PLASTICS MILL - The SeaVax project is an opportunity to open up robotics to new fronts. Our treatment system involves identifying plastic in seawater, such as to be able to engage the appropriate onboard machinery, hence operate these giant ocean dustcarts efficiently. The picture above is of one of our first test, 'shredding heads.' 

There are several stages of treatment that need to be monitored and coordinated electronically. Computers offer an effective and flexible method  of matching ship speed to a particular patch of plastic soup, while keeping the filtration and grading machinery operating at optimum levels. The processing power needed for these operations could easily be handled by an Arduino or Raspberry Pi micro-computer, though for the production ships, we may decide on other platforms. 

GET INVOLVED - We'd welcome ideas and practical experimental input from hobbyists, schools and colleges. If you would like to get involved please email the SeaVax project manager, Chris, using our contacts page.

In 2016 this was design 'uncharted' territory and the subject of much experimentation. The object of this exercise was to perfect a machine that can intelligently operate to suck up plastic, at the same time avoiding marine biota. To be able to do this any vacuum head must be equipped with a range of sensors to feed information of the local environment (the sea) to the computers that control the machinery that treats the ocean plastic waste.

In 2016 an experiment in our test tank proved that plastic could be extracted from water littered with plastic granules and chunks. The shredder seen here only served to grade the larger chunks of plastic. It was not efficient and would not suffice for ocean cleaning duties where bottles and other solid plastic would be removed from the sea prior to micro filtration, that is the real challenge once a fleet of ocean dustcarts is removing incoming, rather than accumulated micro-plastics in our gyres. A system would have to be developed from the starting point (shredder) shown on this page. See the infographic below as to the challenge.

The chart below gives you an indication of the size of the biota and the filtration stages that SeaVax would use to separate large plastic objects from micro plastic particles, as compared to the marine life that we are seeking to protect.

The most difficult stage in terms of seawater filtration is where phytoplankton and zooplankton is mixed with micro plastic particles, commonly called a 'plastic soup.' By far the simplest stage filter wise is Stage 1, where a mesh is all that is needed to transport bulky plastic items into a hopper for granulation. 

STAGE 1 - The Stage one mesh is small enough to prevent anything larger than a herring passing through and includes means of preventing fish from skipping onto the escalator, so ending up as sushi in the shredder.

STAGE 2 - Stage two is a variable opening low drag mesh that may be opened and closed in mouth size in relation to whatever water/life combination the SeaVax is sailing through. Zooplankton and phytoplankton may pass through this mesh, but not biota the size of krill, shrimps, anchovies or sardines.

STAGE 3 - Stage three is the most complex of the seawater filtration processes, involving computers and robotics allied to electronic sensors, to constantly tune hydro cyclonic and other devices to the medium that SeaVax is operating in. Pre and post chamber sensors read the seawater intake and exhaust to confirm that the operation is removing the micro plastic and not the biota, that would be returned to the ocean in good health.

Where a SeaVax may encounter a situation that it cannot tune itself to operate effectively, the craft may enter a standby mode, until conditions return to a more normal state.

The head seen below is also, just the starting point for future experiments where the shape and area of the existing funnel could be vastly improved so that SeaVax vehicles would be more efficient.

HEAD SHAPE - The swept area is important as well as the depth of operation. If the swept area is increased by a factor of two, then the potential for collection is doubled with each sweep of the ocean, though sweep in terms of moving through the water is somewhat confusing if you include currents. We are working to increase collector head area of the SeaVax. 

VARIABLE SELECTION - We are also working to define the ratio of final stage filtration to take into account the increase in energy needed as the particles become smaller. The area of theoretical area of any mesh increases if we are to keep our pumps running efficiently. The challenge is to be able to select the right area and mesh for the medium that SeaVax is operating in. The design of a self-cleaning variable mesh system in one of the next stages of evolution for SeaVax.

