Adjustable Cultivation Bars for Plant Spacing Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Manual transplant operations in soil-less Vertical Farm Systems are time-consuming, costly, and prone to contamination and damage, failing to adequately reduce production costs and pesticide use.
Innovation Solution
Mechanical spacing members are interposed between cultivation bars to adjust their distance, allowing for quick and simple modulation of plant spacing without manual handling, reducing the need for manual transplanting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If manual transplant operations are performed to increase plant spacing during cultivation, then plant homogeneity and correct cultivation are improved, but execution time and production costs increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system employs adjustable spacing members that can dynamically modify the distance between cultivation bars during the cultivation process. This allows the cultivation system to adapt from a high-density sowing configuration to a lower-density cultivation configuration without manual intervention, resolving the contradiction between maintaining plant homogeneity and reducing execution time.
Solution Approach 2:
The cultivation system performs the spacing adjustment automatically through mechanically adjustable bars that can be reconfigured without human operators. The system self-adjusts the plant spacing by modifying the bar positions, eliminating the need for manual transplant operations while maintaining proper cultivation density.
2Reliability
If manual transplant operations are performed to reduce plant density, then correct cultivation is improved, but the risk of contamination and plant damage increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system eliminates manual handling of plants by using adjustable cultivation bars that automatically reconfigure the spacing. The plants remain undisturbed in their positions while the bars around them are adjusted, preventing contamination and physical damage that would occur during manual transplant operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The adjustable spacing members act as intermediaries that modify the cultivation environment without directly contacting the plants. By adjusting the bar positions rather than handling the plants themselves, the system achieves proper spacing while avoiding contamination and damage risks associated with manual intervention.
3Quantity of substance
If seeds are arranged at minimum distances for maximum sowing density, then sowing density is improved, but plant spacing becomes insufficient during cultivation
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses dynamically adjustable cultivation bars that can change their spacing during the cultivation process. Initially, the bars are positioned at minimum distances to achieve maximum sowing density. As plants grow, the bars are adjusted to increase spacing, thereby providing adequate room for plant development while maintaining high initial sowing density.
Solution Approach 2:
The system performs preliminary sowing at maximum density with adjustable bars positioned close together. The bars are then progressively adjusted to create additional spacing as plants grow, allowing the system to benefit from both high initial sowing density and adequate eventual plant spacing without requiring manual transplanting.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention concerns a system for cultivating plant products without soil comprising a plurality of shelves for cultivating plant products. The shelves have a reference axis and comprise: a supporting frame, a plurality of cultivation bars which have an approximately rectilinear shape, extend along respective longitudinal axes, and are coupled to the supporting frame so as to be arranged approximately coplanar and alongside one another, and have the respective longitudinal axes parallel to the reference axis and mechanical spacing members, which are interleaved between the adjacent cultivation bars, and are each structured so that the actuation of a mechanical spacing member causes a variation of the distance transverse to the reference axis, between two cultivation bars immediately adjacent to the same member. The invention also concerns a method for cultivating plant products.