A growing soilless crops using fogponics

Abstract

The present invention relates to growing soilless crops using automated indoor fogponic systems. The fogponics is an innovative method of soilless farming wherein which the plants are suspended in a self-contained environment (BEDS) and a 'fog' or 'mist' of nutrition is sprayed directly onto the roots using mini -jets in a timed cycle. This substitution increases the growth cycle to achieve faster harvests. The fog that is sprayed onto the roots of the crops has droplets in the size range of 5 pm to 15 pm. Smaller the droplet size faster the roots absorb the nutrition which in turn helps the plants grow bigger and more nutritious. We use upto 97% less water and upto 99% less land as compared to traditional farming. All our crops are grown without any Herbicides or Pesticides and with minimal human intervention.

Description

[0001] A GROWING SOILLESS CROPS USING FOGPONICS

[0002] FIELD OF THE INVENTION:

[0003] The present invention relates to an apparatus for indoor organic farming using fogponics and the preparation method thereof. More, particularly it relates to growing soilless crops using automated indoor fogponic systems. The present disclosure also relates to the processing of soilless crops that have been grown using fogponics wherein the farming is free of herbicides, and pesticides, and totally free from chemicals. The present concept signifies indoor vertical farming by using fogponics technology.

[0004] BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

[0005] Hydroponics is a general practice of growing plants in water rather than in soil. It is a field of innovation over conventional soil -based farming. When a plant is grown in soil, its roots are perpetually searching for the necessary nutrition to support the plant. If a plant’s root system is exposed directly to water and nutrition, the plant does not have to exert any energy to sustain itself. The energy the roots would have expended acquiring food and water can be redirected into the plant’s maturation. In hydroponics, growers would submerge plant roots in the water with added nutrients.

[0006] Water used in hydroponics is 90% less than soil-based farming. Yet as Hydroponics evolves, people have developed a kind of system where plants can be hung freely without direct access to water and nutrients.

[0007] Aeroponics is the process of growing plants in an air or mist environment without the use of soil or an aggregate medium. In this method, roots are held in a soilless growing medium, such as coco coir, over which nutrient-laden water is periodically pumped. Aeroponics simply dispenses with the growing medium, leaving the roots to dangle in the air, where they are periodically puffed by specially designed misting devices. The resources used in aeroponics are 95% less than conventional soil Climate events like unseasonal rains, excessive heat and cold caused by climate have been decimating crops across the world. With every passing year these problems are only set to get worse. Global food shortages caused by climate change are affecting the supply chain which has caused an inflation in food prices around the world. Currently, 78.9% of high-income countries are experiencing high food price inflation.

[0008] Import dependency - Most countries are dependent on importing crops since the climate in their country limits the variety of crops they can grow. UK currently imports 46% of its produce while Dubai imports 85%. Studies have shown that a 3-4% reduction in wheat yield takes place for every 1 °C increase in temperature. A 2 °C increase in temperature caused a 7% reduction in yield while a further increase in temperature to 4 °C decreased the yield by up to 34% in wheat. Similarly, rice yields decreased by 2.6% for every 1 °C rise in temperature. NASA has published a study, which stated; maize crop yields are projected to decline 24% by the year 2030. Using advanced climate and agricultural models, scientists found that the change in yields is due to projected increases in temperature, shifts in rainfall patterns, and elevated surface carbon dioxide concentrations from human- caused greenhouse gas emissions. These changes would make it more difficult to grow maize in the tropics. Similar problems are also affecting vegetable and fruit crops as the rising temperature has been decreasing crop outputs globally.

[0009] US20180368346, describes a high-pressure fluid delivery system that operates above 150 psi and is configured for fluidly connecting at least one spray nozzle positioned within each root enclosure to simultaneously deliver fluid to the roots of each plant within a zone of root enclosures. A passive drain system continuously removes any unabsorbed fluid, such that the roots of each and every plant are physically and fluidly isolated from one another.