DIVERSION - The next challenge is to be able to siphon off (or divert) plastic from the flow taking advantage of the physical characteristics of the medium, while any marine life still present bypasses collection and returns to the sea unharmed. Before this stage, all efforts are to be made to avoid plastic soups with high concentrations of plankton - and to use other means to scare marine fauna away from the machinery.

Water filtration on an oceanic scale is thus not just limited to filtering water. The filtration strategy and deployment is just as important and the design of the machinery.

ROBOTIC VACUUM TECHNOLOGY

Robot machines are becoming more popular for domestic carpet cleaning and lawn mowing. Electrolux were one of the first into the market, with Dyson having joined in the fray in 2014 with their 360 Eye model. Some robots can even make the tea.

Where robot carpet cleaners plug into a mains supply for charging, a mobile, zero carbon cruiser needs to be fully autonomous if we do not want to create more pollution in any clean up process by using diesel or LNG. Using fossil fuels would also significantly reduce operating range from the need to constantly refuel. In any event, using diesel fuel would make any clean up effort way too expensive.

CONVENTIONAL SHREDDING MACHINES - A GOOD PLACE TO START

High-torque, slow-speed shredders combine ripping, breaking and shearing to grind larger chunks of flotsam that might be encountered. Industrial shredding mills are available that are designed to reduce the size of mixed bulky waste. The rotating heads need not turn more that 10-100 rpm and still cope with between 5-10 tons of plastic a day. You may see this as overkill, but in times of glut - such as in the middle of a rich plastic soup (north pacific gyre), it will speed up ocean cleaning if a SeaVax unit has a high capacity - and can deal with serious choking solids.

High-torque, slow-speed shredder systems on land can process between 10-80 tons per hour with up to 80% volume reduction. We are only looking to be able to process up to 10 tons per nautical mile in the most extremely polluted ocean regions. This will constitute a windfall find, that will test any transfer system, where a SeaVax needs to be operating as much of the time as possible, and not sitting in the sea waiting to be emptied. Thus a train of low cost transport barges, or ships, is just as important as the effectiveness of the mobile powerhouses that do the collecting. 

MULTI-STAGE HARVESTING HEAD

There will need to be several stages and methods of collecting the different types of waste. There is surface floating waste, such as from rivers - bottles, packaging and bags, and from ships - fishing nets and other larger industrial plastic products that will also need to be scooped from the ocean safely, then shredded.

Then there are the smaller particles that make up roughly 80% of the plastic in the 5, or is that really 7 gyres, including the one forming in the Arctic Ocean. We treat the North Pacific as two separate operational gyres. Other classification societies class the west and east swirling masses as one.

The smaller (macro) plastic bits float below the surface and various depths down to 3 meters. Shredding is not necessary, but we do not want to scoop up plankton or other small life-forms - just the plastic. The majority of plastic fragments are less than 1 cm in size – no bigger than your little fingernail – with a mass less than 0.15 g. This size particle will require a dedicated hydro-cyclonic chamber, or chambers. We don't want larger shredded waste passing through the hydro-cyclonic chambers. Smaller particles will need additional treatment. A similar technique is employed in the modern "dual-cyclone" vacuum cleaners made famous by Sir James Dyson. But vacuum cleaners do not have to shred solid articles such as bottles, nor can they.

EXPERIMENTAL HEAD NUMBER ONE - Uncannily, the development for our 'base-line' collector head looks for all the world like the wings of one of the Ancient Egyptian sky gods: Nut.  Even more of a coincidence is the fact that we have a sycamore tree in the grounds, where Nut is sometimes depicted by this tree.

To keep costs down and speed up this research, work experience crew, under the direction of our project director, Chris Close, were given the task of mocking up the drawings in 1:20th scale, in cardboard from the master AutoCad files. What could take hours working in metal, can be proven in minutes with a sharp craft knife and some Sellotape. Does anyone out there remember Blue Peter? Here's one we prepared earlier.

