Vietnamese scientists create devices to turn seawater into snow ice

After two minutes of starting the system, the seawater pumped into liquid stone. Depending on the needs, users can adjust the density of the stone.

Scientists from the Center for High Technology Development, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology on November 22 announced that the snow ice making system has been approved by the General Department of Fisheries and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. recognized as technical progress in the agricultural sector of the fisheries sector.

This system was successfully implemented by scientists after 18 months of research and design, can be used directly to create sea ice to preserve offshore fishing seafood.

With this new technology, instead of ship owners having to buy freshwater ice from the mainland, then grind it or leave it in the cold storage space on the ship, now only need to install the system on the ship, pumping sea water running Go through the cooler and the output will be snow ice.

Ice making machine installed and tested at Bach Long Vi fishing port.(Photo: PP).

Master Le Van Luan, a member of the research team, said that the advantage of the sea ice making system compared to the traditional freshwater ice is that this technology has created the product of snow ice. In terms of morphology, liquid rock is a mixture of small ice crystals and water, which is maintained in the temperature range of - 6 degrees Celsius to -2 degrees Celsius. This is a transition state between liquid and solid phases should be It is possible to pump from liquid rock chamber to storage tanks or fish storage compartments on board.

Time for liquid stone products is also very short. Seawater pumped directly into the system through the recirculating tank into the cooling chamber, the output is ice products. That is, only a few seconds after starting the system, the output will be snow.

Despite rapid cooling, the melting of liquid rock is much slower than freshwater ice. The density of liquid rock can also be adjusted automatically according to user needs.

Because the stone is pumped from the machine to the storage chamber, the ship owner will not have to waste more workers to crush, spread stone, and reduce the cost without affecting the quality of the fish due to the sharp edge of the stone hitting the scratches in the process. preservation.

Model of snow ice machine is installed on the deck.

To save installation space, the team designed the product as removable modules. The stone production section is placed on the deck, the compressor and refrigeration section is placed in the engine tunnel, the control part is placed on the ship's cabin.

The automatic control software is integrated to adjust the temperature according to different fish compartments, users only need to adjust the temperature on the control panel. It also has a system to alert itself when an error occurs on the screen to let fishermen know which parts need repair.

The team also set up software to calculate how many tons of stone the system has made, consuming how much oil and electricity for the user to balance.

The project's snow ice making machine currently has a capacity of 1,250kg / 24h, however the actual demand on fishing vessels for each sea voyage requires a storage amount of 50-60 tons. To achieve the machine needs greater productivity, corresponding to about 5,000kg / 24h.

To meet the actual needs, scientists at the High-tech Development Center are carrying out a state-level scientific task to research and produce snow ice making machines with a capacity of up to 10 tons / 24h. .

Mr. Luan said that products with similar quality imported but cheap price is only half. Since the device is installed on the ocean-going vessel, scientists also calculate the choice of corrosion-resistant materials to ensure the durability of the product.

The diagram describes the details of the snow ice making system from seawater.