[0010] WO2015123725A1, here the invention provides a vertical plant cultivation system utilizing aeroponics. The system comprises a shell having an external surface, a vertically extending internal chamber, and plant support apertures extending through the external surface to the internal chamber, each aperture formed and arranged to support a plant therein with the plant foliage extending from the external surface and the plant roots extending into the internal chamber. A water reservoir is provided in a lower portion of the internal chamber to hold water and nutrient solution. A least one mist generator module floats within water in the reservoir and generates mist from water within the reservoir. At least one mist circulation module is supported within the internal chamber to cause mist generated by the mist generator module to move upwardly through the plant roots in the internal chamber.

[0011] The drawback of this method is that nutrient concentration of the water must be maintained within precise parameters and even a slight malfunction of your equipment can cause the loss of a crop. Manually cleaning the water carrying nutrients is of utmost importance. To overcome this, a new method mentioned hereby is used. Instead of using the misting device, an ultrasonic fogger is used which with the help of a pump and vibration device will generate fog. This will create a constant humid and nutrient-rich fog for plant roots.

[0012] To overcome the objection, the inventors of the present invention came up with new innovation which is an apparatus for indoor organic farming using fogponics and preparation methods thereof, this invention is to create a viable replacement for traditional farming as current hydroponic technology is limited by the variety of crops that they can grow.

[0013] The present invention created the fogponics systems to grow all varieties of crops including leafy greens, fruiting crops, and root vegetables. The root vegetables in particular cannot be grown in hydroponic systems leaving a massive gap in the soilless farming market. Fogponics is an innovative method of soilless farming wherein the plants are suspended in a self-contained environment (BEDS) and a ‘fog’ or ‘mist’ of nutrition is sprayed directly onto the roots using mini-jets in a timed cycle. This substitution increases the growth cycle to achieve faster harvests. The fog that is sprayed onto the roots of the crops has droplets in the size range of 5 pm to 15 pm. The smaller the droplet size faster the roots absorb the nutrition which in turn helps the plants grow bigger and more nutritious, use up to 97% less water and up to 99% less land as compared to traditional farming. All crops are grown without any Herbicides or Pesticides and with minimal human intervention.

[0014] OBJECT OF THE INVENTION:

[0015] The principal object of the present invention is to provide growing soilless crops using fogponics.

[0016] The objective of this invention is to create a viable replacement for traditional farming as current hydroponic technology is limited by the variety of crops that they can grow.

[0017] The objective of this invention is to create a fogponics system to grow all varieties of crops including leafy greens, fruiting crops, and root vegetables. Root vegetables in particular cannot be grown in hydroponic systems leaving a massive gap in the soilless farming market.

[0018] Another object of the present invention is to provide growing plants without letting soil and water come in direct contact with roots.

[0019] Another object of the present invention is to provide growing soilless crops using fogponics which is, economical, accurate, comfortable, easy to carry, and reliable, and user-friendly.

[0020] SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

[0021] The present invention is all about growing soilless crops using fogponics. it relates to the process of growing soilless crops using automated indoor fogponic systems. The main aspect of the present invention to provide growing soilless crops using fogponics is an advanced version of Hydroponics. It means growing crops using a fog or nutrient-rich solution as opposed to running water as used by current Hydroponic systems. The systems suspend the roots of the crops in mid-air inside a closed tank and spray a fog of nutritionally rich solution directly onto the roots of the crops. The fog sprayed onto the roots has water droplets in the size range of 5- 15 pm (microns). The smaller the droplets, the faster the absorption of the nutrients by the crops. The entire system is a closed-loop system so once the fog dissipates, it turns back into water and is fed back into the system. This ensures that we use up to 97% less water than traditional farming methods.

[0022] Another aspect of the present invention relates to the processing of soilless crops that have been grown using fogponics wherein the farming is free of herbicides, and pesticides, and free from chemicals. The present concept signifies indoor vertical farming by using fogponics technology.

