Concentration control of living organisms in fluid

Abstract

A method, a device and a fish-farm for controlling the concentration of living organisms in fluid in order to facilitate the handling of the organisms such as grading and counting. The apparatus comprises a first in-feed channel for a flow of living organisms, a second in-feed channel for a flow of fluid, a chamber containing a lever for regulating the flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber, an outlet, a computer, and a sensor. The sensor is positioned in the first in-feed channel for detecting the density of living organism in the flow, and the computer continuously and automatically regulates the ratio of flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber and towards the outlet by the lever in response to the density of living organisms in the flows determined by the sensor.

Claims

1. An apparatus for automatic and continuous concentration control of a flow of living organisms for further handling, the apparatus comprising: a first in-feed channel for a flow of living organisms; a second in-feed channel for a flow of fluid; a chamber containing a lever for regulating the flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber, the lever dividing the chamber and being positioned between the first and second in-feed channels; an outlet; a sensor positioned in the first in-feed channel for detecting a density of living organisms in the flow of living organisms; and a computer, wherein the computer continuously and automatically regulates a ratio of the flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber and towards the outlet by adjusting a position of the lever in response to the density of living organisms in the flows determined by the sensor.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the sensor is a light source directing light through the flow of living organisms and on an opposite side of the light source is an optical sensor, the optical sensor measuring an amount of light that passes through the flow of living organisms.

3. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the first in-feed channel has a flat section where the light source directing light through the flow of living organisms is positioned on one broad side of the flat section and the optical sensor is positioned on an ther broad side of the flat section.

4. The apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the light source includes infrared light emitting diodes and the optical sensor includes infrared sensitive transistors.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the lever is positioned centrally between the first and second in-feed channels.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1 and further comprising a motor that moves the lever.

7. The apparatus according to claim 6 and further comprising a lever shaft, wherein the motor moves the lever along the lever shaft to adjust the position of the lever within the chamber.

8. A method for automatic and continuous concentration control of a flow of living organisms for further handling, the method comprising: feeding a flow of living organisms through a first in-feed channel; feeding a flow of fluid through a second in-feed channel; regulating the flows from the first and the second in-feed channels in a chamber containing a lever that divides the chamber and is positioned between the first and second in-feed channels; feeding the regulated flows from the chamber through an outlet; detecting a density of living organisms in the flow of living organisms by a sensor, the sensor being positioned in the first in-feed channel; and continuously and automatically regulating, via a computer, a ratio of the flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber and towards the outlet by adjusting a position of the lever in response to the density of living organisms in the flow of living organisms determined by the sensor.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the regulation of the ratio of flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber and towards the outlet is a real time regulation of density by diluting the flow of living organisms in the first in-feed channel with the flow of fluid in the second in-feed channel.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the living organisms comprise at least one of fish, smolt, shrimp, crustaceans, shellfish or other organisms living in freshwater or sea.

11. The method according to claim 8 for use in fish-farming.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein detecting the density of living organisms in the flow of living organisms by the sensor includes: directing light from a light source through the flow of living organisms in the first in-feed channel, positioning an optical sensor on an opposite side of the light source, and analyzing silhouettes recorded by the optical sensor when fish pass by the light source.

13. A fish farm comprising an apparatus for determining density or number of living organisms in a flow for further handling, the apparatus comprising: a first in-feed channel for a flow of living organisms; a second in-feed channel for a flow of fluid; a chamber containing a lever for regulating the flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber, the lever dividing the chamber and being positioned between the first and second in-feed channels; an outlet; a sensor positioned in the first in-feed channel for detecting a density of living organisms in the flow of living organisms; and a computer, wherein the computer continuously and automatically regulates a ratio of flows from the first and the second in-feed channels through the chamber and towards the outlet by adjusting a position of the lever in response to the density of living organisms in the flows determined by the sensor.

14. The fish farm according to claim 13, wherein the sensor includes a light source directing light through the flow of living organisms and on an opposite side of the light source is an optical sensor, the optical sensor measuring the amount of light that passes through the flow of living organisms.

15. The fish farm according to claim 13, wherein the first in-feed channel has a flat section where a light source directing light through the flow of living organisms is positioned on one broad side of the flat section and an optical sensor is positioned on an other broad side of the flat section.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

(1) The present invention will become more fully understood from the detailed description given hereinafter and the accompanying drawings which are given by way of illustration only, and thus, are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

(2) FIG. 1 shows a flowchart showing an alternative system to control the concentration of fish in water, not an embodiment of the disclosed invention.

(3) FIG. 2 shows a flowchart showing a system to control the concentration of fish in water which is the subject of the disclosed invention.

(4) FIG. 3 shows a top-view of fish counter.

(5) FIG. 4 shows a side-view of fish counter.

(6) FIG. 5 shows a top-view of concentration sensor.

(7) FIG. 6 Side-view of concentration sensor.

(8) FIG. 7 shows a top-view of control device.

(9) FIG. 8 shows a side-view of control device.

(10) FIG. 9 shows an over-view of fish grading and counting system.

