JPH0728629B2 - Life support container for aquatic animals - Google Patents

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to devices and methods for storing, alive, alive, hibernating and / or rearing aquatic organisms.

BACKGROUND ART Conventionally, various devices have been devised for keeping aquatic organisms such as edible marine crustaceans such as expensive shrimp and crab as a typical example until they are cooked in a restaurant. There is. Typical problems that have traditionally plagued holding tanks, aquariums, etc. of the prior art have been corrosion, waste disposal, ventilation and temperature control. These problems adversely affect the life of the device, such as the quality of crustaceans such as shrimp, crab, presentation, tank capacity and the rate of metabolism of organisms.

The cooling device of the known type is not directly applied to the temperature control of salt water, and during the temperature control of salt water, the equipment that is inevitably brought into contact with salt water rapidly corrodes, resulting in damage and reliable operation. There is also a problem that harmful metal ions are dissociated into water in the tank.

Standard waste treatment and aeration schemes with air pump-operated filter mechanisms and bubble generators increase the porosity in the holding tanks required to keep marine animals in market quality. It is impossible to maintain.

The prior art for exporting live crustaceans uses rapid cooling, which involves, for example, rapidly reducing the body temperature of Tasmanian crayfish before packaging them in airborne styrene containers. Mortality with this method typically exceeds 40%.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION It is an object of the present invention to provide a holding tank system that overcomes various problems of the prior art holding tank systems.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus for retaining live cooled crustaceans that can be exported with a survival rate of 95%.

The present invention is for a restaurant that needs to handle a small amount of aquatic animals and can be handled with high densification rate, or
Provided is a holding tank system that can be easily configured for bulk suppliers to wholesale or export markets that require handleable holding tanks for live distribution of large quantities of live seafood.

Therefore, the apparatus used for keeping the aquatic animal according to the present invention in a hibernating state includes: (a) a holding tank configured to have water inside and having a floor portion and a wall portion; and (b) the floor. A horizontal porous partition wall which is maintained above the wall portion and extends to the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface of the wall portion; and (c) a denitrification culture bacterium, which is supported on the porous partition wall and extends to the wall portion. A granular filter bed containing a) and (d) a water quality adjusting circuit for maintaining aquatic animals in a hibernation state, (i) a circulation pump means, a water cooling means, an activated carbon filter means, and a water A first circuit having a returning spray means, the first circuit being configured to draw water from the underside of the partition wall and condition it to return the conditioned water to the tank via the spray means; (Ii) a substantially vertical tube hand A skimmer assembly comprising an open top end of the tube means, the top end located near the surface of the water contained in the tank at the working level, and the bottom end upstream of the pump means and the activated carbon filter means. It is characterized in that it is in fluid communication with the first circuit via conduit means and that the skimmer assembly can be disconnected from the first circuit by valve means provided in the conduit means.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention are described below.

The holding tank of the present invention is cooled to reduce the water temperature,
The stored aquatic organisms are put into hibernation, and in this state, the rate of metabolism of the aquatic organisms is reduced, so that the oxygen demand of the aquatic organisms is significantly reduced. Typical water temperatures are about 10 ° C for aquatic animals taken from warm waters and about 13 ° C for aquatic animals taken from tropical waters.

All components of the holding tank system that come into contact with the water in the tank must be made of non-corrosive materials, typically PVC or epoxy-based resin tubing. Advantageously, the lines are insulated to prevent condensation and heat loss. For ease of care, it is preferable to use separable couplings in combination with all the components so that damaged components can be replaced with minimal effort.

For cooling, the type of cooling device that can be used in all applications is determined by the amount of water that must be kept cold.

Obviously, cooling unit evaporators that inevitably come into contact with salt water in the tank require special consideration to protect them from corrosion by seawater. As a typical example
A 60 foot electrostatic capillary system uses an epoxy coated tube as the evaporator coil. Regardless of the evaporator type, the same coating process is performed, as described in detail below.

An evaporator is typically composed of a coiled copper tube of a given length, which is meandered by multiple turns, each meandering coil lying in one horizontal plane, each turn being vertically stacked and wound. The turns are arranged in parallel. When it is installed in the outer casing, the flow of water at the bottom flows upward in the pipe wound in a coil shape to efficiently exchange heat.

To prevent the coil from corroding, the evaporator coil is coated and coated with epoxy resin as described below.
The copper tube coil is first treated by spraying with Class 3 G50 abrasive grit. Then, after being dipped in an E-Vac epoxy liquid polymer for coating, a DURAX powder coat epoxy resin is electrostatically spray coated and heated at 350 ° C. for 45 minutes to cure.