[0023] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

[0024] Fig. 1 shows the roots of the crops are suspended in mid-air and the nozzles spray a fog of nutritionally rich solution directly onto the roots of the crops.

[0025] Fig.2 represents the impact of the temperature increase on wheat and rice yield.

[0026] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION

[0027] The above and other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of the invention, when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: Detailed embodiments of the instant invention are disclosed herein; however, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are merely exemplary of the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific functional and structural details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representation basis for teaching one skilled in the art to variously employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed structure.

[0028] Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which the invention belongs.

[0029] The main embodiment of the present invention is to provide a Fogponics is an advanced version of Hydroponics. In theory, it means growing crops using a fog or nutrient-rich solution as opposed to running water as used by current Hydroponic systems.

[0030] The growing soilless crops using fogponics comprising a grow tube having in its interior a coaxially located fog tube installed over a water tank containing a fogger housing connected to the said fog tube with a retractable duct; a plant monitoring system implementing an and operate the nutrient system, the purification system, and a cooling system to maintain the vital parameters of nutrients, purification of water in an automated manner which is operatively coupled with the pump and timer; wherein, the grow tube is characterized by a hollow elongated structure with a plurality of openings extending to form necks grow slots where the plants are placed and a coaxially located fog tube placed in its interior with said fog tube having a plurality of perforations on its lateral surface; fogger housing is characterized by a fogger to convert the nutrient solution in a mixed water partition of the water tank into fog and a floater to keep the fogger housing floating on the surface of the nutrient solution is connected to a fog blower at the pressure inlet to push the fog generated by fogger upwards; the nutrient solution in the mixed water partition varies and fog sprayed lasts for between 1-2 minutes before it dissipates and turns back into water and this water drains out of the rooting tank and is fed back into the main nutrition tank which then re -circulates it into the system.

[0031] Another embodiment of the present invention is to provide a system to suspend the roots of the crops in midair inside a closed tank and spray a fog of nutritionally rich solution directly onto the roots of the crops. The fog sprayed onto the roots has water droplets in the size range of 5-15 pm (microns). The smaller the droplets, the faster the absorption of the nutrients by the crops. All crops grown in our systems are free of any herbicides or pesticides. On average the small droplet size gives our crops a 5-7 day longer shelf-life as compared to traditionally grown crops.

[0032] One more embodiment of the systems is closed-look systems. The fog is sprayed onto the roots for seconds every six minutes. Once sprayed the fog lasts for about 1-2 minutes. The roots of our crops sit in this fog and absorb high levels of nutrition from the fog and since there are no barriers like soil, our crops also absorb higher levels of oxygen from the environment as well.

[0033] The entire process ensures we grow the healthiest and the most nutritionally dense crops in the market using 97% less water and up to 99% less land. All crops are grown organically without the use of any herbicides or pesticides.

[0034] The plant growth using water fog, as illustrated in Figure 1 comprises an outer housing grow chamber 1 and within it, a grow tube attached vertically over a water tank 5. The grow tube is a hollow elongated structure with a cross-section being circular, polygonal, or of any closed shape. The said grow tube contains a plurality of openings its lateral surface extending to form neck-like structures grow slot extends, wherein the plants to be grown are placed. The said grow slot can be straight or have a bent structure like an elbow.

[0035] One more embodiment of the grow slots is designed to support the plants with their leaves projecting outwards and their roots pointing towards the interior of the grow tube. The grow chamber is a covering structure that isolates and seals the plants from the elements of the environment of the surroundings, thus shielding the plant from variations in temperature, light, and moisture and protecting the plant from pests. At the center of the grow tube, is provided which carries and delivers the fog received from the fogger housing to the plants in the grow slots of the grow tube. The fog tube is a vertical tube or pipe-like structure with a plurality of perforations that allow for the fog or mist to reach the plants. The fog tube where fog tube, in one embodiment of the present invention, is a pipe-like structure, i.e . it has a circular cross-section. The lateral surface has a plurality of holes or perforations from where the fog is released onto the plants in the grow slots. Other embodiments of the present invention can have fog tube with a cross-section of other shapes like square, rectangular, triangular or any other shape.

