Hydroponic nutrient solution supply system

Abstract

The present invention relates to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system and, more particularly, to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system comprising: a plant cultivation unit in which a plant is cultivated hydroponically; an image information collection unit that collects, by using a camera device, image information of the plant being cultivated in the plant cultivation unit; a nutrient solution supply unit connected to a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks to supply nutrient solutions of various compositions to the plant cultivation unit; and a nutrient solution control unit that determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plant being cultivated, on the basis of the image information of the plant collected by the image information collection unit, and then controls, in response to the determined growth stage and growth rate, the composition and amount of the nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit to the plant cultivation unit.

Description

Hydroponic nutrient supply system

[0001] The present invention relates to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system that varies the composition of the nutrient solution supplied according to the growth stage of the plant being cultivated.

[0002] Recently, technology-intensive plant factories, which are leading the way in advanced agriculture and are attracting attention, are plant cultivation systems that can continuously and stably produce plants regardless of the season or location by artificially controlling the environment within controlled facilities. They are attracting attention as a solution to problems such as rising crop prices due to climate change and stable crop production and supply, and are expected to continue to expand in the future.

[0003]

[0004] The above plant cultivation system can generally be operated in a closed hydroponic system or an open hydroponic system. However, the open hydroponic system has a problem in that the drainage solution used for plant cultivation is not reused and new nutrient solution must be continuously supplied, so the amount of water and the consumption of nutrient solution are excessive, increasing the cost for plant cultivation.

[0005]

[0006] On the other hand, the closed hydroponic method can reduce the amount of water and the consumption of nutrient solution by reusing the drainage liquid used for plant cultivation, but there is a problem in that the ion composition ratio in the reused drainage liquid is different, causing an ion imbalance in the nutrient solution supplied to the plants, making the nutrient solution acidic and increasing the concentration of salts in the nutrient solution, making it difficult to smoothly supply the amount of water and nutrient solution required for plant cultivation.

[0007]

[0008] Accordingly, Korean Patent No. 2,564,683 discloses a technology that measures the concentration of ions in a nutrient solution supplied to plants in a circulating hydroponic system to solve the above problem, calculates the required amount of the deficient ions, and automatically supplements the deficient ions in the nutrient solution so that the concentration ratio is balanced.

[0009]

[0010] However, in the case of the conventional circulating hydroponic system as described above, there is a limitation in that the composition of the nutrient solution supplied cannot be changed according to the growth stage of the plant, and therefore, there is a problem that it is not suitable for the cultivation of special crops that require different nutrient solution conditions according to the growth stage of the plant. In addition, there is a problem of causing environmental pollution due to excessive residual ion concentration in the waste nutrient solution discharged after fruit harvest.

[0011] The present invention is intended to solve the above problems, and its purpose is to provide a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system capable of automatically supplying nutrient solution according to the nutrient solution composition required for each growth stage of the crop to be cultivated in a circulating hydroponic system for special crops that have difficult nutrient solution conditions for each growth stage.

[0012]

[0013] In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a hydroponic cultivation nutrient solution supply system capable of minimizing the residual ion concentration in waste nutrient solution discharged after harvesting crop fruits.

[0014]

[0015] The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to the technical problems mentioned above, and other technical problems not mentioned can be clearly understood by a person having ordinary skill in the technical field to which the present invention belongs from the description below.

[0016] The present invention for solving the above problems relates to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system, and more specifically, comprises: a plant cultivation unit in which plants are hydroponically cultivated; an image information collection unit that collects image information of plants being cultivated in the plant cultivation unit using a camera device; a nutrient solution supply unit connected to a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks to supply nutrient solutions of various compositions to the plant cultivation unit; and a nutrient solution control unit that determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plants being cultivated based on the image information of the plants collected by the image information collection unit, and then controls the composition and amount of nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit to the plant cultivation unit in response to the determined growth stage and growth rate.

[0017] According to the hydroponic cultivation nutrient solution supply system according to the present invention, it is possible to automatically supply nutrient solution according to the nutrient solution composition required for each growth stage of the target crop in a circulating hydroponic cultivation system for special crops that have difficult nutrient solution conditions for each growth stage, thereby increasing not only user convenience but also crop productivity.