250mm or 320mm standard length for making outer casing
Weld the PVC pipe to the PVC end plate with hot air. For small holding tanks using a capillary system, the control system should be a thermostat. For large holding tanks, the DX unit is controlled by a thermostat for temperature control and HP / LP for safety.

The tank is vented and the conditioning water is returned to the tank simultaneously by the action of the spraying means. This spray means directs and returns the return water in the form of one or more jets into the tank. When the water is jetted back to the water in the tank through a space of, for example, 25 mm or more, the water in the tank It is densely filled with small bubbles from to the other end. By pressurizing and jetting water, the air enters a water jet that is returned to the water in the tank, causing air bubbles to diffuse throughout the water in the tank. Larger tanks require the use of more than one injection system at separate surface points, but smaller tanks require only one manifold across one end of the tank. Carbon dioxide can also be rapidly removed by breaking the water surface by the method described above.

As the filter floor material, it is preferable to use a shell having a particle size of about 0.5 mm to 2.0 mm. This floor material constitutes a part of the natural sea and is suitable for providing a culture bed for naturally occurring denitrifying bacteria in the sea.

The highly vertical flow of highly aerated water through the filter bed ensures that a much denser denitrifying bacterial phase is generated and spreads over the surface of the filter bed particles compared to the bacterial colonies of conventional filter beds. Can be sent to the garbage generated by the stored aquatic organisms. With a combination of excellent ventilation method and shell floor filter,
The resulting superior bacterial growth provides an efficient combination filter mechanism that allows the water in the tank to pass through the filter bed multiple times per hour, typically 4 to 7.5 times per hour.

The filter bed is formed on the bottom of the tank above the perforated flat reverse installed trough, the reverse installed trough can keep the water in the lower space and pump the water from this space. The water withdrawn from the tank flows down through a filter bed supported on the surface of the gutter. The gutter is typically made of non-corrosive PVC material, which does not interfere with the salt content of the water in the tank. The shell bed is formed by naturally stacking a fine shell layer and a coarser shell layer above a gutter normally covered with a nylon net. A vertical flow down the filter bed carries fecal-like debris into the filter bed, debris and dissolved nitride and ammoniacal debris are consumed as nutrients by highly aerated bacterial cultures, and bacteria Spread over a large surface area of a granular filter bed. The high flow rates of highly aerated water that are actually achieved are capable of excellent bacterial growth, a phenomenon not normally found in conventional air exhaust pump systems.

The device of the present invention uses a nitrogen-containing substance skimmer. The device may be of a very simple construction, only leading the tube below the water level in the holding tank. Since the water level changes, the height can be easily adjusted by using a structure that can be freely inserted and removed. When it is necessary to remove nitrogen-containing substances, such as when floating debris is visible on the water surface in the holding tank, fully open the normally-closed shutoff valve of the nitrogen-containing substance skimmer line. By appropriately setting the opening of the skimmer tube below the apex of the water level, the surface water is rapidly taken in, whereby the dross floating on the surface is discharged by the water pumped through the skimmer inlet, The water is circulated for a short time after the dross has been completely removed. As described below, the surface water collected by the surface skimmer tube is purified by passing through an activated carbon filter.

By using the entire glass structure, fish ecology can be shown in a 360 ° field of view, and tempered glass is typically used. In the case of a double glass structure, a thicker glass plate is used on the inside. 1290 mm x 500 mm x 1160 mm
In the holding tank at the height of, a tempered glass plate with a thickness of 6 mm inside and 4 mm outside is used. 1870 mm x 500 mm x 116
In a 0 mm high tank, a tempered glass plate of 10 mm inside and 6 mm outside is used.

Preferably, a transparent sheet material of acrylic or other safe plastic is used as the tank lid, and the illumination system used is a fluorescent lamp developed and developed for an aquarium. These fluorescent lamps enhance the nutrients of aquatic organisms and also help to make them appear bright.

In order to make the present invention more easily understandable and to make it possible to carry out the present invention, the accompanying drawings showing preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a refrigeration unit used in a holding tank system of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of a holding tank showing a flow cycle in a holding tank system of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the features of the protein skimmer used in the holding tank system of FIG. 2, FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the features of an aeration device that can be used in the holding tank system of FIG. 2, and FIG. 5 is the principle of the present invention. 6 is a schematic view showing the structure of a holding tank according to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a schematic vertical sectional view of a nitrogen-containing substance filter cartridge, and FIGS. 7a and 7b are evaporators of a typical refrigeration unit configured to be used in the holding tank according to the present invention. FIG. 8 is a block diagram showing a modified example of a refrigeration unit used in a large holding tank, FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a nitrogen-containing substance box used in a large holding tank, and FIG. 10 is the present invention. Due to It is a schematic diagram which shows arrangement | positioning of a type | mold holding tank.

