An automated vertical farm device

Abstract

The present invention provides an automated vertical farm device, including: a culture light unit, an environment detection unit, a culture tray transport unit, a host computer unit, a voice interaction unit and an electrical control unit. The automated vertical farm device is an H-shaped aluminum alloy frame, with the culture light units disposed on both sides of the device, and the culture tray transport unit disposed in the middle of the device; the culture light unit is connected to the sliders on the sliding rails at the edges of the culture tray transport unit through the front two corners of the four corners to achieve up and down movement; the rear two legs are connected to the chain that falls vertically from the culture light unit, and then the slider in front can be driven by the dragging of the chain, thereby promoting the functionality of the overall culture tray transport unit to move up and down. The present invention adopts the culture light unit to realize the automatic replenishment of the light source required for plant production instead of natural light. At the same time, the culture tray transport unit can realize the automatic transportation of plants, saving manpower.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of vertical farm devices, and in particular to an automated vertical farm device. Background Art

[0002] With the improvement of material living standards, people pay more and more attention to the nutrition and health of vegetables, and more and more families begin to choose organic vegetables. However, since organic vegetables do not add pesticides, fertilizers, or hormones during the cultivation process, the survival rate is extremely low. In addition, there are problems such as low per-acre yield, high prices, poor market supervision, and inferior products in my country's organic vegetable market. Therefore, it has not yet been widely popularized in my country, but the nutritional value of organic vegetables has been recognized by the international community. In addition, my country's vertical farms are still in the initial stage of the market, and the existing industrial automation technology has not been transplanted to the field of vertical farm device technology. However, with the application of industrial automation technology in the agricultural field, the era of agricultural automation has arrived. Although vertical agriculture has a large initial investment, it can achieve a proportional increase in per-acre yield and endless farming throughout the year. From a long-term development perspective, vertical agriculture can not only save manpower and material resources, but also achieve traceability of vegetable sources, protect consumer rights, and increase farmers' income. Summary of the invention

[0003] According to the technical problems raised above, an automated vertical farm device is provided. The present invention mainly utilizes an automated vertical farm device, including: a culture light unit, an environment detection unit, a culture tray transport unit, a host computer unit, a voice interaction unit and an electrical control unit, characterized in that:

[0004] The automated vertical farm device is an H-shaped aluminum alloy frame, the culture light units are respectively arranged on both sides of the device, and the culture tray transport unit is arranged in the middle of the device;

[0005] The culture light unit is connected to the slider on the sliding rail at the edge of the culture tray transport unit through the front two corners of the four corners to realize up and down movement; the rear two feet are connected to the chain dropped vertically from the culture light unit, and then the front slider can be driven by the drag of the chain, so as to realize the functionality of the up and down movement of the entire culture tray transport unit; a transversely driven belt is arranged inside the culture tray transport unit, and the culture tray above the belt is sent to the belt receiving device of the culture mechanism, and two culture layers are arranged in the culture mechanism, and a long belt is driven by a DC motor under any one of the culture layers to receive the culture tray sent from the culture tray transport unit.

[0006] Furthermore, the culture mechanism is a vertical rectangular frame structure, the culture tray transport unit is a square platform structure, and the culture tray can be moved up and down between the culture mechanisms.

[0007] Furthermore, the culture light unit includes: an AC 220V red and blue light culture lamp, a DC 12V green light culture lamp and a limit sensor connected via PLC.

[0008] Furthermore, the environmental detection unit includes: an integrated temperature and humidity transmitter, an A / D conversion module and a DC 12V cooling fan; the integrated temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature and humidity analog signals into 4-20mA current signals that can be recognized by the AD module, and the AD module converts the input 4-20mA current signal into a digital signal that can be recognized by the PLC. The PLC converts the input digital signal into the actual temperature and humidity values ​​through a program and compares it with the threshold set by the user, and controls the operation of the 12V cooling fan through the output end.