(11) FIG. 1 shows a flowchart of an alternative system setup that aims at controlling the concentration of fish in water pumped through a pipe. The system is not an embodiment of the invention but is shown here for reference.

(12) Fluid with an uncontrolled concentration of fish (1) is pumped into a control mechanism (4) which dilutes the concentration by adding water (2) into the pipe. The output of the control mechanism is a pipe containing water with a controlled concentration of fish (15). The control mechanism (4) receives concentration information from a fish counter (3) located downstream from the control unit.

(13) During testing, the system described in FIG. 1 proved to be able to eliminate periods of sustained high density but the system proved unable to respond to sudden peaks of high concentration, which causes negative effects on the quality of fish counting. This is at least partly due to the order in which the fish flow through the equipment e.g. that the counter (3) measuring concentration is located downstream from the control mechanisms (4).

(14) FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of the system setup for the disclosed invention. Fluid with uncontrolled concentration of fish (1) is pumped via a pipe, through a concentration sensor (9) and onward towards the concentration control mechanism (4). After receiving information from the concentration sensor (9), the control mechanism (4) adds water (2) into the pipe and thus dilutes the concentration of fish. The output of the control mechanism (4) is a stream of fluid with a controlled concentration of fish (15).

(15) The concentration sensor (9) functions similar to the counter (3) as it spreads out the flow within the pipeline and passes it by a light source. A board with infrared light sensitive transistors (8) measures the concentration of fish within the pipeline by analyzing the silhouette recorded when fish pass by the light source.

(16) FIG. 3 is a detailed illustration of a fish counter (3). Fluid containing fish is pumped through an input on the counter (6) and past a light source (5). The shape of the chamber within the counter spreads out the flow vertically which allows for greater accuracy. A camera (7) photographs the stream and image analysis software calculates the number of fishes that pass through the fish counter.

(17) FIG. 4 is a side-view illustration of a fish counter (3) where the input is show as 6.

(18) FIG. 5 is a detailed illustration of the concentration sensor (9). Water with an uncontrolled concentration of organisms enters at the input of the sensor (22) and flows past a board with infrared light emitting diodes beneath the surface not shown in this drawing, see (10) in FIG. 6. The silhouette created by fish moving past the light source (10) is measured by a board with infrared sensitive transistors (8) and image analysis software calculates the concentration of the flow that passes through the sensor. The sensor is contrived from two halves, joined together and forming a chamber for imaging. A sealing O-ring (14) water-proves the chamber created by the two halves.

(19) FIG. 6 is a side-view of the concentration sensor (9). A board with infrared light emitting diodes (10) is shown beneath the camera and the input flow to the sensor is shown as (22).

(20) FIG. 7 is a top-view of the control mechanism (4). Fluid with uncontrolled concentration of fish (1) is pumped into one of the inputs of the control mechanism (4) and water (2) is pumped into the other input. Shown here is a linearized motor (12) that moves a lever (11) in order to adjust the ratio by which the stream with uncontrolled concentration of fish is diluted with water to secure that the output is a stream with controlled concentration of fish (15). The gearing ratio between the movement of the linearized motor (12) and the lever (11) is adjusted by changing the position of the connection on the shaft of the lever (13). A computer (18) continuously and automatically regulates the ratio of flow from the input of uncontrolled concentration of fish (1) and the input of water (2) through the chamber and towards the output (15) by the lever (11) in response to the density of living organisms in the flow determined by the sensor (9). The mechanism is contrived from two halves fastened together and a sealing O-ring (14) water-proves the chanter created by the two halves.

(21) FIG. 8 is a side-view of the control mechanism (4) where the lever (11) and the linearized motor (12) is shown as well as the connection on the lever shaft (13), that produces a controlled concentration of fish flowing through the output (15). Water input is shown as (2).

(22) FIG. 9 shows an overview of an entire process of grading and counting fish with concentration control. Water with uncontrolled concentration of fish (1) is pumped from a tank (16), through a concentration sensor (9). From there the stream flows towards the concentration control mechanism (4) where water (2), which is pumped from a tank (17), is added to the flow in order to dilute the concentration by a controlled manner to ensure an output of controlled concentration of fish (15). From there the stream flows towards a pump (20) that propels the entire process forward. Downstream from the pump, the water flows into a grader (21) which sorts the fish by size and distributes it onto several slides that lead into the fish counter (3).

(23) The invention is useful for all kinds of organism in fresh-water or in sea-water. It can be used for controlling concentration of organisms in a wide range of size and for various species, e.g. for fish, smolt, shrimp, crustaceans, shellfish or other waterborne organisms. The concentration control mechanisms can facilitate all kinds of handling of the organisms other than grading or counting e.g. medicating, vaccinating, weighing or making other estimations.

(24) The present invention covers further embodiments with any combination of features from different embodiments described above. Reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way. The present invention also covers the exact terms, features, values and ranges etc. in case these terms, features, values and ranges etc. are used in conjunction with terms such as about, around, generally, substantially, essentially, at least etc. (i.e., about 3 shall also cover exactly 3 or substantial constant shall also cover exactly constant). The terms a, an, first, second etc do not preclude a plurality.