WO2022195136A1 - Frozen food feeder for aquariums - Google Patents

Abstract

A frozen food feeder for aquariums. Consisting of a device for the monitoring and programming of the circulation and refrigeration of the food and the cleaning and recirculation of the water, characterised in that it comprises: a control panel (1); a storage system; a pumping system with three subsystems driven by peristaltic pumps (8), where one of these carries the food from the canister (2) to the aquarium, another recirculates the water from the sump to the aquarium, sharing part of the loop with the thrust of the aforementioned pump in order to render the loops clean, and the third creates a recirculation within the food canister (2); and a refrigeration system, all the aforesaid within an enveloping structure (9).

Description

FROZEN FOOD FEEDER FOR AQUARIUMS

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a dispenser for phytoplankton, zooplankton and frozen food in aquariums. It comes to solve the problem of being able to automate the process of supplying food in an aquarium, for a long period of time, from thawed food and maintaining very high temperature and quality conditions.

The device has several pump systems, each with specific functions, ranging from the circulation of food to the aquarium, a recirculation inside the tank where the stored food is, to the recirculation of water from the sump to the aquarium, in addition to have its own refrigeration and control system.

The industrial application of this invention is found within aquarium food dispensing systems and devices, and more specifically, food dispensers with refrigeration and programming.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Although no invention identical to the one described has been found, we present below the documents found that reflect the state of the art related to it.

Thus, the document ES2422878A1 refers to a food dispenser for fish in aquariums, preferably and fundamentally intended to dose previously thawed food and even granulated dry food, comprising a submersible box in the aquarium, which includes several shelves at different heights, determining as many other horizontal areas successively communicated with each other and vertically, as a cascade and alternately, including a lower compartment where a pump is mounted that sucks water from the aquarium itself in which the box is submerged, driving said water inside the box to distribute and push the food through the areas established by the shelves, causing the exit of said foods into the aquarium itself, characterized in that the pump is connected to an external cyclical timer with two timers, whose operation establishes, in one case, the time interval for dispensing the food, and in another case, the activation time of the pump to push the water inside the box and drag the food from the upper shelf to the hole provided for this purpose in the area delimited by the lower shelf and the bottom under the box. that the bomb is located; having foreseen that said pump is connected to an external tube that runs laterally along one of the sides of the box, which tube is connected, by means of an upper bridge, to another established on the opposite side, said lateral tubes presenting smaller diameter horizontal branches in correspondence with the areas delimited by the shelves and connected in holes provided in those side walls. Unlike the main invention, this food dispenser does not comprise a group of peristaltic pumps with specific functions for each one, nor a refrigeration circuit to keep the food at a low temperature.

ES2660064T3 describes a procedure for measuring the density of zooplankton in situ in an aqueous solution, the procedure comprising: - obtaining, at least, an image of a volume V of the aqueous solution; - process at least one image, and identify particles in the image; - analyze the identified particles based on the sharpness of each particle, and - identify the zooplankton to be counted; wherein analyzing the sharpness of each particle further comprises: - drawing a boundary of each identified particle, - calculating an intensity gradient for each pixel along the boundary of each particle from at least one image , based on a rate of change of intensity between neighboring pixels, and characterized by - calculating an average intensity gradient of all pixels along the boundary of each particle. In this case it is a procedure, not a device, which also aims to measure the density of zooplankton, not to supply food to an aquarium.

EP1713322A1 proposes a device for dispensing and distributing food for aquatic fauna, to be installed in aquariums or containers to contain live fish, but also in tanks for turtles or terrariums in general or the like, said device comprising a tank and means for pushing the food towards a output of dispensed, for which a) said tank is located in a substantially horizontal direction and houses a mixer-pusher constituted by a horizontal shaft; and b) said dispensing outlet has a substantially vertical opening for discharging the food in a horizontal direction; comprising the following combination of elements: c) said shaft is equipped with a plurality of inclined blades all oriented in the same direction as the direction in which the food is pushed towards the dispensing outlet; d) said mixer-pusher occupies practically the entire internal volume of said tank, thus allowing said blades to perform a complete food mixing operation. This dispensing device, however, does not contemplate keeping food at a low temperature.

Conclusions: As can be deduced from the investigation carried out, none of the documents found solves the problems raised as the proposed invention does.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The frozen food feeder for aquariums object of the present invention is constituted from a machine or device that comprises three main blocks or subsystems: storage system, pumping system, and refrigeration system.