[0036] The fog tube is located inside the grow tube, wherein the fog tube is placed coaxially inside the grow tube. The grow tube is installed vertically on top of the water tank. The said water tanks are divided into two partitions, i.e., the clean water partition and the mixed water partition. The clean water partition 6 stores pure water whereas the mixed water contains water mixed with the nutrients received from the nutrient system. The clean water partition 6 and the mixed water partition are connected with each other via a partition valve and a water exchange pump. The nutrient system is installed above the water tank which delivers nutrition into the mixed water partition of the tank.

[0037] Further, above the water tank, a water purification system is also installed which purifies the nutrient-mixed water in the mixed water partition and returns it to the clean water partition. This is done to maintain an optimum concentration of nutrients in the water being converted into fog to be delivered to the plants. The purification system, in the preferred embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in the set-up is similar to reverse osmosis filtration systems available in the market.

[0038] Within the mixed water partition of the water tank, a fogger housing houses a fogger. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the fog-creating machine, the fogger used is of an ultrasonic type. The said fogger converts the nutrient solution in the mixed water partition into a mist or fog containing the nutrients. In other embodiments of the present invention, compressed air or heating elements maybe used for the generation of fog. On the top of the fogger housing 8 a floater is provided which maintains the fogger housing floating above the surface of the water. Therefore, the fogger housing remains at the surface of the nutrient solution regardless of the varying levels of the said nutrient solution in the mixed water partition of the water tank.

[0039] The fogger housing is connected to the fog tube present inside the grow tube via a retractable duct which keeps the fogger housing connected with the fog tube even when the height of the fogger housing inside the mixed water partition changes due to the floater in reaction to a change in the level of the nutrient solution. The retractable duct is a set of multiple ducts with descending diameters, with one nested inside the other concentrically and so on. When the level of nutrient solution in the mixed partition of the water tank reduces, the concentrically nested ducts of the retractable slide out to increase the length of the retractable duct. Similarly, when the nutrient solution in the mixed partition of the water tank increases, the concentrically nested ducts of the retractable slide out to reduce the length of the retractable duct. Thus, in this manner, the floater and the retractable duct make for a flotation mechanism that keeps the floating flogger housing continuously connected to the fog tube even when the height of the said flogger housing changes because of the floater.

[0040] The purification system purifies the excess solution, especially the drained nutrient solution received from the grow tube, in the mixed water partition and sends the purified water to the clean water partition via the partition valve. The said purification process along with the partition valve both, removes the impurities that may be collected by the condensed mist while flowing down and also maintains the required concentration of nutrients in the mixed water partition. In the preferred embodiment of the present invention, the purification system is of a reverse osmosis type.

[0041] The fogger is located below the floater thus below the surface of water at all time. The water inlet is provided below the floater which allows for the nutrient solution to flow inside the cavity of the flogger housing and reach the flogger. The floater can be of a shape and size chosen to provide an appropriate buoyant force required to keep the flogger housing afloat. The upper connector end of the fogger housing is the duct receiver which is designed to attach to the retractable duct. Similarly, the lower end of the fog tube is designed to attach to the upper end of the retractable duct. The fogger housing is further provided with a pressure inlet which connects to the fog blower in order to receive pressure. On the inner surface of the grow chamber 1 is provided with a lighting system which is capable of irradiating light over a wide range of wavelengths and intensities. The wavelength of the light is selected as per the optimum requirement of the plants to be grown.

