating surface.

Specifically, the automatic feeding unit includes a solar cell 120, a transfer screw 172, a motor 130, a pump 160, a water mixer 150, and the like.

The solar cell 120 is configured to have a predetermined area on the upper portion of the housing 102 so that the solar cell 120 is always exposed on the sea surface to receive sunlight. The generated power of the solar cell 120 is proportional to the area, but may be configured in a suitable width and shape in consideration of stability from waves or wind, and is configured to form a sufficient voltage by connecting unit cells having a specific area in series. can do. The solar cell 120 may use a thin film type in which a material such as glass is deposited on a surface using a low-cost substrate such as glass in addition to the form of using the entire crystalline silicon as a solar absorption substrate. Salt may be attached to the surface of the solar cell 120 so that periodic cleaning or equipments may be provided to prevent a decrease in the amount of solar inflow.

The feed screw 172 is formed to transfer the feed collected at the lower portion of the hopper 103 to a predetermined height from the sea surface. When the feed 50 is located below the sea level, since the potential energy required for the fall cannot be obtained, the transfer screw 172 is formed at a height at which the discharged feed can be transferred to a predetermined height from the sea level. As such an example, as shown in FIG. 2, the feed screw 172 tops the feed 50 by the rotation of the rotation shaft 173 in a vertical feed pipe 170 erected perpendicular to the center of the hopper 103. It is formed in the form of conveying in the direction. The motor 130 may be disposed vertically coaxially with the transfer screw 172. In addition, the reduction gear unit 131 may be additionally provided to reduce the rotation speed of the motor 130 and to control the accurate rotation speed. In order to provide an installation position and a space of the motor 130, a motor installation unit 104 having a width narrower than the width of the housing 102 may be formed at the upper end of the housing 102. In this case, the solar cell 120 may be positioned above the motor installation unit 104.

The battery 135 may be included to store the generated power of the solar cell 120. The battery 135 may be disposed in the upper space inside the housing 102 to prevent piercing, or may be disposed in the lower space of the hopper 103 to serve as a ballast weight. The battery 135 is connected to the motor 130 and the pump 160 to supply power for driving the motor and the pump 160.

The pump 160 is located in the water below the housing 102 and pumps sea water to a certain position above sea level. The raised seawater forms a stream of water flowing downward by the potential energy corresponding to the height difference from the sea surface, and the feed 50 is supplied to the feed hose 110 together with the stream.

The water flow mixer 150 is formed in a tubular shape in which the feed hose 110 is connected to the lower end. In the water mixer 150, the feed discharge unit 152 for discharging the feed 50 transferred to the upper end of the transfer screw 172, and the seawater discharge unit 153 for discharging the seawater supplied from the pump 160 Each is installed to be drawn in a certain length. As shown in FIG. 2, the water flow mixer 150 is always provided to the surrounding air by the vent hole 108 so that the seawater discharged through the seawater discharge unit 153 naturally flows to the feed hose 110 by the water pressure. In communication.

The feed hose 110 is excluded from the valve so that the mixed water flow of the feed and sea water having a potential energy higher than the sea surface can flow without limitation. This is because the valve not only requires power for its driving, but also acts as a resistance to the mixed water flow of feed and seawater, and can cause clogging by deposition and the like.

3 shows a grid system 200 in which a plurality of cages 20 are arranged at regular intervals in the open sea. The automatic feeding device 100 to be supplied to each cage is connected to one cage 20 by one feed hose 110. This configuration is remarkably distinguished from the installation of a corresponding number of feeding hoses for connecting one feeding device to a plurality of cages, and a number of valve devices for controlling feeding of each cage. In this case, the enlargement of the device and the increase of power consumption are inevitable, and the feed hoses connected to one central feeder are different from each other due to a tidal current, that is, when one is relaxed, the other becomes taut. By repeatedly acting, the hose is frequently damaged. On the contrary, since the automatic feeding device 100 supplied to each cage as shown in FIG. 3 is connected by one feeding hose 110, safety from fatigue failure is relatively increased. Each automatic feeding device 100 is an economical form that can be driven with a small power by having a simple configuration as shown in Figure 2, it can be covered by the power supply by the solar cell 120. As a result, it is possible to supply the feed automatically and stably even in a situation where the maintenance inspection activity is limited for several days or more due to bad weather such as waves.