[0009] Furthermore, the culture tray transport unit includes: a culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor and its controller, a culture tray left and right transporting stepper motor and its controller, a 24V DC motor for left and right transport of the culture area, a photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform, and a limit sensor for detecting the position of the culture tray; four photoelectric sensors for detecting the position of the transport platform and four limit sensors for detecting the position of the culture tray are respectively provided, and the eight sensors connect the switch signals to the input contacts of the PLC through wires. The PLC program sends the output signal to the controller of the culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor through the connecting wires according to the input signal. The controller controls the rise or fall of the culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor through the connecting wires, and the connection method of the culture tray left and right transport stepper motor is similar.

[0010] Furthermore, the temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature / humidity analog signal into a DC 4-20mA current analog signal recognizable by the A / D module, and the A / D module then converts the 4-20mA current analog signal into a digital signal recognizable by the PLC.

[0011] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages:

[0012] The present invention adopts a culture light unit to realize automatic replenishment of light source required for plant production instead of natural light. At the same time, the culture tray transportation unit is adopted to realize automatic transportation of plants, saving manpower.

[0013] The present invention also provides a temperature and humidity detection unit to ensure that the ambient temperature and humidity are always kept in the most suitable environment for plant growth. The PLC control module can realize automatic operation of the device and reduce manual intervention. The PLC is the control core, which is small in size, light in weight, low in energy consumption, and strong in anti-interference ability.

[0014] The voice interaction module provided in the present invention can realize voice control of the system operation status, switching of the cultivation mode, and inquiry of the production status. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative labor.

[0016] Figure 1 The electrical schematic diagram of the present invention.

[0017] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention.

[0018] Figure 3 This is a structural diagram of the voice interaction unit of the present invention.

[0019] Figure 4 It is a block diagram of the overall structure of the device of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the scheme of the present invention, the technical scheme in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without creative work should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0021] It should be noted that the terms "first", "second", etc. in the specification and claims of the present invention and the above-mentioned drawings are used to distinguish similar objects, and are not necessarily used to describe a specific order or sequence. It should be understood that the data used in this way can be interchanged where appropriate, so that the embodiments of the present invention described herein can be implemented in an order other than those illustrated or described herein. In addition, the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions, for example, a process, method, system, product or device that includes a series of steps or units is not necessarily limited to those steps or units that are clearly listed, but may include other steps or units that are not clearly listed or inherent to these processes, methods, products or devices.

[0022] like Figure 1-4 The figure shows an automated vertical farm device of the present invention, comprising: a culture light unit, an environment detection unit, a culture tray transport unit, a host computer unit, a voice interaction unit and an electrical control unit.

[0023] As a preferred embodiment of the present application, in the present application, the automated vertical farm device is an H-shaped aluminum alloy frame, the culture light units are respectively arranged on both sides of the device, and the culture tray transport unit is arranged in the middle of the device; the culture light unit is connected to the sliders on the sliding rails at the edges of the culture tray transport unit through the front two corners of the four corners to achieve up and down movement; the rear two feet are connected to the chain that falls vertically from the culture light unit, and then the front slider can be driven by the dragging of the chain, thereby promoting the functionality of the overall culture tray transport unit to move up and down.

[0024] In the present invention, the culture tray transport unit is provided with a transversely driven belt inside, and the culture tray above the belt is sent to the belt receiving of the culture mechanism, and two culture layers are arranged in the culture mechanism, and a long belt is driven by a DC motor under any culture layer to receive the culture tray sent from the culture tray transport unit. It can be understood that in the present application, the number of layers arranged inside the culture medium is set according to actual needs, that is, multiple layers can be arranged.

[0025] In the present invention, the culture mechanism is a vertical rectangular frame structure, the culture tray transport unit is a square platform structure, and the culture tray can be moved up and down between the culture mechanisms.

[0026] As a preferred embodiment in the present application, the culture light unit includes: an AC 220V red and blue light culture lamp, a DC 12V green light culture lamp and a limit sensor connected via a PLC.