EXPERIMENTAL SHREDDER STAGE ONE - Looking a lot less Egyptian, the two cardboard developments are folded and taped together. The first of many test shredding heads (blue and alloy drum unit with tungsten blades on the lower left) fits neatly inside this underwater collector. The two tubes seen here suck in the water and any plastic particle soup that is collected by this head, then directs the mix into various treatment chambers for separation. The treatment sequence is at the moment proprietary information, so too the test results, once they are in. That is the reason we cannot go the whole hog. The shredding drum needs a motor to drive the blades at a speed, and with a force to be able to deal with tough plastic objects. We also need a safety cut out and clutching mechanism for when objects are encountered that may be harder than plastic. You'll love the off-the-shelf solution for this scale. See below.

ALUMINIUM PRODUCTION - Spare a though for all the mining engineers, the smelters, foundries and rolling mills that convert the chief ore - bauxite - into this fabulously versatile material. With all the effort of digging it up and processing it, mark it out carefully so as not to waste material. The measurements above make good use of the sheet material, while also leaving a margin for safe cutting.

Aluminium (or aluminum US) is a chemical element in the boron group with symbol Al and atomic number 13. It is a silvery-white, soft, non-magnetic, ductile metal. Aluminium is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon), and the most abundant metal in the Earth's crust. It makes up about 8% by weight of the Earth's solid surface. Aluminium metal is so chemically reactive that native specimens are rare and limited to extreme reducing environments. Instead, it is found combined in over 270 different minerals.

Aluminium is remarkable for the metal's low density and for its ability to resist corrosion due to the phenomenon of passivation. Structural components made from aluminium and its alloys are vital to the aerospace industry and are important in other areas of transportation and structural materials.

ALLOY SHEET - Now tested in cardboard, the developed dimensions are marked onto a sheet of aluminium alloy using a blue Staedtler Lumocolor permanent marker pen with a 1mm medium tip. We prefer 0.4mm pens, but they don't last long in a workshop environment. The 1mm tipped pens seem to go on and on. This particular blue pen was used to make a car body parts in 1997/8 - and the ink is still good. Most brands of pen would have dried up long ago. Note that there are two overlapping end plates with 20mm holes pre-drilled.

METAL FORMING - When designing for production, leave plenty of metal to make return folds, for welding, or riveting. The holes drilled in the end mounting plates are smaller in diameter than the suction tubing to allow for a lip to be  formed that will spread, rather then concentrate loads. This is a double thickness plate where the lip on the inner plate faces into the chamber - and the lip on the outer faces into the seawater. This arrangement, though time consuming in needing panel beating, will make the suction tube bond that much stronger. The suction tubes take most of the loads going aft to the main hull, to a heavy duty hinge. At the front end of the suction head, there will be a height adjustment mechanism, also sharing some of the loads of handling what will be the world's largest vacuum cleaning head or scoop. Joseph Bamford, the founder of JCB, would have been proud. JCB is a UK manufacturer of articulated earth moving equipment, in competition with Caterpillar who make mining and construction plant in the US.

JAWS - The two alloy blanks are further formed so that one sits on top of the other. We would not want to be plastic floating in the ocean with this huge mouth bearing down on us. Fish and other fauna are rather more safe. Just like Bruce the shark in Finding Nemo, this robotic fisherman, will take an electronic oath not to treat fish as food, but as friends. This giant head, will be equipped with sensors to differentiate micro plastic from plankton. The bigger floating plastic is more easy to spot, as are larger fish and mammals, such as to avoid swallowing them. Split beam sonar is capable of identifying small particles. Other sensors will tell SeaVax robots the alkalinity, salinity, temperature and provide information of other elements present in a gyre.

MANTA RAY - You can see from the shape of the collector head and throat size in proportion to body width and length, why the prototype SeaVax is to be christened the Manta Ray. Once a perfect fit-up is achieved, the two folded sections will be joined - in this case with low-profile pop rivets. An internal divider will double as the mounting for the shredding head, that is a variable speed unit.

