The chiller system consists of two smaller insulated bins (blue) that house heat exchange coils submerged in an ice slurry; six specimen holding bins (tan) ; a PVC distribution header to balance exchange within the system.
Team leader, Ryan (background), teaching spacer manufacturing.
Flow-Through Water Chiller (2013):
A portable holding system for at-sea estimation of discard mortality on commercial fishing vessels.
Understanding the impacts of commercial fishing on by-catch is critical for managing commercially important fish stocks, as well as determining annual commercial quotas. Extreme differences between bottom water and deck conditions post-capture is extremely stressful to by-catch. Designing a system which minimizes those stresses and houses the by-catch in simulated bottom-water conditions allows for direct observation and an unprecedented approach for studying and understanding post-capture mortality rates of commercially important species. The system has to be large enough to hold the biomass required for statistically significant sampling parameters, but also portable enough for installation on various fishing vessels.
This project was a team build, utilizing a graduate student as the team leader. I mentored the grad student in the chiller's design and its fabrication. He then went on to teach his newly acquired skills to his lab mates who worked to replicate parts in assembly line fashion.
Strategically mentoring one individual allowed us shepherd nine others, and we quickly built a team of scientific fabricators out of folks who had little to no tool experience. Not only did the team learn how to fabricate, but they understood the design and function of each part they created. The chilled water system and the science behind it were showcased in Commercial Fisheries News, September 2013, Vol 41, No 1.
IT TAKES A VILLAGE - Exceptional teamwork, communication and hard work made bending coils a breeze.
Technology: A system of eight insulated commercial fish totes held chilled seawater at predetermined bottom water temperatures for up to 48 hours. The water chilling compartments house stainless steel coils which act as heat exchangers. The coils are submerged in a super chilled ice water slurry which cools ambient surface water being pumped through the coils. Chilled water is distributed to six insulated holding tanks via a header to where animals are housed and observed at bottom temperature depths +/-1°C. The flow through design was mandatory as a recirculating system was not economically viable, and water quality could not be adequately controlled to account for animal sloughing and waste.
During one particular voyage, a large piece of commercial gear catastrophically smashed the system’s water distribution header. With their newly acquired skills, the team was able to competently repair the system offshore with improvised parts and save a scientific expedition.
Dreams + Hard Work = Success + Slimy Kisses