NTNU has been given the national responsibility for graduate engineering education. Through prioritizing ‘Marine science and technology’ as one of six focus areas for research, the university is encouraging the integration of knowledge from a wide range of engineering and bioscience disciplines. NTNUs special competence is related to open ocean cage systems, land based recycling systems, and hatchery technology and logistics.
The Centre for Aquaculture and Fisheries at Sealab was established in 2006 with hatchery and recycling aquaculture systems. Its laboratories are equipped with a wide variety of instruments, such as a spectrophotometer and a spectrofluorometer (both including temperature control and a microplate reader), a Gas Chromatographer, a HPLC, a coulter counter and an algae incubator. At the morphology lab one fluorescence microscope and one light microscope with a computer-assisted stereological toolbox for making 3D-calculations from histological sections, are available.
Name of the infrastructure: NTNU McLab
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Website address: http://www.ntnu.edu/imt/lab/cybernetics
Contact: Pål Furset Lader
Facilities
The marine cybernetics laboratory is a small wave basin (L x B x D = 40m x 6.45m x 1.5m), located in what was originally a storage tank for ship models made of paraffin wax. It is equipped with a wave maker, an advanced wave maker for generating long-crested surface waves, and a current generation system. It is equipped with an advanced towing carriage, with a 6-DoF forced motion apparatus. The lab is also equipped with Qualisys motion capture systems, both above-water and below-water. More details of equipment and capacities are found at http://www.ntnu.edu/imt/lab/cybernetics
The basin is filled with fresh water, with some chlorine for control of algae growth. The basin is not intended for use with living organisms. As a generic towing tank and wave basin, it is suited for testing of scale-models of many types of ocean structures. Many scale-model tests of aquaculture plants (fish cages mostly) have been tested. The MC-lab is operated by the Department of Marine Technology https://www.ntnu.edu/imt/
Services currently offered by the infrastructure
We offer use of the laboratory, including control room, towing carriage, and use of instrumentation from our stock. If additional instruments are needed, the user will have to bring them or buy them. We also offer assistance by a technician to help setting up the experiment and give instructions on use of lab and instrumentation. Construction of model, test objects and custom test rigs are not part of the access, but the host might assist in having them made, at additional cost.
Modality of access
As soon as a proposal for access is approved by the evaluation panel, the group leader will be contacted and be appointed a contact person at the infrastructure. This person will be responsible for the preparation of the planned experiments. Typically, the group leader will be invited to Trondheim to have a first discussion on experimental set-up combined with a visit to the premises, in advance of the start of the project. The group leader must provide a plan for the tests, including required instrumentation and description of test objects (models) well ahead of the planned start of the tests.
Scientific support: Department of Marine Technology has a large permanent academic staff, as well as more than 100 PhD and post doc researchers working in the department. Depending on the particular project, the visiting researchers will be set in contact with experts in the relevant fields.
Technical support: We have two engineers, one mechanic and one CAD operator/carpenter working in connection with the hydrodynamic laboratories, where MCLab is one of several test basins. Users will be supported by an experienced engineer.
Logistic support: All users will be offered an office space, and will be connected to the wireless communication area of NTNU. They will also have the opportunity to use technical workshops, digital meeting rooms and library services. The university’s Office of International Relations offers professional services to all guest researchers. Accommodation is offered within the city of Trondheim by NTNU, which has 40 furnished and fully equipped apartments and guesthouses allocated for guest researchers.
Unit of Access
The unit of access is defined as one week. One typical access consists of 1-2 units of access.
The unit of access includes the effort in offering scientific, technical and logistic support to the users. This involves equipping the facility, technical assistance during preparations before occupying the lab, as well as technical assistance during the tests in the lab. However, it is pointed out that we don’t offer continuous presence of technician during the test – the visiting scientists must be able to run the lab and experiment themselves, after having received required instructions and training.
Manufacture of test objects (models) and purpose-built test rigs, as well as instrumentation that need to be acquired for this specific test are not included. All the mentioned items can be arranged by the host institution, but at additional cost.