NUT (SKY GOD) - In Ancient Egyptian history, Nut is a daughter of Shu and Tefnut. She has five children: Osiris, Set, Isis, Nephthys and Horus. Her name is translated to mean 'sky' and she is considered one of the oldest deities among the Egyptian pantheon, with her origin being found on the creation story of Heliopolis. She was originally the goddess of the nighttime sky, but eventually became referred to as simply the sky goddess. Her headdress was the hieroglyphic of part of her name, a pot, which may also symbolize the uterus. Mostly depicted in nude human form, Nut was also sometimes depicted in the form of a cow whose great body formed the sky and heavens, a sycamore tree, or as a giant sow, suckling many piglets (representing the stars).

The Ancient Egyptians believed that a solar boat carried the sun around the back of the earth at sunset, bringing it back in the morning for sunrise.

HORUS - Horus served many functions in the Egyptian pantheon, most notably being a god of the sun, war and protection. You might possibly see the visual connection we made when making the suction head for SeaVax proof of concept model.

OSIRUS - Osiris was considered not only a merciful judge of the dead in the afterlife, but also the underworld agency that granted all life, including sprouting vegetation and the fertile flooding of the Nile River. He was described as the "Lord of Love", "He Who is Permanently Benign and Youthful" and the "Lord of Silence". The Kings of Egypt were associated with Osiris in death — as Osiris rose from the dead they would, in union with him, inherit eternal life through a process of imitative magic. We liken this to the Circular Economy.

ISIS - Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic. She was the friend of slaves, sinners, artisans and the downtrodden, but she also listened to the prayers of the wealthy, maidens, aristocrats and rulers.

POWER TRANSMISSION - It is important to have the correct drum speed and torque. On a limited budget we raided our electrical and mechanical spares boxes to find motors and gearboxes that might be suitable. The matching alloy pinion from a power plane had to be re-engineered to fit our motor/gearbox solution. We'd normally use a lathe to ream out the old thread on this cog, but it had a machined flat end, so could be fixed in our 'Nippy' pillar drill vice. A quality tungsten steel tap was then used to cut a fine metric thread. A lathe would give us slightly better results if this was a precision high-speed assembly, but in fact the machined cog fitted to this unit as it came off the factory line, was not running 100% true anyway. Something that the manufacturers might note. In other words, we'd do better making our own cogs. A pillar drill is also a useful tool for tapping an accurate thread.

We found several beefy dc motors, from 6-24 volts - all of which could have done the job with suitable controls. We also found a number of gearboxes that fitted the bill, but eventually settled on an epicyclic gearbox from a hand-held cordless drill. Robot engineers love epicyclic gearboxes for this reason.

EPICYCLIC GEARS - Planetary gear trains provide high power density in comparison to standard parallel axis gear trains. They provide a reduction volume, multiple kinematic combinations, purely torsional reactions, and coaxial shafting. Disadvantages include high bearing loads, constant lubrication requirements, inaccessibility, and design complexity.

The load in a planetary gear train is shared among multiple planets, therefore torque capability is greatly increased and the gearbox is lighter. The more planets in the system, the greater the load ability and the higher the torque density, but also the higher the energy losses. 

The efficiency loss in a planetary gear train is in the range of 3-6% per stage dependent on proper configuration, compared to a chain drive which loses about 2-3% per stage (98% efficient). But this type of gearbox ensures that a high proportion of the energy being input is transmitted through the gearbox for a compact unit, with comparatively low mechanical losses - provided that such a unit is well lubricated. As any engineer knows, each bearing soaks up energy and lubrication oil uses energy as it is pumped around cog teeth, but lubrication is essential.

The trade off is that an electric motor operates far more efficiently when it is spinning fast, rather than stalled, when it draws high amperages that can rapidly drain a battery. The worst drive transfer of any type of gear is a worm drive where the efficiency can be as low as 20%.

BELT PULLEYS - The simplest pulley is probably that used to drive an alternator on a car, also used on a lot of farm machinery because the belts are cheap to make. The belts used prior to about 1980 were mostly 'V' shaped in section, running in a 'V' in the pulleys. On vehicles today multiple grooved belts are used for increased life and efficiency, where such belts are more flexible and because of the increased contact area, can carry more load for the same occupied space. When greater loads need to be transferred, such as from a crankshaft to a camshaft on a petrol engine, a toothed belt is preferable and more efficient, losing around 5-8% in the process - but then all rotational energy transfers cause an energy loss. Even the simple connecting rods on old steam locomotives.