[0027] Here, the environmental detection unit includes: an integrated temperature and humidity transmitter, an A / D conversion module and a DC 12V cooling fan; the integrated temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature and humidity analog signals into 4-20mA current signals that can be recognized by the AD module, and the AD module converts the input 4-20mA current signal into a digital signal that can be recognized by the PLC. The PLC converts the input digital signal into the actual value of temperature and humidity through a program and compares it with the threshold set by the user, and controls the operation of the 12V cooling fan through the output end.

[0028] At the same time, the culture tray transport unit described in the present invention includes: a culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor and its controller, a culture tray left and right transporting stepper motor and its controller, a 24V DC motor for left and right transport of the culture area, a photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform, and a limit sensor for detecting the position of the culture tray; the photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform and the limit sensor for detecting the position of the culture tray are respectively provided with four, and the eight sensors connect the switch signals to the input contacts of the PLC through wires. The PLC program sends the output signal to the controller of the culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor through the connecting wires according to the input signal. The controller controls the rise or fall of the culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor through the connecting wires, and the connection method of the culture tray left and right transport stepper motor is the same.

[0029] 6. According to claim 1, a highly automated intelligent vertical farm device is characterized in that: the temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature / humidity analog signal into a DC 4-20mA current analog signal that can be recognized by the A / D module, and then the A / D module converts the 4-20mA current analog signal into a digital signal that can be recognized by the PLC.

[0030] In addition, as a preferred embodiment, the device described in the present invention may also include: an industrial configuration software monitoring interface and a BI data visualization monitoring platform; the mobile devices include but are not limited to: mobile phones, tablet computers and other handheld terminals; the voice interaction unit includes: a Raspberry Pi 4B module, a Respeaker 4 microphone module; the electrical control unit includes: a power supply and distribution system for each unit and each device, a PLC module for processing the relevant information of the culture light unit, the environment detection unit, the culture plate transport unit and the host computer unit, an HMI industrial touch screen module, an Ethernet communication module, an A / D conversion module, a control relay module, a temperature and humidity transmitter module, a sensor module and a stepping control module;

[0031] The culture light unit, the environment detection unit and the culture tray transport unit are all connected to the electrical control unit through wired electrical connections, and the host computer unit is connected to the electrical control unit through RS-232 and Ethernet modules.

[0032] Preferably, before the system is started in the present application, the corresponding culture area, culture light formula and culture time are automatically selected according to the preset culture plants, and the above data are transmitted to the PLC module through the Ethernet communication module;

[0033] Before plant cultivation, the PLC module detects whether the components of the culture tray transport unit are located at the initial position. When the culture tray transport system is located at the initial position, the culture tray is first transported vertically according to the set culture layer through the culture tray transport unit. When the photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform in the culture tray transport unit detects that the vertical transport is in place, the culture tray transport unit transports horizontally according to the set culture area.

[0034] After the culture tray reaches the set culture position, the culture tray transport unit returns to the initial position; at the same time, the culture light unit starts the corresponding culture light plan through the PLC module according to the set plants to automatically control the lighting of the plants; when the PLC module collects the completion of the current plant cultivation through the internal timer, the culture tray transport unit transports the culture tray to the bottom layer of the device to complete the subsequent transportation; the PLC module transmits various data of the entire culture process to the PC intelligent vertical farm management platform in real time through the Ethernet communication module and the HMI industrial touch screen module.

[0035] like Figure 2 The present invention relates to a preferred embodiment of the present application, comprising: a culture light unit, an environment detection unit, a culture plate transport unit, a host computer unit, a voice interaction unit and an electrical control unit.

[0036] In this embodiment, as a preferred embodiment, the culture light unit includes: an AC 220V red and blue light culture lamp, a DC 12V green light culture lamp, and a limit sensor; the environmental detection unit includes: an integrated temperature and humidity transmitter, an A / D conversion module, and a DC 12V cooling fan; the culture tray transport unit includes: a culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor and its controller, a culture tray left and right transport stepper motor and its controller, a culture area left and right transport 24V DC motor, a photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform, and a limit sensor for detecting the position of the culture tray; the host computer unit includes: an industrial touch screen, a PC intelligent vertical farm management platform, and a mobile device; the PC intelligent vertical farm management platform includes: an industrial configuration software monitoring interface and a BI data visualization monitoring platform; the mobile device includes but is not limited to: mobile phones, tablet computers and other handheld terminals; the voice interaction unit includes: a Raspberry pi 4th generation B-type module, a Respeaker 4 microphone module.

