Does Your Salmon Have Lice?

One method includes treatment aboard a ship using pumps to spray the salmon down and force the sea lice to detach before being filtered out. A salmon farming company in Maine recently received a prototype of this system from Norway and had to make some adjustments to make it fit the farm’s needs. The farm contracted SGC Engineering to design the power system and support the installation of the treatment system. During this process, SGC was asked to make modifications to the salmon delousing system. The customer needed the work done within only seven days. This gave the engineers little time to assess the existing system, design the modifications, source and acquire the parts, and then assemble and install the additions. One of SGC’s electrical engineers, Blaine Williams, took up the task. Two additions needed to be made to the ship and this delousing system. The first was to add a conveyor system to remove large debris from water pumped into the ship’s tanks. After running the seawater through a filter, this conveyor would carry things such as driftwood and other larger items out of the ship. The second addition was to add additional pumps and control to the actual treatment system to make it work as desired. This all had to be integrated into the existing automation systems on board the ship to the client’s specifications.

“I had never had to design a cabinet, program VFDs, and install them and make them work in such a short amount of time,” Blaine explains. He started looking for where to find his parts in a timely manner without sacrificing on cost or quality and ultimately ended up on FactoryMation’s web store. The web store made it convenient for Blaine to find everything he needed in one place. Almost more importantly, it had drawings that he could import into CAD for the products he needed such as the FMX Tough Drive variable frequency drives. Blaine was able to start designing his controls before even receiving the products thanks to this content. “I could do my layout, my bill of materials, and have all of the engineering done before I had any of the materials,” he explains. “From an engineering perspective it was very efficient and easy... I’m very pleased.”

SGC Engineering has a history of a strong attention to detail while meeting their clients’ sometimes strict requirements. They are an engineering and surveying firm that serves clients across the country. The company was established in 1999 and is based out of Westbrook, Maine. Over 125 SGC employees work to deploy advanced technology and provide cost-effective engineered solutions to customers. Customers in the energy and power transmission and distribution, commercial and residential real estate, water and wastewater treatment, and stormwater management industries are among their largest client focus. In addition to this, they have strong roots in the oil and gas, electric transmission, and alternative energy markets.

FactoryMation is happy to be a part of the solution and success for companies like SGC Engineering. Stories such as this continue to inspire FactoryMation to work hard at being the best choice for industrial control products. FactoryMation strives to deliver world-class products, outstanding service, and superior prices that equate to the best value in the industry. This unbeatable value allows customers to be even more successful in their respective industries.