Pulleys are locked onto the shafts of rotating machinery using slots cut into shafts, square ended mountings and lock-nuts. The smaller pulley seen in the left hand picture above screws onto the shaft using a conventional clockwise thread, with a centre screw that is threaded counter-clockwise, so being self tightening, to prevent the pulley coming off.

MKI TEST RIG - ABOVE on the left is a ribbed belt that is also toothed with a thick outer rim. This belt is designed to carry loads of 600 watts for a power plane and to cope with high-speed jams. It is more than capable for our purposes. On the right is the modified housing from a power plane. We've blanked off the usual exhaust/extractor side tube with an alloy cap and machined two fresh exit holes that line up with our transfer tubes. The blue casing is made of a very strong reinforced ABS plastic, which in this case is a joy to work with.

SHREDDING MILL - The shredding mill is the first stage of filtration in this experimental suction head. That is because we've skipped a couple of stages upstream and downstream, just to be able to demonstrate the principle for potential backers to be able to see for themselves, the robotic vacuum cleaning boat in action. At this stage it does not matter that there are no safeguards or that the head is not as efficient as it might be when technically fully loaded and specifically designed to deal with a large variety of plastic waste. This setup is not the ideal, but it was cheap to make. Roboteers will immediately recognize the cordless drill motor and transmission. The brushed motor shown here (above & below) is to be replaced with a brushless motor that is waterproof. In the pictures elsewhere on this page you can see the gear components of the innocuous looking black housing in between the motor and belt drive cog.

The mill as it is shown here would be useless without the guides and static steel striking plates against which the tungsten blades can work, without harming the plastic housing or alloy suction head. Bear in mind that this is only a 'proof of concept' project. We are not designing this boat to cruise for years on end without attention.

WOODEN MOTOR MOUNT - The mill motor will be cushion mounted in this treated softwood cradle. Two metal straps will pass over the motor and mount and screw into the steel of the base to hold the drive solid. Drive belt adjustment may be effected by inserting shims. Belt stretch is not anticipated with the low level of use this model will see. The wood is to be sealed, primed and painted matt black.

WHY BRUSHLESS MOTORS? - A brushless motor loses the brushes and the commutator and the locations of the magnets and windings are reversed: The magnets are on the conventional motor shaft and the copper windings of the armature are fixed and surround the shaft. Instead of brushes and a commutator, a small circuit board coordinates the energy delivery to the windings. Brushless motors are typically around 80% efficient, brushed motors such as the Mabuchi unit shown above are nearer 50%.

Because the electronics communicate directly with the stationary windings, the tool adjusts according to the task - which is why companies market these as "smarter" tools. For example, if you're using a brushless drill to drive screws into Styrofoam, it more readily senses the lack of resistance (compared with a brushed motor) and begins to pull only what little charge it needs from the battery. If the tool then starts putting 3-inch screws into mahogany, it will adjust accordingly and draw more current. By contrast, a brushed motor will always run as fast as it can while in use.

In addition, brushless motors can be more powerful overall. Because the copper windings are on the outside of the motor configuration, there is room to make them larger. Brushless motors also don't have the friction and voltage drop that brushes create by dragging against the spinning commutator. This physical contact results in a continuous energy loss during the operating process.

Since brushes are designed to rub against revolving internal motor parts, they wear out in time. That’s just the way it is, and if brushes aren’t replaced in time, any motor will be ruined with continued use, but one of the main advantages is that the brushless motor is around 40% more efficient, meaning that it can drill 40% more holes if, for example, fitted in a cordless drill.

PERMANENT MAGNET MOTORS - Power and space are at a premium in cordless tools, so the stators in brushed cordless models contain permanent magnets instead of windings because magnets are smaller and do not require power. Such permanent-magnet motors can be highly efficient if they contain strong rare-earth magnets. Among the qualities of permanent-magnet motors are good low-speed torque and magnetic self-braking action.