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the configuration of a basic refrigeration unit suitable for cooling a small holding tank. This holding tank system is suitable for holding tanks of a size suitable for use in a typical about 90 gallon volume restaurant. The refrigeration cycle in this example uses a capillary expansion system.

In FIG. 1, the outlet of the compressor 100 is connected to a condenser 102 by a pipe 101.
From the condenser via tubes 103 and 105 via the dryer 104 to the capillary unit 106, which feeds the evaporator 107. Return pipe to compressor 100 10
8 is connected to the outlet of the evaporator 107 to complete the cycle.

FIG. 2 shows the various components used to maintain the water 201 in the tank 200 in proper condition. tank
Inside the 200, a floor of shell pieces is installed to act as a filter.
Is led to the pump 206 via the refrigeration unit 213 and the T-shaped joint 205. The pump 206 sends purified water through a pipe 207 to a spray 208, which sprays a spray jet 209 of water onto the surface of the water 201 in the tank 200, 210
As shown in, air is blown into the water in the tank.

Use the protein skimmer 211 to remove the dross on the water surface,
This dross is removed together with the water on the surface of the water through the pipe 212 and the filter 214, the filtered water is merged into the main stream, and the pump 2
It returns to the tank by 06. A ball valve 215 controls the flow, and a drain cock 216 has a drain point.

FIG. 3 shows the components of a typical nitrogen-containing skimmer.

In FIG. 3, the tank 300 has a vertical tube 301 penetrating through the bottom of the tank via a seal 302. The seal may be provided using known methods. In order to be able to adjust the height, a pipe 303 having a predetermined length is provided in the pipe 301 slidably in the vertical direction, and an O-ring seal is provided between both pipes to seal the pipes to each other. There is.

FIG. 4 shows the operation of the ventilator, with the tank 400 holding water 401 and a return pipe 402 from the water conditioning system, preferably through the bottom of the tank, without the need for external pipes. , Is connected to a manifold 403 at the top of the tank, which manifold is provided with a plurality of nozzles which are adapted to spray water jets 404 from the nozzles onto the water surface in the tank to ventilate the water as shown at 405.

FIG. 5 shows the components used to construct the holding tank. The inner and outer panels 502 and 501 sealed to the bottom plate 500 are panels with double glass. Inner and outer panels 502 and 501 are closed spaces 504 sealed by glass rods at 503 to contain air.
And a desiccant such as silica gel 506 is used to prevent the air in the space from drying out and condensing. A PVC trough 507 is installed in reverse to support the multi-layered shell bed, which is composed of a fine layer 508 and a coarse layer 509. Reflective shield 511 made of PVC sheet material for tank
It may be illuminated by an upper lamp 510 provided on the lower side of the.

FIG. 6 shows the components used to construct a filter cartridge for filtering nitrogen-containing substances. The outer casing 601 is provided with an entrance 602 and an exit 603. Water is introduced from the inlet 602 into the chamber 605 filled with activated carbon in the outer casing 601. The chamber 605 is divided from the central passage leading to the outlet 603, for example by a perforated wall constituted by a PVC tube with a number of holes formed therein. A large number of holes in the perforated wall allow water to pass through, but the activated carbon acts to retain it in the chamber 605. The cartridge has a known suitable construction with a threaded lid 606 so that when the activated carbon needs to be replaced, the lid can be opened, emptied and filled with fresh activated carbon. To allow this, the inlet and outlet are preferably connected to the inlet and outlet pipes by means of removable joints with valves, which allow the valves to be closed and the lines to be shut off before disconnecting. Is good. Like the other components used in the holding tank, the filter cartridge is constructed of a corrosion resistant material. The illustrated filter structure is suitable for small restaurant tanks. Larger holding tanks require larger activated carbon filters to handle larger amounts of water.

Figures 7a and 7b show evaporator components that may be used in the present invention. Figure 7a shows the front end of the evaporator and Figure 7b shows the side of the evaporator.

The evaporator is housed in a conveniently constructed container using a cylindrical tube 700 between end plates 701 and 702. The end plate 701 is provided with an inlet 708 and an outlet 709 to the evaporation coil in the outer casing, and an inlet 711 and an outlet 710 of water to be cooled. A thermostat probe 706 is inserted through the end plate 701, and this probe is connected to a thermostat control device 704 via a capillary line 705. A support plate 703 is mounted on the evaporation unit so that the condenser unit can be mounted.