[0042] Another embodiment using a fog or nutrient rich solution as opposed to running water as used by current Hydroponic systems. The proprietary systems suspend the roots of the crops in midair inside a closed tank and spray a fog of nutritionally rich solution directly onto the roots of the crops. The fog sprayed onto the roots have water droplets in the size range of 5-15 pm (microns). Smaller the droplets, the faster the absorption of the nutrients by the crops. All crops grown in our systems are free of any herbicides or pesticides. Test results from an NABL certified laboratory proves that are crops are a lot more nutritious that crops grown using traditional methods. On an average the small droplet size gives our crops a 5-7 day longer shelf-life as compared to traditionally grown crops Sample A is a head of lettuce grown using our systems and Sample B is a head of lettuce grown in a traditional farm. As the test results show, sample A has higher levels of Protein, energy and minerals like sodium while having lower levels of carbohydrates. Lettuce is supposed to have low levels of carbohydrates and the higher levels in sample B are caused by the use of synthetic fertilizers

[0043] The systems are closed-loop systems. The fog is sprayed onto the roots for 30 seconds every six minutes. Once sprayed the fog lasts for about 1-2 minutes. The roots of our crops sit in this fog and absorb high levels of nutrition from the fog and since there are no barriers like soil, our crops also absorb higher levels of oxygen from the environment as well. The entire process ensures we grow the healthiest and the most nutritionally dense crops in the market using 97% less water and upto 99% less land. All crops are grown organically without the use of any herbicides or pesticides.

[0044] Without further description, it is believed that one of ordinary skill in the art can, using the preceding description and the illustrative examples, make and utilize the present invention and practice the claimed methods. It should be understood that the foregoing discussion and examples merely present a detailed description of certain preferred embodiments. It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that various modifications and equivalents can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

CLAIMS:I / WE CLAIM1. A growing soilless crops using fogponics comprising: a grow tube having in its interior a coaxially located fog tube installed horizontally over a water tank containing a fogger housing connected to the said fog tube with a retractable duct for inflow and outflow; a plant monitoring system being capable of monitoring and operating the nutrient system, the purification system, a cooling system to maintain the vital parameters inside the grow chamber delivery of nutrients, and purification of water in an automated manner; wherein, said grow tube is characterized by a hollow elongated structure with a plurality of openings extending to form necks grow slots where the plants are placed and a coaxially located fog tube placed in its interior with the said fog tube having a plurality of perforations on its lateral surface; wherein which the plants are suspended in a self-contained environment (BEDS) and a ‘fog’ or ‘mist’ of nutrition is sprayed directly onto the roots using mini-jets in a timed cycle; said fogger housing having a fogger to convert the nutrient solution in a mixed water partition of the water tank into fog and a floater to keep the fogger housing floating on the surface of the nutrient solution is connected to a fog blower at the pressure inlet to push the fog generated by fogger upwards; the retractable duct 13 is a set of a plurality of ducts, with descending cross- sectional dimensions and each of the said ducts having a ridge respectively at its upper edge allowing the said ducts to slide over each other and vary the length of the retractable duct to keep the fogger housing continuously connected to the fog tube when the level of nutrient solution in the mixed water partition varies.

2. The growing soilless crops using fogponics as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fog that is sprayed onto the roots of the crops has droplets in the size range of 5pm to 15 un and the smaller the droplet size faster the roots absorb the nutrition which in turn helps the plants grow bigger and more nutritious.

3. The growing soilless crops using fogponics as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fog is sprayed onto the root for 20-30 seconds every 5-6 min.

4. The growing soilless crops using fogponics as claimed in claim 1, wherein once sprayed the fog lasts for about 1-2 minutes, said roots of crops sit in this fog and absorb high levels of nutrition from the fog and there are no barriers like soil, our crops also absorb higher levels of oxygen from the environment as well and the entire process ensures we grow the healthiest and the most nutritionally dense crops in the market using 97% less water and upto 99% less land and said crops are grown organically without the use of any herbicides or pesticides.

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