Electronic commutation. A brushless motor - also called an electronically commutated (EC) motor - is essentially a permanent-magnet motor turned inside-out; it has electromagnetic windings on the stator and permanent magnets in the rotor. The magnets require no power, so there is no need for brushes and a commutator.

Since it lacks the mechanical switching provided by a rotating commutator, a brushless motor enlists a microprocessor (a tiny onboard computer) to provide electronic switching in a process called electronic commutation. The position of the rotor is monitored by the electronics, which time the electrical pulses to the electromagnets in the rotor, thereby controlling the direction and speed of the motor.

BRUSHLESS MOTOR QUALITIES - A number of tool-company engineers and product managers were interviewed to get their take on brushless cordless tool motors. The one thing that everybody agreed on is as follows.

Efficiency - Brushless motors are more efficient because there is no friction loss from brushes rubbing against a commutator, and because electronic commutation (computer control) is more precise than mechanical commutation. The higher efficiency of these motors makes for greater power and longer runtime than a conventional motor of the same size.

Performance - Brushless motors run cooler, quieter, and with less vibration. The absence of brush arcing reduces radio frequency and electrical noise that can interfere with electronics. Unlike brushed motors, which are often wired to be more powerful running forward, brushless motors are equally powerful in either direction.

Durability - Brushless motors are more durable because there are no brushes to wear out. The lack of electrified windings on the rotor reduces heat at the core of the tool, where it’s more difficult for it to dissipate. To prevent the electronic controls from being damaged, some manufacturers encase them in plastic (or “pot” them) to protect them from dust and moisture for the life of the tool.

Design - Brushless motors have a greater power density, so for a given level of output they can be smaller and lighter than conventional motors. Since these motors are electronically controlled, it’s easy to add performance features such as multiple speed settings, soft-start, and soft-fade when the tool is switched off.

Simply replacing a standard motor with a brushless one won’t automatically boost performance. To improve the tool, it is necessary to treat the motor, control electronics, and battery as an integrated system.

SHEET METAL FORMING - There is no magic to making large or small parts accurately - it is down to the marking out and cutting skills of the fabricator - unless you have CAD-CAM, laser cutters, etc. The same cardboard template formula works in miniature. We needed to make another blanking plate for the other end of the mill. This time it was not round, so would be a trickier operation, but, provided the measurements are marked correctly, and the craftsman has some experience of forming parts from sheet metal, anything is possible. The blank on the left is marked out roughly using a cardboard template and cut ready for more folding. The outer rim is beaten to form a large diameter radius and folded over with a planishing hammer. The inner diameter tabs are then folded up and a step formed on one side to match that in the ABS mill housing. The alloy component is then drilled to accept hardened steel screws, for fixing.

PLASTIC MILL BLANKING PLATE - The partly formed plate is offered up to the slot into which it must be a tight fit. It is far too large at this stage and must be adjusted (fettled) until it fits perfectly. Use pliers with smooth jaws to make rough corrections, then beat with small hammers and finally file the edges so that the plate sits inside the housing to create a water tight fit.

SCREW FIXINGS - When you are happy with the seating, the plate can be screwed into place. Only three screws were needed in this case as the fit was so good (an interference fit), that it was extremely difficult to remove the plate to be able to drill the plastic housing for the fixing screws. It did not need fixing screws, but better safe than sorry.

We'll be dealing with the static steel striker plates next. The rotating drum will work plastic against the steel striking plates, as it chops it into small pieces. The clearance between the steel plate(s) to the tungsten blades determines the size of plastic that is allowed through to the next stage of filtration. The full size ship will use a more sophisticated shredding arrangement - but the concept is similar in principle. The mill housing has been reinforced with alloy plates, clips and clamps and will be further beefed up with chrome steel mountings. These parts are not shown above.

