Layered Mesh Plant Support for Accessible Vertical Harvesting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Horizontally growing plants face challenges such as difficult harvesting due to fruits being hidden under foliage, susceptibility to pests, and limited vertical growth, as their stems grow predominantly horizontally and fruits hang down, restricting harvest and growth height.
Innovation Solution
A support assembly with meshed elements arranged in layers, allowing plants to grow horizontally while fruits hang downwards, with adjustable spacing for unhindered growth and harvesting, and movable elements for access, combined with nutrient substrates and lighting systems.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If plants grow horizontally on the ground, then the stems can extend freely, but the fruits become hidden under foliage and lie on the ground making harvesting difficult and increasing pest susceptibility
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions plant growth from a two-dimensional ground surface to a three-dimensional vertical space by suspending mesh support elements at different heights. Fruits grow through the meshes and hang in the vertical space between support elements, eliminating contact with ground-level pests and making harvesting accessible from above without disturbing ground conditions.
Solution Approach 2:
The mesh support elements act as intermediaries that hold plants at elevated positions while allowing fruits to grow through the mesh openings. This intermediary structure separates the plant growth plane from the ground, preventing direct contact between fruits and ground-based pests while maintaining natural growth patterns.
2Productivity
If multiple layers of plants are grown vertically, then space utilization improves, but access for harvesting and maintenance becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The support elements are designed to be movable rather than fixed, allowing the vertical layers to be dynamically repositioned. Mesh support elements can be shifted horizontally or vertically to create access corridors, enabling harvesters to reach fruits at any layer without dismantling the entire structure, thus maintaining both high density and accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The continuous vertical structure is segmented into discrete, movable support elements that can be independently positioned. This segmentation allows specific layers to be accessed by moving only the relevant support elements, minimizing disruption to other layers and maintaining overall system productivity while providing necessary access.
3Reliability
If nutrient substrates are provided in sufficient quantity for plant growth, then plant health improves, but space for fruit development is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies different substrate quantities to different spatial locations: sufficient substrate is provided at the plant root zones on support elements, while the vertical space between support elements remains clear for fruit development. This localized substrate distribution ensures plant health where needed while preserving fruit growth space elsewhere.
Solution Approach 2:
The solution separates plant rooting (horizontal dimension on support elements) from fruit development (vertical dimension between support elements). By confining substrates to horizontal planes at support locations and utilizing vertical space for fruit hanging, both plant health and fruit development space are optimized simultaneously.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed is a support assembly for supporting a plurality of layers of essentially horizontally extending meshed support elements, arranged one above the other with a distance therebetween, the support elements being designed to hold units of nutrient substrate spaced from one another, wherein in each unit of nutrient substrate an essentially horizontally growing plant is rooted, in order to allow the essentially horizontally growing plants to grow, supported by the respective meshed support element concerned, wherein the mesh size is such that the fruit forming from the horizontally growing plants can grow downwards through the mesh to ripen under the respective support element, wherein the distance between two support elements arranged one above the other is chosen so as to allow both unhindered horizontal growth of the plants on the lower support element and the development and ripening of the fruit of the plants growing on the upper element, and wherein a plurality of the support elements can be moved horizontally relative to one another to provide space for harvesting the fruit.