[0037] As a preferred embodiment, the electrical control unit includes: a power supply and distribution system for each unit and device, a PLC module for processing relevant information of the culture light unit, the environmental detection unit, the culture plate transport unit and the host computer unit, an HMI industrial touch screen module, an Ethernet communication module, an A / D conversion module, a control relay module, a temperature and humidity transmitter module, a sensor module and a stepping control module.

[0038] In this embodiment, before the system is started, the corresponding culture area, culture light formula and culture time are selected according to the preset culture plants, and the above data are set to be transmitted to the PLC module through the Ethernet communication module; before the plant is cultured, the PLC module detects whether the components of the culture tray transport unit are in the initial position. When the culture tray transport system is in the initial position, the culture tray is first transported vertically according to the set culture layer through the culture tray transport unit. When the photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform in the culture tray transport unit detects that the vertical transport is in place, the culture tray transport unit transports it horizontally according to the set culture area; after the culture tray reaches the set culture position, the culture tray transport unit returns to the initial position; at the same time, the culture light unit starts the corresponding culture light scheme through the PLC module according to the set plant to automatically control the lighting of the plant; when the PLC module collects the completion of the current plant culture through the internal timer, the culture tray transport unit transports the culture tray to the bottom layer of the device to complete the transportation; and starts the next transportation task according to the setting. The PLC module transmits various data of the entire cultivation process to the PC intelligent vertical farm management platform in real time through the Ethernet communication module and the HMI industrial touch screen module.

[0039] As a preferred embodiment, the highly automated intelligent vertical farm device is also characterized in that the temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature / humidity analog signal into a DC 4-20mA current analog signal that can be recognized by the A / D module, and then the A / D module converts the 4-20mA current analog signal into a digital signal that can be recognized by the PLC.

[0040] The serial numbers of the above embodiments of the present invention are only for description and do not represent the advantages or disadvantages of the embodiments.

[0041] In the above embodiments of the present invention, the description of each embodiment has its own emphasis. For parts that are not described in detail in a certain embodiment, reference can be made to the relevant descriptions of other embodiments.

[0042] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed technical content can be implemented in other ways. Among them, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the units can be a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of units or modules, which can be electrical or other forms.

[0043] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the present embodiment.

[0044] In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The above-mentioned integrated unit may be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0045] If the integrated unit is implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, in essence, or the part that contributes to the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present invention. The aforementioned storage medium includes: U disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), mobile hard disk, magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes.

[0046] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit it. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or replace some or all of the technical features therein with equivalents. However, these modifications or replacements do not cause the essence of the corresponding technical solutions to deviate from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

