Study On Overall Design And Propulsion Performance Of Kelp Harvesting Platform

With the increasing usage and matured farming techniques of kelp,the scale and production of kelp farming have been continuously expanding year by year.However,kelp farming is a labor-intensive industry that has long faced issues such as low standardization,high labor intensity,and poor working conditions.In recent years,labor shortages have led to a sharp increase in production costs.Developing mechanized harvesting equipment is an effective solution to these problems,and thus,mechanical kelp harvesting has become a development trend.Researching and developing large-scale kelp harvesting equipment can improve harvesting efficiency,free up labor,realize mechanization,promote the gradual mechanization process of China’s kelp harvesting methods,and achieve sustainable development of the kelp industry.This article is based on the research needs of a school-enterprise cooperation project,analyzing the characteristics of kelp farming in Weihai waters,and combining with ship design principles to propose a general design scheme for a kelp harvesting platform.It also explains the design selection of major equipment such as the platform’s hull,conveying device,harvesting device,and propulsion device.The platform adopts a catamaran structure,which effectively guarantees the buoyancy of the kelp harvesting platform and provides sufficient deck area for the installation of kelp harvesting equipment.The propulsion device adopts a tracked paddle wheel structure,which can effectively prevent kelp,seaweed,and farming facilities from entangling with the propulsion device.Computational fluid dynamics software is used to analyze the resistance of the kelp harvesting platform,simulate and calculate the resistance of the platform at different sailing speeds,and analyze its force situation.As the propulsion device of the kelp harvesting platform does not use the common propeller as the propulsion device,but chooses the tracked paddle wheel structure as the propulsion device,which is relatively uncommon,this article analyzes its thrust and propulsion efficiency through theoretical research and numerical simulation analysis.It also analyzes the impact of blade shape,area,number,and spacing on the performance of the propulsion device.The analysis shows that different blade shapes have different propulsion efficiencies when the water-facing surface area is the same;the blade area and thrust change in a positive correlation,and the thrust increases with the increase of the blade area;while the blade number and thrust are not positively correlated.According to the results of numerical simulation analysis,the thrust will gradually increase to a maximum value as the number of blades increases,and then decrease when the number of blades continues to increase.The blade thrust is maximum when the number of blades is 14.The design parameters of the track roller are determined through numerical simulation analysis and applied to the actual ship.Currently,the prototype of the kelp harvesting platform has been launched,and the platform’s operation is good,greatly improving the kelp harvesting efficiency and environment.