SAFETY SCOOP and SCREENING

We don't want animals such as fish or marine mammals entering the system. That means installing sensors and warning systems, and finally, if an animal ignores such admonition, a shut off fail safe. Unavoidably, some smaller organisms will get through and may become a casualty of ocean waste, the design brief is to keep potential casualties to an absolute minimum.

CRADLE & SWIVEL - The cradle assembly seen above is part of the revolving display stand for Innovate 2015. The ocean cleaning cyclonic chambers pass through the cradle, while the base plate holds the proof of concept model firmly. This is upside down in the picture above.

SEAVOLUTION

The final configuration is guaranteed to be very far removed from anything that we publish before IP rights are applied for. We can say that because the design has already evolved significantly, as we have identified and overcome problems that could not possibly have been anticipated, save for experimentation, compared to our first jottings from January 2015.

Cofine machinery is a hi-tech company and professional research development company concerned with Plastic crushers, shredders and Plastic Granulating Machines:

Tel:0086-512-58662047
Fax:0086-512-58529822
Moblie:0086-15962471168
E-mail:ceo@cofinemachine.com

http://www.cofinemachine.com/

Our love affair with plastic is choking the oceans. Once people know about it, they want to stop it. But how? The next question is who? Obviously, if any of the researchers involved so far had come up with a solution, they would have sorted it years ago. We are a practical think-tank fresh to the issue and without a budget. We hope to be able to collaborate with other marine organisations that are funded for this work, or who have funds to investigate viable projects. You cannot donate to us directly on this site, but we hope to identify partner sites shortly where you can support a project much like that proposed herein, or better still, our own practical experiments. Volunteer Careers.

ACIDIFICATION - ADRIATIC - ARCTIC - ATLANTIC - BALTIC - BERING - CARIBBEAN - CORAL - EAST CHINA

ENGLISH CH - GOC - GULF MEXICO - INDIAN - IRC - MEDITERRANEAN - NORTH SEA - PACIFIC - PERSIAN GULF - SEA JAPAN

STH CHINA - PLASTIC - PLANKTON - PLASTIC OCEANS - SEA LEVEL RISE - UNCLOS - UNEP WOC - WWF

SEAVAX DRONE JANUARY 2015 - Head-on view of the ocean going mobile cleansing unit. The design of the scoop and shredding head is all important if these robotic machines are to be efficient. This is a draft proposal for a design that is cost effective and yet still a practical vacuum-pump based ocean sweeping ship.

Solid waste is moved into a large holding bay after treatment and compression, then stored until it can be off-loaded onto transport barges. In this way the specialized cleaning robots can work more or less continuously.

The ship carries two large wind turbines that generate electricity in combination with deck mounted solar panels (shown here in blue) to power the onboard machinery. Processing takes a lot of energy, calling for a very high output mobile generator - which is what the patent ZCC concept is all about.

A SeaVax would operate best using a fleet search program called SeaNet, an example of which is seen on the SeaNet page.

JANUARY 2015 - Plan view of the SeaVax concept, showing the basics of the shredding head and scoop that funnels plastic garbage towards the rotating cutters. A SeaVax is basically a solar powered vacuum cleaner, except that the brushes that are normally used to sweep a carpet, are replaced with steel shredding drums that are specially designed to cope with plastic bottles, bags and rope. There is nothing available off-the-shelf, unfortunately. As mentioned above, this is uncharted territory design-wise.

EARLY DAYS - Side view of the earliest SeaVax concept showing the scoop head and lead in guides that funnel plastic waste to the shredding mill. This design was the subject of ongoing development leading to the current configuration. Some drawings may not correspond with earlier versions. The only thing stopping us from building a working full size prototype is funding. We'll prove the concept first in 1/20th scale before progressing to a full size prototype. 2016 may be the year that sees some serious effort to clean up our oceans.

This website is Copyright © 2015 Bluebird Marine Systems Ltd.   The names Bluebird™, Bluefish™, Miss Ocean™, EuroStation™, SeaNet™, SeaVax™  and the blue bird and fish in flight logos are  trademarks.  CONTACTS   The color blue is a protected feature of the trademarks.