Using AEC technologies at home

I recently finished building my home aquaponic system. Aquaponics is a closed-loop independent system where fish waste is used to feed vegetable plantations and in turn water is cleaned and returned to the fish.

I've been intrigued by this principle and set out to build my own - using all of the available Digital Engineering tech to my disposal :)

I live in the first floor of a building with a balcony and no garden of my own, so I had to make use of limited space.

Here are some screenshots from the "design phase":

I used Revit to model the support- and vege-pipe system, then hopped over to AutoCAD which I used to create an accurate model (to be used in CFD later) of the water flow system:

Despite what many people say about AutoCAD being "yesterday's" technology, it is still the best 3D modelling tool (in my opinion) and I use it often for quick 2D too.

Using 3DS Max, I attempted to simulate the water flow, as I was conscious of all the many variables in this system that would most likely lead to overflow or worse, system collapse.

It took quite some time to run the Fluid Dynamics in 3DS Max, in fact, I abandoned after 12 hours of computing - but the results provided sufficient insight for me to adjust my design approach. I initially planned to have a sloped pipe system for the vege-pipes but then realised that this adds too many variables to the system and would cause water flow to be unequal throughout the system. So, I decided to keep the vege-pipes level but add each line at a lower level in order to make gravity work from line-to-line.

Here is the complete system:

And here is a complete video of how it works:

The next phase will include a solar energy system an Arduino system to monitor pH levels and water flow.

I hope you found this interesting! Message me if you wanted to know more or perhaps build your own!

Stay safe and consider others during these difficult times.