FIG. 8 shows components of a cooling system suitable for a holding tank having a larger capacity. In the DX system shown in FIG. 8, the compressor 80
1, a condenser 802 and an evaporator 803 are connected to the dryer 804 and viewing glass in the circuit in the usual way. TX valve is 8
Used in 06. Dual TX or depending on system size
A TX distributor can also be used at this point.

FIG. 9 shows the arrangement of a nitrogen-containing filter that can be used in a large holding tank. The inside of the box 900 is divided into two chambers 901 and 902 by a baffle plate 903, and the baffle plate is extended so as to almost reach the bottom of the box so that the activated carbon 904 is retained in the chamber 901. Water to be purified enters the chamber 901 through the inlet 905, and the activated carbon
It is configured to diffuse downward in the floor of 904, flow down, enter the chamber 902 through the lower side of the baffle plate 903, and exit from the outlet 906.

Fig. 10 shows the basic components of a large holding tank. The tank shown is two tanks 950 separated by a partition.
And 951 and having separate nitrogen containing filter boxes 952 and 953 separated by a partition and filter beds 954 and 955 separated by a partition. The evaporator is shown at 956 and the pump is shown at 957. A pair of sprays provided in each of the pair of holding tanks is shown at 958 and 959, whereby purified cooling water is returned to the tank.

The filter bed is provided separately due to the large size of the tank and the large amount of shells needed to provide a suitable filter at the bottom. Water is led from the holding tank to a number of bottom outlets, which can be meshed perforated tube ends. The filter bed has the above-mentioned structure, surface culture bacteria are provided in the shell bed layer, and water is made to flow into the filter bed to pass water to the lower side of the bed.

The cooling system shown in FIG. 10 is preferably provided with two condensing units, four evaporators and four pumps.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described above, various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims of the present invention.

Claims (14)

[Claims] 1. A biological filter means suitable for treating (a) excrement of aquatic organisms and mounting it inside (b) circulating water contained in an aquatic environment through said filter means. And water control means for controlling the water temperature. The water control means separates water in the form of (i) a cooling means and (ii) a water spray disposed on the water surface of the container, A spray means for returning water to (3), and (iii) a means for circulating pure water to pass water through the water conditioning means 4 to 7.5 times per hour without exposing to air, and (c) Removes protein dross from the aquatic environment, can be separated from the water conditioning means, to the working level of water in the container,
Or an inlet located slightly below it, by means of which the water in which the debris material floats is taken out and filtered, after which the pump means is activated to return the water to the aquatic environment via the spray means. It has a skimmer means for removing the protein floating substance from the aquatic environment, and the substance floating by the spraying device is internally generated during use.
A life support container for aquatic organisms in an aquatic environment, characterized in that the skimmer means is configured to separate into small pieces that can be collected to remove substances floating in the aquatic environment. 2. A filter means comprising a layer of fine material supported in a space above the floor by a porous support means having a substantially flat surface. The maintenance container for aquatic organisms according to item. 3. The life support container for aquatic organisms according to claim 2, wherein the porous support means covers the floor of the container. 4. The life-supporting container for aquatic organisms according to claim 2, wherein the porous supporting means comprises an inverted tray having holes. 5. The biological filter means comprises a layer of fine material for growing cultures that removes bacteria and at least partially covers the floor of the container. A life support container for aquatic organisms according to claim 1. 6. A life support vessel for aquatic organisms according to claim 5, characterized in that said layer of fine material comprises a number of auxiliary layers of stacked fine material. 7. The auxiliary layer is arranged according to particle size, the finest particle size auxiliary layer being arranged adjacent to the supporting means,
7. The life support container for aquatic organisms according to claim 6, wherein the auxiliary layer having the coarsest particle size is arranged apart from the supporting means. 8. A life support vessel for aquatic organisms as set forth in claim 1 including a filter assembly in fluid communication with skimmer means for removing debris particles. . 9. An aquatic life support vessel according to claim 8 wherein the filter assembly comprises one or more layers of activated carbon. 10. The life support container for aquatic organisms according to claim 1, wherein the cooling means includes a freezing means. 11. The life support container for aquatic organisms according to claim 10, wherein the freezing means includes a thermostat for adjusting a freezing temperature. 12. The method of claim 1 wherein said spraying means comprises one or more annular manifolds having at least one hole into which water is sprayed. Life support container for aquatic organisms. 13. A life support container for aquatic organisms according to claim 1, characterized in that the skimmer means is connected to the water conditioning means via a normal valve means. 14. The skimmer means comprises a telescoping tube assembly which is adjustable to accommodate different water levels in the vessel. Item 13. A life support container for aquatic organisms according to any one of items 13.