What makes the AquaMaof RAS technology easy to maintain?

Guy Alon | Customer Operation and Service Manager

22.04.2021

AquaMaof is rooted in the world of fish production, so our people truly understand not only the importance of maintaining these systems, but also the high cost and extensive manpower resources that maintenance entails. Maintenance-intensive facilities require more well-trained staff, which these days is hard to find. That’s why, as we have developed our Recirculating Aquaculture System (RAS) technology, we have placed – and continue to place – great emphasis on finding ways to make maintenance easier and less expensive for facility operators to carry out.

From a design point of view, we do this in three key ways:

Reducing the number of components

The more complex a RAS system is, the more complex and expensive it is to maintain. That’s why our goal is to constantly reduce the number of components in our system. What’s more, while most traditional RAS systems can only scale up by linearly increasing the number of components, our systems are inherently scalable so, even in large installations, we can expand their various capacities without adding additional components, to preserve the low, simple level of maintenance required.

Smart selection of components

We choose components that consume less electricity and also include fewer moving parts, so that they will require less routine maintenance. Preventative maintenance tends to be simpler and cheaper than reactive maintenance – repairing broken components usually requires urgent attention, and expensive, specialist, complicated treatment. We continuously test the various components within our system, identifying those that have a higher tendency to break down, and working to upgrade them with more reliable and robust alternatives.

Locating components that require maintenance together

We ensure that components that require maintenance are concentrated in central locations, rather than being scattered around the installation (which can be very large). This facilitates and greatly simplifies maintenance work and also protects the infrastructure from unnecessary disturbance. By making these component parts more accessible, we also reduce the amount of time it takes to carry out maintenance.

In addition to these design-level efforts, we have built simple and easy maintenance into almost every part of the AquaMaof system. For example:

• Settlers

In most traditional RAS systems, the settling process occurs in drum filter systems with a given volume, and the entire technology design is built around these pre-defined capabilities. To expand the installation, additional drum filters must be brought in, complicating maintenance operations and making them more costly. With AquaMaof technology, the settlers are designed according to operational need, and can be increased or decreased as required, without adding additional units. The settlers themselves are simple to maintain – unlike drum filters, they do not have moving parts, so they’re less likely to break down.

• Circulation Pumps

In traditional RAS systems, there are typically several pumps with small volumes scattered throughout the facility, requiring cumbersome maintenance processes. AquaMaof’s technology uses a limited number of pumps with a higher capacity to move water through the system, and those pumps are centrally located to enable efficient and simple maintenance.

• Harvesting Channel

Compared to using harvesting vacuums, the harvesting channel method we have developed makes it easier to move fish from tank to tank, while also requiring simpler, less expensive maintenance.

• Heating and cooling of water

The volume of water in the AquaMaof system creates a thermal mass effect that reduces the load on the system during hours when temperature differences are high. As a result, the system is not required to deal with temperature extremes and, in the event of a fault, a longer reaction time is enabled.
In addition, the fact that AquaMaof technology uses components that consume less energy than alternative systems means that less heat energy is emitted within the facility, so less cooling action is required.

In conclusion, when we come to design a RAS facility, we think first and foremost about its operational aspects, including the issue of maintenance. We work to reduce the need for maintenance operations at all, but when they are required, we ensure that they are as uncomplicated and inexpensive as possible.

The simplicity of maintaining facilities that use AquaMaof technology has also enabled us to introduce advanced disciplines for remote support – for example, using smart glasses. Advances such as these enable us to support our customer’s staff remotely in real-time, while they physically handle the components. This is part of our overarching concept of supporting our customers in the day-to-day operation and maintenance of their facility, to help them achieve maximum economic performance, as quickly as possible.