RU2229226C1 - Fish finder - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: industrial fishery. SUBSTANCE: proposed fish finder includes towed acoustic radiating and receiving system, shipboard electronic units for processing and representation of acoustic information with trigger circuit. Acoustic radiating and receiving system is made in form of "n" number of echo-sounding transmitters for vertical sounding which are located on transversal tabs with depressors at the end and compensating hoisting units, as well as otters regulating separation of tabs. Ends of tabs are connected with ship by means of trawl warps. EFFECT: increased fish finding zone; enhanced efficiency. 2 cl, 2 dwg

Description

The invention relates to fishing equipment and is intended for use on ships of the fishing and research fleet for the search and detection of fish and other fishing objects.

Known devices for searching for fish, for example, ship’s sonar fish-finding devices - echo sounders containing a receiving-receiving system (a system for emitting acoustic location pulses and receiving reflected signals), a processing unit for received reflected signals (echo signals) and a display unit for hydroacoustic information with a trigger circuit for emitting receiving system / see, for example, 1 /.

The main disadvantage of such devices is the very limited ability to detect bottom and bottom fish and other fishing objects located near the bottom.

To improve the capabilities of fishfinding sounders when searching for fish near the bottom, a number of electronic circuit devices are known that, in some specific situations, slightly increase the efficiency of the apparatus when isolating fish near the bottom / see, for example, 2 /, i.e. they only partially compensate for this drawback. In the book of K.I. Yudanova / 3, p.87 / stated: ... "Practice shows that echo sounders do not always register rarefied fish near the ground ...". The ability to detect near-bottom and bottom fish with echo sounders is even worse when the sea is rough.

More effective in this regard are devices for searching for fish with towed acoustic radiation-receiving systems / see, for example, 4 /. An increase in the efficiency of their detection of bottom and bottom fish and other fishing objects located near the bottom is ensured in this case due to the possibility of approaching the acoustic radiating-receiving system to the bottom and, accordingly, increasing the resolution, eliminating the influence of excitement on the obtained fish readings, etc. Nevertheless, the most serious drawback remains - a small detection zone of fish located near the bottom. This is due to the masking of the bottom readings of echo sounders reflections from the bottom / 3 /. The main reason for this masking is the sphericity of the front of acoustic waves / 3 /. As indicated in / 3, pp. 88-89 /, "... the effective detection zone for bottom fish by an echo sounder is determined only by the depth and position of the fish relative to the bottom; it does not depend on the width of the directivity of the antenna. It is also characteristic that when registering a bottom the fish actually use a very narrow part of the sound beam and the diameter of the zone is very limited in size. "

As a prototype of the claimed device can be selected sonar fishing complex "Deyma" / 1, S. 98-107 /. It contains on-board units for processing and displaying the received echo signals with a start-up circuit of a receiving-receiving acoustic system located in a towed carrier (device). Due to the possibility of approaching the acoustic radiating-receiving system to the bottom, it slightly eliminates (decreases) the drawback caused by the sphericity of the front of the sonar sonic wave, however, this improvement in the search capabilities is completely insufficient to provide any effective search for fish near the bottom due to ( as indicated) by the limited dimensions of the diameter of the detection zone. This is especially evident when sonar and trawl surveys of the state of fish stocks in fishing areas. So, for example, Zaferman ML, in his work / 5 / indicates: ... "Comparison of the value of the catch with the energy of echo signals (fishfinder) from the bottom layer, equal in height to the vertical opening of the bottom trawl, shows the practical absence of correlation between them (R = 0.3-0.4). "

The aim of the proposed device is to increase the detection efficiency of fish and other fishing objects in the bottom layer.

This goal is achieved by the fact that the acoustic emitting and receiving system (a system for emitting acoustic location pulses and receiving reflected signals) of a fish search device is made in the form of an nth number of echolocation sensors (vertical sounding), in the search process using taps, recesses and compensating buoyancy (lifting means) of the towed device moving at a certain (selected) distance from the bottom (soil) and through sequences or parallel quasi-one temporary vertical locations providing scoring bottom region (layer) of a given or a selected vertical distance (height) from the bottom and a predetermined or selected horizontal extent in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement of the ship and, respectively, detection in it (it) fish and other objects gear.

The drawing shows a diagram explaining the construction and operation of the proposed device in two preferred embodiments, taking into account the maximum use of the equipment already available on the search vessel, namely: a - using a cable connection cable of a regular trawl probe of a fishing or search vessel, b - using trawl warriors and cable connection cable trawl probe fishing or search vessel.

When starting a radiation-receiving system from a vessel using acoustic signals, instead of a cable cable, in the first embodiment (a) just a cable can be used, and in the second version (b) the cable cable can be completely excluded.

The drawing shows the on-board units 1, 2 for processing the received reflected signals (echo signals) and for displaying hydroacoustic information with the start-up scheme of the underwater echo-location sensors installed on the vessel 3, the onboard cable-cable 4 for connecting ship and underwater units of the standard trawl probe of the vessel 3, taps 5, buoyancy compensating deepeners 6 (lifting means) 7, trawl warp 8, acoustic emitting and receiving system (system of emitting acoustic location pulses and receiving reflected signals), consisting of the nth number A number of sonar sensors 9, additional whiskers 10 in embodiment a attached to the cable cable 4, and flexible connection 11 between trawl cords 8 or taps 5 in embodiment 6, to which sonar sensors 9 are attached. Whiskers 10 and communication 11 can be made in the form of a conventional cable, rope or cable segments with sealed connectors. Taps 5 in both implementations are used to provide the necessary width of the search zone (i.e., its dimensions in a plane perpendicular to the direction of movement of the vessel), and the recesses 6 and compensating buoyancy (lifting means) 7 are used to provide the required or specified distance of the sonar sensors 9 from the bottom during the movement of the vessel 3. In addition to the taps 5, the width of the search zone is regulated by the length of the additional whiskers 10 (in the implementation option a) or flexible connection 11 (in the embodiment b).

