Products & Devices
Developed and tested ocean-aquaculture prototypes, including an underwater tank-wall cleaner and a lower-cost oxygen diffuser redesign.
During an eight-month UVic mechanical engineering co-op with AgriMarine, I contributed to early-stage R&D for a commercial-scale floating closed-containment aquaculture system.
The work took place in a real marine context, where equipment had to be considered around water, biofouling, large composite structures, site access, maintenance, and the practical realities of operating in the ocean.
The main system was a large floating fiberglass tank used for closed-containment fish farming. The tank was roughly 30 metres in diameter and held about 3,000 cubic metres of water.
My work supported practical engineering questions around how equipment would be built, tested, maintained, and improved at that scale.
One major task was developing prototype equipment to clean the inside wall of the tank. Biofouling on the tank wall could affect fish health, water movement, drag, and maintenance effort, so the system needed a practical way to remove growth from the submerged surface.
The concept used high-pressure water jets and a spinning disk to help the cleaner stay against the curved tank wall while it moved through the water. I worked on alpha and beta prototype development, testing, and design refinement.
The testing process challenged the original assumptions about how the cleaner was working. Some of the cleaning effect appeared to come from contact and rubbing rather than only from the water jets, which meant the design theory had to be corrected before the prototype could be improved.
The next version focused on making the cleaner safer, easier to assemble, and more controlled in how it contacted the tank wall. That included simplifying parts of the assembly, improving the way the device interacted with the surface, and thinking through how the design could eventually become more repeatable and less dependent on manual handling.
I also explored a future semi-autonomous cleaning concept that used the circular flow inside the tank. The idea was to take advantage of the constant water movement, a tether, a spar, and a sail-like element so the cleaner could move around the tank in a more controlled way.
A second piece of work involved redesigning an oxygen diffuser component. The existing approach relied on a more expensive machined stainless component.
I redesigned it as a waterjet-cut assembly using acetal and stainless plates, with the goal of reducing material and machining cost while keeping the function practical. Based on the estimates available at the time, the redesigned assembly reduced the expected material and machining cost by roughly 58 percent.
Beyond the individual prototypes, I also built SolidWorks models of the site and equipment to help communicate and coordinate the system. That included modelling the tank, barges, bathymetry, pilings, mooring elements, and related equipment layout.
I was also partly involved in early thinking for a newer 30-metre tank and how manufacturing or transport decisions could reduce the cost and complexity of getting large composite structures to site. The co-op also exposed me to composite marine construction through work connected with Blackline Marine and the Quadrant Marine Institute.
This early-career work connected design theory to testing, manufacturing, cost, and environment. A mechanical idea changes once it has to operate in water, be built by real fabricators, be maintained by real people, and survive the constraints of ocean aquaculture.
I still approach design that way: test the assumption, watch what the prototype does, and let the next version respond to reality instead of defending the first theory.
Related
A few related projects with the same kind of problem-solving thread.
Managed and supported industrial infrastructure work at Harmac, including major pipeline replacement stages, helicopter-lift coordination, trestle protection, and mechanical upgrades.
Buildings & Spaces
At Harmac Pacific, I managed and supported industrial infrastructure projects in a pulp-mill environment, including difficult stages of a major water supply pipeline replacement and a chlorine dioxide mixer upgrade. The work involved shutdown planning, environmental constraints, trestles, helicopter lifts, contractor coordination, mechanical design, procurement, and field decisions where the ideal drawing did not always match the real site.
Made a custom glass awning buildable by reworking hidden anchorage, tie-rod alignment, glass layout, drainage, field layout, and installation details.
Buildings & Spaces
With Pentillion Construction, I turned a difficult custom glass awning replacement into a buildable, adjustable, drainable, and serviceable installation. The work involved hidden structural constraints, tie-rod anchorage, steel and glass coordination, field layout tools, drainage details, scaffold planning, and coordination across designers, fabricators, installers, tenants, and City requirements.
Turned a collaborative festival concept into a CNC-fabricated public installation with seating, storage, an interactive wall, volunteer power, and reusable assembly details.
Creative & Community
For the Design Victoria Festival's Meeting Point Co-Design Challenge, our team’s concept, The Big DV, was selected from six proposals and built into a full-scale public installation. I led much of the technical and fabrication work, turning the shared concept into a CNC-fabricated installation with seating, an interactive design wall, hidden storage, volunteer power, and a practical assembly and handoff plan.