[0018]

[0019] In addition, according to the hydroponic cultivation nutrient solution supply system of the present invention, the residual ion concentration in the waste nutrient solution discharged after the harvest of plants can be minimized, thereby reducing environmental pollution and unnecessary waste of nutrient solution.

[0020] Figure 1 illustrates an overall configuration diagram of a vertical farm nutrient solution supply system according to an example of the present invention.

[0021] Figure 2 is an exemplary graph showing changes in plant weight over time during plant cultivation.

[0022] The present invention relates to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system, and more specifically, to a plant cultivation unit in which plants are grown hydroponically; an image information collection unit that collects image information of plants being cultivated in the plant cultivation unit using a camera device; a nutrient solution supply unit connected to a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks to supply nutrient solutions of various compositions to the plant cultivation unit; and a nutrient solution control unit that determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plants being cultivated based on the image information of the plants collected by the image information collection unit, and then controls the composition and amount of nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit to the plant cultivation unit in response to the determined growth stage and growth rate.

[0023] Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings. The following examples are merely examples for illustrating the present invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

[0024]

[0025] Figure 1 illustrates an overall configuration diagram of a vertical farm nutrient solution supply system according to an example of the present invention.

[0026]

[0027] According to FIG. 1, the present invention relates to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system, and more specifically, it is characterized by including a plant cultivation unit (100) in which plants are grown hydroponically; an image information collection unit (200) that collects image information of plants being cultivated in the plant cultivation unit (100) using a camera device; a nutrient solution supply unit (300) connected to a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks to supply nutrient solutions of various compositions to the plant cultivation unit (100); and a nutrient solution control unit (400) that determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plants being cultivated based on the image information of the plants collected in the image information collection unit (200), and then controls the composition and amount of nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit (300) to the plant cultivation unit (100) in response to the determined growth stage and growth rate.

[0028]

[0029] In the present invention, the plant cultivation unit (100) is a unit in which plants are grown hydroponically, and the hydroponics includes various hydroponic cultivation methods such as a method in which plants are grown in a nutrient solution without soil, such as a submerged hydroponic method, a mist hydroponic method, and a thin-film hydroponic method, and a solid medium hydroponic method in which plants are grown by supplying a nutrient solution to a solid support that supports the roots. Meanwhile, in the present invention, the plant cultivation unit (100) is preferably grown in a circulating hydroponic method in which drainage solution is reused in order to reduce the amount of raw water and nutrient solution consumed, and is preferably a vertical farm type configured in multiple vertical stages like an apartment building in order to increase space utilization and crop productivity.

[0030]

[0031] In the present invention, the image information collection unit (200) collects image information of plants being cultivated in the plant cultivation unit (100) using a camera device, and the image information of the plants collected by the image information collection unit (200) is used to determine the growth stage and growth rate of the plants being cultivated in the nutrient solution control unit (400). The camera device can be appropriately placed in a position where it can acquire an image that can clearly identify the growth state of the plants being cultivated, and can be placed in various ways depending on the plant cultivation environment and the structure of the vertical farm.

[0032]

[0033] In the present invention, the nutrient solution supply unit (300) is connected to a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks (310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360) to supply nutrient solutions of various compositions to the plant cultivation unit (100). The nutrient solution concentrate tank is a tank that receives a nutrient solution concentrate containing inorganic nutrients in the form of ions necessary for the growth of plants. In the hydroponic cultivation nutrient solution supply system of the present invention, the nutrient solution concentrate tank is composed of a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks, and each nutrient solution concentrate tank (310, 320, 330, 340, 350, 360) receives nutrient solutions A, B, C, D, E, and F, each of which contains different types or compositions of ions. The above nutrient solution A contains calcium ions, potassium ions, and nitrate ions as macroelements, and iron ions as trace elements, and the above nutrient solution B contains potassium ions, nitrate ions, ammonium ions, phosphate ions, sulfate ions, and magnesium ions as macroelements, and copper ions, boron ions, manganese ions, zinc ions, and molybdenum ions as trace elements. In addition, the above nutrient solutions C and E contain the same types of ions as the above nutrient solution A, but the compositions of the respective ions are different, and the above nutrient solutions D and F contain the same types of ions as the above nutrient solution B, but the compositions of the respective ions are different.