1. An automated vertical farm device, comprising: The culture light unit, the environment detection unit, the culture plate transport unit, the host computer unit, the voice interaction unit and the electrical control unit are characterized by: The automated vertical farm device is an H-shaped aluminum alloy frame, the culture light units are respectively arranged on both sides of the device, and the culture tray transport unit is arranged in the middle of the device; The culture light unit is connected to the sliders on the sliding rails at the edge of the culture tray transport unit through the front two corners of the four corners to achieve up and down movement; the rear two feet are connected to the chain that falls vertically from the culture light unit, and then the front slider can be driven by the dragging of the chain to promote the functionality of the overall culture tray transport unit to move up and down; The culture tray transport unit is provided with a transversely driven belt inside, and the culture tray above the belt is sent to the belt receiving belt of the culture mechanism. Two culture layers are arranged in the culture mechanism, and a long belt is driven by a DC motor under any culture layer to receive the culture tray sent from the culture tray transport unit; The culture light unit includes: an AC 220V red and blue light culture lamp, a DC 12V green light culture lamp, and a limit sensor; the environment detection unit includes: an integrated temperature and humidity transmitter, an A / D conversion module, and a DC 12V cooling fan; the culture tray transportation unit includes: a culture tray lifting and transportation stepper motor and its controller, a culture tray left and right transportation stepper motor and its controller, a culture area left and right transportation 24V DC motor, a photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transportation platform, and a limit sensor for detecting the position of the culture tray; the host computer unit includes: an industrial touch screen, a PC intelligent vertical farm management platform, and a mobile device; the PC intelligent vertical farm management platform includes: an industrial configuration software monitoring interface and a BI data visualization monitoring platform; the mobile device includes: mobile phones, tablet computers and other handheld terminals; the voice interaction unit includes: a Raspberry pi4 generation B module and a Respeaker4 microphone module; The electrical control unit includes: a power supply and distribution system for each unit and device, a PLC module for processing the relevant information of the culture light unit, the environment detection unit, the culture plate transport unit and the host computer unit, an HMI industrial touch screen module, an Ethernet communication module, an A / D conversion module, a control relay module, a temperature and humidity transmitter module, a sensor module and a stepping control module; The environment detection unit includes: an integrated temperature and humidity transmitter, an A / D conversion module, and a DC 12V cooling fan; the integrated temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature and humidity analog signals into 4-20mA current signals that can be recognized by the AD module, and the AD module converts the input 4-20mA current signal into a digital signal that can be recognized by the PLC. The PLC converts the input digital signal into the actual value of temperature and humidity through a program and compares it with the threshold set by the user, and controls the operation of the 12V cooling fan through the output end; Before the system is started, the corresponding culture area, culture light formula and culture time are selected according to the preset culture plants, and the above data is set to be transmitted to the PLC module through the Ethernet communication module; before the plant culture, the PLC module detects whether the components of the culture tray transport unit are in the initial position. When the culture tray transport system is in the initial position, the culture tray is first transported vertically according to the set culture layer through the culture tray transport unit. When the photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform in the culture tray transport unit detects that the vertical transport is in place, the culture tray transport unit transports it horizontally according to the set culture area; after the culture tray reaches the set culture position, the culture tray transport unit returns to the initial position; at the same time, the culture light unit is set according to the The plants automatically control the lighting of the plants by starting the corresponding cultivation light scheme through the PLC module; when the PLC module collects the completion of the current plant cultivation through the internal timer, the culture tray transport unit transports the culture tray to the bottom layer of the device to complete the transportation; and starts the next transportation task according to the settings; the PLC module transmits various data of the entire cultivation process to the PC intelligent vertical farm management platform in real time through the Ethernet communication module and the HMI industrial touch screen module; the cultivation mechanism is a vertical rectangular frame structure, the culture tray transport unit is a square platform structure, and the culture tray can move up and down between the cultivation mechanisms; the cultivation light unit includes: an AC 220V red and blue light cultivation lamp, a DC 12V green light cultivation lamp and a limit sensor connected by PLC.

2. The automated vertical farm device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The culture tray transport unit includes: a culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor and its controller, a culture tray left and right transporting stepper motor and its controller, a 24V DC motor for left and right transport of the culture area, a photoelectric sensor for detecting the position of the transport platform, and a limit sensor for detecting the position of the culture tray; four photoelectric sensors for detecting the position of the transport platform and four limit sensors for detecting the position of the culture tray are respectively provided, and the eight sensors connect the switch signals to the input contacts of the PLC through wires. The PLC program sends the output signal to the culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor controller through the connecting wires according to the input signal. The controller controls the culture tray lifting and transporting stepper motor to rise or fall through the connecting wires, and the connection method of the culture tray left and right transport stepper motor is similar.

3. The automated vertical farm device according to claim 1, characterized in that: The temperature and humidity transmitter converts the detected temperature / humidity analog signal into a DC 4-20mA current analog signal that can be recognized by the A / D module, and the A / D module then converts the 4-20mA current analog signal into a digital signal that can be recognized by the PLC.

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