Floating System for Automatic Handling of Aquaculture Feeders

In this article, a floating system is proposed for the automatic handling of aquaculture feeders. The design considers the specific requirements of a real shrimp pond, including small size, component accessibility, load capacity, feeder plate handling capacity, and battery-powered operation. The automatic plate handler features a main rotor, whose angular position is controlled by a Proportional-Integral (PI) controller, which is fixed to the floating base. It also includes two secondary rotors on reels that hold the plates. The kinematic analysis of this handler was validated by comparing simulated and experimental results under laboratory conditions, considering a typical operating routine. Finally, the structural stability was determined by examining the relationship between the center of gravity, center of buoyancy, and metacenter. Additionally, the structure's load capacity was evaluated through Von Mises stress simulations and experimentally by adding load to the real structure.