Greenhouse Plant Tutoring Grid with Automatic Lowering Mechanism
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current manual tying and retying systems for greenhouse crops are labor-intensive, costly, and inefficient, requiring frequent ladder use and causing plant damage, while limiting plant growth and aeration.
Innovation Solution
A dynamic tutoring system with a modular, automatic mechanism that allows vertical crops to be lowered as they reach the greenhouse eave height, using a grid structure with diagonal and vertical ropes that can be easily cut and loosened to reduce plant height, eliminating the need for manual labor and ladder use.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If manual tying and retying of tutor ropes is performed to lower plants as they grow, then plant support and aeration are improved, but labor costs and time consumption increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables automatic lowering of plants through self-service mechanisms. The tutor ropes are pre-configured with loop structures that automatically engage with the plant stems as they grow, eliminating the need for manual tying operations. The grid structure with diagonal and vertical ropes works together to automatically adjust plant position based on growth stages.
Solution Approach 2:
The tutor ropes are pre-installed and pre-configured in the grid structure before plant growth begins. The diagonal and vertical ropes are positioned and tensioned in advance, creating a ready-to-function support system that automatically adapts as plants grow, eliminating the need for repeated manual interventions.
2Length of moving object
If frequent manual untying and retying operations are performed to lower plants, then plant height control is achieved, but plant damage and operational complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system transitions from static manual tying to dynamic automatic adjustment. The tutor ropes with loop structures dynamically adapt to plant growth, automatically lowering plants as they reach certain heights without causing mechanical damage. The grid structure allows continuous dynamic adjustment throughout the growth cycle.
Solution Approach 2:
The loop structures on the tutor ropes act as intermediaries between the support system and the plant stems. These loops gently guide and lower the plants without direct manual contact, reducing the risk of bark lacerations and mechanical damage while maintaining effective height control.
3Illumination intensity
If plants are allowed to grow vertically to maximum height, then sunlight exposure is improved, but labor intervention requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The tutor rope system provides continuous support and automatic lowering action throughout the entire plant growth cycle. The grid structure with diagonal and vertical ropes maintains constant tension and positioning, allowing plants to continuously access sunlight while the system automatically manages height control without periodic manual interruptions.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
The system is proposed to replace the current practice of manually unbinding and retying tutor ropes for tying plants placed in a vertical position in a greenhouse, in order to lower the plant when it has reached the eave height of the greenhouse, through a dynamic system that allows automatic lowering of the top of said plants by means of quick and easy operations. The system, provided with a modular division, allows, when the plant has reached the height of the eaves, the lowering of each plant or of an entire row of plants by cutting tutor cords or ropes appropriately arranged so permitting the continuation of growth of said culture. It consists of a grid (10), subdivided in turn into a lower grid (8), comprising the vertical tutor ropes (4) of each plant, connected to an upper grid (9) provided with horizontal parallel ropes (3), oblique ropes (5), diagonally connected to each of said horizontal ropes (3) and vertical tape ropes (6), orthogonally connected to each of said horizontal ropes (3). The upper grid (9) forms a dropdown extensible system triggered by cutting said tape ropes (6) and carried out with the rotation of each of said oblique ropes (5) around the respective junction points with the horizontal ropes (3).