[0034]

[0035] The above nutrient solution supply unit (300) supplies nutrient solutions A and B to the plant cultivation unit (100), nutrient solutions C and D to the plant cultivation unit (100), or nutrient solutions E and F to the plant cultivation unit (100) from the plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks according to the command of the nutrient solution control unit (400).

[0036]

[0037] In the present invention, the nutrient solution control unit (400) determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plant being cultivated based on the image information of the plant collected by the image information collection unit (200), and then controls the composition of the nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit (300) to the plant cultivation unit (100) in response to the determined growth stage and growth rate. The nutrient solution control unit (400) uses an artificial intelligence (deep learning) model trained on plant image information, leaf area information, plant weight information, and nutrient solution ion concentration information accumulated as prior cultivation performance for each plant as learning data, and when the image information of the plant is transmitted in real time from the image information collection unit (200), the area, weight, and ion concentration of the leaves of the corresponding plant are predicted, thereby determining the growth stage and growth rate of the corresponding plant. Of course, it is most accurate to directly measure the ion concentration by equipping an ion concentration measurement sensor for each type of ion to be measured each time, but in this case, there is a problem that the operating and maintenance costs are excessively high. Therefore, when using an artificial intelligence model learned as in the present invention, there is an advantage in that the ion concentration of the plant can be predicted at a low cost and with high reliability using only the image information of the plant in question.

[0038]

[0039] Any known model can be applied to the above artificial intelligence model as long as it identifies the image information of a plant, matches the identified information with the previously acquired leaf area, plant weight, and ion concentration information, and as a result, predicts the ion concentration information of the plant by inputting the image information of the plant.

[0040]

[0041] The learned artificial intelligence model above can be repeatedly learned based on learning data for various plants, and in this case, the nutrient solution control unit (400) can also obtain time-series prediction data for various plants. The time-series prediction data can be, for example, 'plant weight change data according to the passage of plant cultivation time', 'nutrient solution ion concentration change data according to the passage of plant cultivation time', etc., and such time-series prediction data can be periodically corrected through verification with data collected through actual sensors or nutrient solution sample ion analysis, thereby minimizing the deviation between the predicted data and the actual data.

[0042]

[0043] The above nutrient solution control unit (400) determines the current growth stage and growth rate of the plant based on the time-series prediction data. For example, based on the 'plant weight change data according to the plant cultivation time elapsed', which is a type of time-series prediction data illustrated in FIG. 2, when the image information of the plant collected from the image information collection unit (200) is input, the weight prediction value of the corresponding plant can be obtained through the learned artificial intelligence model, and the growth stage is determined by checking the section to which the point on the time axis (t) corresponding to the weight prediction value belongs in the graph of FIG. 2. The section is divided into a formalizing-flower bud differentiation section (stage 1), a flower bud differentiation-fruit setting section (stage 2), and a fruit setting-fruit ripening section (stage 3). In addition, in the graph of FIG. 2, the slope of the point on the graph corresponding to the weight prediction value is calculated, and if the slope is steep, the growth rate is determined to be fast, and if the slope is gentle, the growth rate is determined to be slow.

[0044]

[0045] In the present invention, the nutrient solution control unit (400) is characterized in that, based on the result of determining the growth stage as described above, if the growth stage corresponding to the image information of the plant collected in real time is 'stage 1', the composition of the nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit (300) to the plant cultivation unit (100) is controlled to be composed of the required nutrient solution compositions of nutrient solution A and nutrient solution B, if the growth stage is 'stage 2', the composition of the nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit (300) to the plant cultivation unit (100) is controlled to be composed of the required nutrient solution compositions of nutrient solution C and nutrient solution D, and if the growth stage is 'stage 3', the composition of the nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit (300) to the plant cultivation unit (100) is controlled to be composed of the required nutrient solution compositions of nutrient solution E and nutrient solution F, so that it is possible to automatically supply the nutrient solution according to the required nutrient solution composition for each growth stage of the plant, thereby improving not only user convenience but also crop productivity. It can be increased.

