Year-round low temperature control for the Aquatron Seawater Laboratory

Aquatron 海水实验室全年低温控制

• 批准号: RTI-2019-00221
• 负责人: Filgueira, Ramón
• 金额: $ 5.35万
• 依托单位: Dalhousie University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Research Tools and Instruments
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=650718
• 关键词: Year; round; low; temperature; control

The NSERC-supported Aquatron Laboratory at Dalhousie University is the largest university aquatic research facility in Canada. The facilities include six large tanks, including a 15 m diameter, 3 m deep pool tank and a 3 m diameter, 11 m deep pool tank, as well as a wide variety of smaller tanks, research spaces and equipment. Over the years, the Aquatron has supported national and international academic, governmental, and industry research across different disciplines, from fundamental science on the physiology of fish and bivalves to real world applications such as testing the effects of turbines on fish behaviour and developing techniques to improve culture practices of valuable species. The success of the Aquatron relies on the range of experimental conditions that can be manipulated and controlled in these facilities in order to test specific hypotheses. These controlled conditions allow for accurate replication of experiments and avoid the confounding effects of variables that cannot be controlled in field experiments. One of the key features of the Aquatron is that it can provide a stable supply of temperature-controlled seawater. Water temperature is key for marine life, affecting the performance of most species. The Aquatron Laboratory was designed with a series of heat exchangers and a chiller that can modify and control the temperature of the seawater that is directly pumped from the ocean; however, the main chiller is no longer functioning, which limits the capabilities of the Aquatron to run experiments in which low seawater temperature is a crucial variable. Given the need for controlled-temperature seawater, we request funds to purchase four compact chillers to substitute the old and damaged piece. Replacing the old unit with four compact chillers is not only economically sound, but provides greater versatility and risk management. The four independent small chillers will allow highly-adaptable configurations and will minimize the risk of total failure due to reliance on a single unit. The proposed equipment will be commonly used by at least 8 research projects, and will also remove technical barriers for further research. This improvement will guarantee the prolific training of high qualified personnel at the Aquatron, which has trained more than 76 students since 2012. Concluding, the proposed new chillers will provide the temperature-controlled conditions that are needed to perform experiments in low-temperature seawater, which will in turn guarantee the success of current and future experiments at the Aquatron Laboratory.

NSERC支持的达尔豪西大学的Aquatron实验室是加拿大最大的大学水生研究机构。这些设施包括六个大型储罐，包括一个直径15米、深3米的水池储罐和一个直径3米、深11米的水池储罐，以及各种较小的储罐、研究空间和设备。多年来，Aquatron一直支持不同学科的国家和国际学术，政府和行业研究，从鱼类和双壳类生理学的基础科学到真实的世界应用，例如测试涡轮机对鱼类行为的影响和开发技术以改善珍贵物种的养殖实践。Aquatron的成功依赖于这些设施中可以操纵和控制的实验条件的范围，以测试特定的假设。这些受控条件允许准确地复制实验，并避免在现场实验中无法控制的变量的混杂效应。Aquatron的主要特点之一是它可以提供稳定的温度控制海水供应。水温是海洋生物的关键，影响大多数物种的表现。Aquatron实验室设计有一系列热交换器和一个冷却器，可以修改和控制直接从海洋中抽取的海水的温度;然而，主冷却器不再起作用，这限制了Aquatron运行实验的能力，其中低海水温度是一个关键变量。鉴于需要控制温度的海水，我们请求提供资金，购买四台小型冷却器，以取代旧的和损坏的冷却器。用四台紧凑型冷水机组取代旧机组不仅经济合理，而且提供了更大的通用性和风险管理。四个独立的小型冷水机组将允许高度适应性的配置，并将最大限度地减少由于依赖单个机组而导致的完全故障的风险。拟议的设备将被至少8个研究项目共同使用，并将消除进一步研究的技术障碍。这一改进将保证Aquatron高素质人才的多产培训，自2012年以来已培训了76多名学生。最后，拟议的新冷却器将提供在低温海水中进行实验所需的温度控制条件，这反过来将保证Aquatron实验室当前和未来实验的成功。