The work of the proposed device for finding fish is as follows.

After the return of the cable cable 4 with a mustache 10 or trawl warriors 8 with a cable cable 4 and connection 11 (in the case of implementation b) using taps 5, recesses 6 and compensating buoyancy (lifting means) 7, the necessary position of the mustache 10 is provided (with the option implementation a) and communication 11 (with implementation option b), as shown in the drawing. The start-up circuit diagram of the device’s onboard units via cable 4 gives a signal to turn on the first (in this case, the towing device located in the center - see the drawing) from the sonar sensors 9 (when the sensors are launched in series, i.e. when the bottom region is sequentially positioned) - layer).

The specified sensor emits a locating pulse in the direction of the bottom and begins to receive and transmit through the same cable-communication cable 4 to the airborne processing unit 1 processing the echo signals reflected from the fish (if available in this place). According to the trigger signal, the same sensor through a separate acoustic transducer of the traverse direction of radiation simultaneously sends a control signal to the operation of the echo-location sensors 9 located first, for example, to the right of the first, then the second acoustic transducer of the traverse direction of radiation located to the left of the first.

Echolocation sensors can be launched from the ship and without using a cable, namely, through a sonar communication channel - in this case, both sequential and almost simultaneous start of all echo-location sensors can be provided, although the first option (via cable cable) is more preferred with respect to a simpler practical implementation of the sensors.

When using 10 cable and cable segments with a sealed connectors (as indicated) for a serial connection of echolocation sensors 9 with each other, their work can be controlled without additional acoustic transducers of the traverse radiation direction, but only with the help of electrical signals with start-up circuits of blocks 1, 2 both sequentially of each sensor, and simultaneously of all sensors 9.

When sequentially starting the sensors 9, the next sensor 9 (after the first) is switched on after a time interval, a bit longer than the sound passage from the sensor to the bottom and back. For example, when the mustache 10 or tie 11 moves at a distance of 10 m from the bottom, it will be slightly more than 13 ms. If we take it equal to 15 ms, then in about 1 s more than 60 sensors 9 can work with the corresponding n-fold extension of the detection zone compared to the prototype. The choice of a small distance from the ground in the proposed device is advisable from all points of view. Due to this, viewing of the near-bottom region wide enough in the transverse plane for a short period of time can be ensured, very high-frequency echolocation sensors, respectively, having high vertical resolution, i.e. confident detection of fish in the immediate vicinity of the bottom, as well as very low power consumption due to the low required power of emitted location pulses and, accordingly, the small dimensions of both acoustic antennas and the blocks themselves, which is important for underwater equipment. During the aforementioned time interval, hydroacoustic information received by this unit 9 is transmitted to block 1 - when transmitted via an acoustic communication line through an additional acoustic transducer of the traverse direction of radiation of the specified sensor 9, and when using these cable cable segments directly via the resulting common cable cable line communication.

With the simultaneous parallel start-up of all the sensors 9, some complication of the electronic circuits of each of the sensors is necessary to remember the hydroacoustic information adopted in the sensor’s cycle of operation and its subsequent accelerated (faster) transmission to the ship. After the work of the second block 9 is completed, the third one is launched in succession in the same way as previously described, etc.

Blocks 1 and 2 process and display the received echo sounder information from the attached layer in various modes: individual sensor data selected by the operator, summarized information, etc. When the vessel 3 moves in this way, fish and other fishing objects are detected in a wide bottom area (in the plane, perpendicular to the direction of movement of the vessel). In trawl and acoustic-trawl surveys, the horizontal width of the bottom viewing area seems to be its horizontal length equal to the distance between the trawl boards or the horizontal opening of the bottom trawl.

Due to the achieved n-fold expansion of the search zone, the detection efficiency of fish and other objects in the bottom layer and, accordingly, the productivity of their fishing are significantly increased.

Sources of information

1. Tikunov A.I. Fish-finding and electro-radio navigation devices, Agropromizdat, 1985, pp. 98-107.

2. Bottom indication by a device with a start pulse. German patent No. 1516639, publ. 19.03.1970.

3. Yudanov K.I. Hydroacoustic exploration of fish. - S.-Pb .: Shipbuilding, 1992, p.186.

4. Improvement of underwater surveillance equipment. UK patent No. 998489, publ. 07/04/1965.

5. Zaferman M.L. 1994. Errors in instrumental estimation of fish stocks. // Pisces. household, No. 3, p.30-32.

Claims (2)

1. A device for searching for fish, including a towed acoustic emitting and receiving system, ship's on-board electronic units for processing and displaying received acoustic information with a triggering circuit, characterized in that the acoustic emitting and receiving system is made in the form of an nth number of echolocation sensors for vertical sounding, located on a transverse mustache, having recesses at the ends and compensating lifting means, as well as taps that regulate the magnitude of the mustache’s divorce. 2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that the ends of the mustache are connected to the vessel by means of trawl warriors.