[0046]

[0047] In addition, the nutrient solution control unit (400) is characterized in that, based on the result of determining the growth speed as described above, if the growth speed corresponding to the image information of the plant collected in real time is fast, it is a time when the plant absorbs a lot of ions, which are nutrients, and thus, the amount of nutrient solution supplied to the plant cultivation unit (100) through the nutrient solution supply unit (300) is controlled to increase, and conversely, if the growth speed is slow, it is a time when the plant absorbs a small amount of ions, which are nutrients, and thus, the amount of nutrient solution supplied to the plant cultivation unit (100) through the nutrient solution supply unit (300) is controlled to adjust according to the situation.

[0048]

[0049] In addition, the nutrient solution control unit (400) can predict the harvest time, which is the end point of cultivation of the plant, based on the time-series prediction data, and by controlling the amount of nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit (300) to the plant cultivation unit (100) to be gradually reduced as the predicted harvest time approaches, the concentration of ions such as nitrogen and phosphorus remaining in the waste nutrient solution discharged after the harvest time can be significantly reduced, thereby reducing environmental pollution and unnecessary waste of nutrient solution.

[0050]

[0051] In order to increase the convenience of management for the user, the hydroponic nutrient solution supply system according to the present invention may further include a washing solution tank (not shown) connected to the nutrient solution supply unit (300), and the nutrient solution control unit (400) may control the supply of washing solution to the plant cultivation unit (100) through the nutrient solution supply unit (300) after the harvest period, so that washing of the plant cultivation unit (100) is automatically performed immediately after the harvest of the crop. In addition, since the washing solution is supplied to the plant cultivation unit (100) through the nutrient solution supply unit (300), it is preferable to use an environmentally friendly natural detergent that is not harmful to plants.

[0052] The present invention relates to a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system that varies the composition of the nutrient solution supplied according to the growth stage of a plant being cultivated, and has industrial applicability in relation to the hydroponic cultivation industry.

Claims

1. A plant cultivation area where plants are grown hydroponically; An image information collection unit that collects image information of plants being grown in the plant cultivation unit using a camera device; A nutrient solution supply unit connected to a plurality of nutrient solution concentrate tanks to supply nutrient solutions of various compositions to the plant cultivation unit; and A hydroponic nutrient solution supply system including a nutrient solution control unit that determines the growth stage and growth rate of a plant being cultivated based on the image information of the plant collected from the image information collection unit, and then controls the composition and amount of nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit to the plant cultivation unit in response to the determined growth stage and growth rate.

2. In paragraph 1, The above plant cultivation unit is a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system characterized in that plants are cultivated using a circulating hydroponic cultivation method.

3. In paragraph 1, A hydroponic nutrient solution supply system characterized in that the above plant cultivation unit is in the form of a vertical farm.

4. In paragraph 1, The above nutrient solution control unit is a hydroponic nutrient solution supply system characterized in that it determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plant using an artificial intelligence model learned using plant image information, leaf area information, plant weight information, and nutrient solution ion concentration information accumulated as prior cultivation performance for each plant as learning data.

5. In paragraph 4, A hydroponic nutrient solution supply system characterized in that the above nutrient solution control unit determines the growth stage and growth rate of the plant based on time-series prediction data of either the weight change data of the plant over the cultivation time of the plant or the ion concentration change data of the plant over the cultivation time of the plant.

6. In paragraph 4, A hydroponic nutrient solution supply system characterized in that the nutrient solution control unit controls the amount of nutrient solution supplied from the nutrient solution supply unit to the plant cultivation unit to gradually decrease as the harvest time of the plant, which is predicted based on time-series prediction data of either the weight change data of the plant over the cultivation time of the plant or the ion concentration change data of the plant over the cultivation time of the plant, approaches.

7. In paragraph 1, The above nutrient solution supply unit is additionally connected to a washing solution tank, A hydroponic nutrient solution supply system characterized in that the nutrient solution control unit controls the supply of washing solution to the plant cultivation unit through the nutrient solution supply unit after the harvest season.

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