The storage system comprises the tank or glass where the food is stored at a low temperature (between 2 and 9 ^o C), and it is embedded in a cylindrical shell with a cooling spiral of the refrigeration system. Said cooling container comprises a drain for collecting possible condensates inside the refrigeration circuits.

The glass has a threaded top lid, preventing the entry of oxygen as much as possible, and is made of transparent material to be able to see the amount inside.

As for the refrigeration system, it includes a low-temperature compressor with Freon R134A refrigerant gas, a condensing battery, a pressure switch, an evaporation battery, and a food temperature control thermostat. The pumping system is in turn divided into three recirculation subsystems, all of them by means of peristaltic pumps, one of which is responsible for bringing the food to the aquarium from the glass, another recirculates the water from the sump to the aquarium, sharing part of the circuit with impulsion of the previous pump to leave the circuits clean, and a third subsystem creates a recirculation inside the glass of food, so that it does not remain stagnant at the bottom.

The entire system has a control panel, both for the pumps and the cooling system, to program the feeding, cleaning and recirculation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS For a better understanding of this description, some drawings are attached that represent a preferred embodiment of the present invention:

Figure 1: Conventional schematic perspective view of the frozen food feeder for aquariums object of the present invention.

Figure 2: Conventional perspective schematic view of the three main blocks of the frozen food feeder for aquariums object of the present invention.

Figure 3: Schematic plan view of the frozen food feeder for aquariums object of the present invention with two cups.

The numerical references that appear in said figures correspond to the following constituent elements of the invention:

1. Dashboard

2. glass

3. Cylindrical shell

4. Spiral cooling

5. Lid

6. Compressor

7. Food temperature control thermostat

8. Peristaltic pumps

9. Container structure DESCRIPTION OF A PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A preferred embodiment of the frozen food feeder for aquariums object of the present invention, with reference to the numerical references, can be based on a device for the control and programming of the circulation and refrigeration of the food, cleaning and recirculation of the water by means of a control panel. control (1), and internally it comprises three main blocks or subsystems: storage system, pumping system, and refrigeration system. All this within a container structure (9).

The storage system comprises a 40 centiliter tank or glass (2) where the food is at 9°C thanks to a cylindrical shell (3) with a cooling spiral (4) of the refrigeration system, in which it is stuffed. Said cooling container comprises a drain to collect any possible condensate inside.

The glass (2) has a threaded top lid (5), made of transparent material to be able to see the amount inside.

The refrigeration system includes a low-temperature compressor (6) with Freon R134A refrigerant gas, a condensing battery, a pressure switch, an evaporation battery, and a food temperature control thermostat (7).

The pumping system is divided into three recirculation subsystems, all of them by means of peristaltic pumps (8), one of which is responsible for bringing the food to the aquarium from the glass (2), another recirculates the water from the sump to the aquarium sharing part of the circuit with the drive of the previous pump to leave the circuits clean, and a third subsystem creates a recirculation inside the glass (2) of food, so that it does not remain stagnant at the bottom.

In a different embodiment, the feeding device has a second vessel (2'), also cooled by the refrigeration system, to be able to combine and alternate between different types of live food (rotifers, phytoplankton, etc.).

In this variant, the pumping system comprises a further peristaltic pump (8), for parallel recirculation within the new vessel (2').

Claims

1.- Frozen food feeder for aquariums, consisting of a device for the control and programming of the circulation and cooling of the food, cleaning and recirculation of the water, characterized by comprising a control panel (1), a storage system, a system pumping, and a cooling system, all within a container structure (9). 2. Feeder of frozen food for aquariums, according to claim 1, where the storage system comprises a tank or glass (2) with a threaded upper lid (5) and of transparent material, where the food is at low temperature, and said base (2) is embedded in a cylindrical shell (3) with cooling spiral (4) coming from the refrigeration system, and drainage. 3. Frozen food feeder for aquariums, according to claims 1 and 2, where the refrigeration system comprises a low-temperature compressor (6) with refrigerant gas, a condensing battery, a pressure switch, an evaporation battery, and a thermostat. food temperature control (7). 4.- Frozen food feeder for aquariums, according to claims 1 to 3, where the pumping system comprises three recirculation subsystems, all of them by means of peristaltic pumps (8), and one of them carries the food to the aquarium from the glass (2 ), another recirculates the water from the sump to the aquarium, sharing part of the circuit with the drive of the previous pump to leave the circuits clean, and the third creates a recirculation inside the glass (2) of food. 5. Frozen food feeder for aquariums, according to claims 1 to 4, where, in a different embodiment, the feeding device comprises a second glass (2'), also cooled by the refrigeration system, and an additional peristaltic pump (8) .