4 is a block diagram of an automatic feeding system according to the present invention. The proposed automatic feeding system 300 includes a marine configuration 301 and a land control unit 302 in the automatic feeding device 100 installed for each underwater cage 20. The maritime configuration 301 is, again, the solar cell 120, the input unit 181, the underwater camera 182, the wireless communication unit 185, the transfer motor 130, the battery 135, the submersible pump 160, and the control unit ( 180, etc., and the land control unit 302 includes control means 190 for controlling the marine system.

The controller 180 of the maritime configuration 301 controls the power generation state of the solar cell 120 and stores the generated electricity in the battery 135. As shown in FIG. 2, the control panel 140 disposed above the automatic feeding device 100 may include an input unit 181 for inputting a feed amount, a feeding cycle, and the like, and the transfer motor 130. And the submersible pump 160 to supply a predetermined amount of feed at a predetermined time.

The radio communication unit 185 is configured to enable radio communication with the control station 302 on land. The control station 302 on land receives an input signal related to the supply of feed, or transmits the driving state of the automatic feeding device 100 and the like to the control station 302.

As shown in Figure 2, the underwater cage 20 may be installed with an underwater camera 182 to monitor the discharge state of the feed supplied to the inside. The image photographed through the underwater camera 182 is transmitted to the control station 302 through the wireless communication unit 185. If the fish does not collect at the feed position of the feed even though the transfer motor 130 and the pump 160 are operated, it may be remotely or directly approached.

5 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the water flow mixer according to the present invention. 5, the seawater discharged from the seawater discharger 153 is positioned at an end of the seawater discharger 153 lower than the end of the feeder 152 and is lower than the end of the feeder 152. The overflow part 154 is formed so that the overflow may flow. The overflow unit 154 prevents seawater that has not been discharged through the feed hose 110 from penetrating the feed.

The opening and closing device 155 may be additionally included at the end of the feed discharge unit 152. That is, the opening and closing device 155 is such that the feed does not contain moisture by sea water, etc., one side is hinged to the end of the feed outlet 152 and formed to be opened only in one direction and the valve 158 The valve 158 may include a weight 157 connected to the valve 158 so that the weight may act in the closing direction. When the feed screw 172 is operated and the feed 50 is supplied, the weight of the feed 50 drops downward by opening the valve 158, and when the feed 50 is cut off, the weight 157 controls the valve ( 158 is kept closed. It is also possible to use a means such as a spring instead of the weight 157.

The automatic feeding device of the offshore cage cage and the system described above are not limited to the configuration and method of the embodiments described. The embodiments may be configured so that all or some of the embodiments may be selectively combined so that various modifications may be made.

20: underwater cage 50: feed
100: automatic feeder 102: housing
103: hopper 106: ballast
110: feed hose 120: cell
130: feed motor 150: water flow mixer
152: feed discharge unit 153: sea water discharge unit
200: grid system 300: automatic feeding system
301: Maritime Composition 302: Land Control Station

Claims (12)

A housing which is formed to be suspended in an underwater cage by a mooring rope and is provided with a hopper to accommodate feed therein;
A feed hose extending from the housing to the underwater cage; And
An automatic feeding unit configured to supply the feed in the hopper according to a control signal through the feeding hose, wherein the automatic feeding unit is
A solar cell disposed on an upper portion of the housing;
A feed screw installed in a form perpendicular to the center of the hopper, the feed screw being configured to transfer feed collected at a lower portion of the hopper from a sea level to a predetermined height;
A motor installed at an upper end of the transfer screw and configured to provide a rotational force to the transfer screw;
A pump configured to pump sea water to a certain height from the sea surface; And
A water flow disposed in the housing at a position higher than the sea level, and configured to allow feed fed by the feed screw to flow by gravity into the underwater cage along the feed hose along with the sea water pumped up by the pump. Including a mixer,
The water flow mixer is formed in the shape of a barrel connected to the feed hose at the lower end, the feed hose is excluded from the valve so that the mixed water flow of feed and sea water having a higher potential energy than the sea surface flows without restriction,
The water flow mixer,
A feed discharge part formed to be discharged by dropping the feed conveyed to the upper end of the conveying screw and installed to be introduced into the water mixer;
A seawater discharge unit formed to discharge the seawater supplied from the pump and installed to be drawn into the water flow mixer, the end of which is positioned lower than the end of the feed discharge unit;
A vent hole formed to always communicate with an external atmosphere such that a mixed water stream of feed and seawater having a potential energy higher than the sea level may naturally fall; And
It includes an overflow portion formed to overflow the seawater discharged from the seawater discharge portion to a position lower than the end of the feed discharge portion,
Automatic feeder for offshore cages. The method of claim 1,
A battery is further included in the housing to store the generated power of the solar cell, wherein the battery is configured to be capable of supplying power to the motor and pump, automatic feeding device of the offshore underwater cage farm. The method of claim 2,
The motor is automatic feeding device of the offshore underwater cage farm, characterized in that arranged vertically coaxial with the feed screw. The method of claim 3,
A motor installation unit having a width narrower than the width of the housing is further provided on the upper end of the housing, and the solar cell is installed on the upper portion of the motor installation portion, automatic feeding device of the offshore underwater cage farm. delete delete delete The method of claim 1,
Opening and closing device is further included at the end of the feed discharge, the opening and closing device,
A valve having one side hinged to an end of the feed discharge part and configured to be opened in only one direction; And
An automatic feeding device of an offshore underwater cage farm comprising a weight connected to the valve to allow the weight to act in the closing direction of the valve. delete In an automatic feeding system of a fish farm in which a plurality of underwater cages are arranged, the feeding system,
A plurality of housings provided to be floated in a confined state for each of the underwater cages, and having a hopper to accommodate feed therein;
A feeding hose extending from the respective housings to the corresponding underwater cages; And
A solar cell disposed on an upper portion of the housing;
A feed screw formed to transfer the feed collected at the lower portion of the hopper to a predetermined height from the surface of the sea;
A motor installed at an upper end of the transfer screw and configured to provide a rotational force to the transfer screw;
A pump configured to pump sea water from the sea surface to a certain height;
A water flow disposed in the housing at a position higher than the sea surface, and configured to allow the feed conveyed by the conveying screw to flow by gravity into the underwater cage along the feed hose along with the sea water pumped by the pump. Mixer; And
It includes a control unit for controlling the pump and the transfer screw of each housing,
The water flow mixer is formed in the shape of a barrel connected to the feed hose at the lower end, the feed hose is excluded from the valve so that the mixed water flow of feed and sea water having a higher potential energy than the sea surface flows without restriction,
The water flow mixer,
A feed discharge part formed to be discharged by dropping the feed conveyed to the upper end of the conveying screw and installed to be introduced into the water mixer;
A seawater discharge unit formed to discharge the seawater supplied from the pump and installed to be drawn into the water flow mixer, the end of which is positioned lower than the end of the feed discharge unit;
A vent hole formed to always communicate with an external atmosphere such that a mixed water stream of feed and seawater having a potential energy higher than the sea level may naturally fall; And
It includes an overflow portion formed to overflow the seawater discharged from the seawater discharge portion to a position lower than the end of the feed discharge portion,
Automatic feeding system of offshore underwater cage farm. The method of claim 10,
And a wireless communication unit configured to wirelessly communicate with a control station on land with respect to the control of the pump and the transfer screw. The method of claim 10,
Installed in each of the underwater cages, the automatic feeding system of the offshore underwater cage farm, characterized in that it further comprises an underwater camera to monitor the discharge state of the feed fed into each of the underwater cages.

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