Modular Culture Modules With Controlled Nutrient Withdrawal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing hydroponic and aquaponic systems face challenges such as high investment costs for crop changes, plastic waste generation, labor-intensive manual operations, inefficient nutrient distribution, and unsustainability, particularly in urban farming settings.
Innovation Solution
A modular cultivation system with interconnected cultivation modules and a withdrawal module for controlled nutrient solution management, utilizing natural or treated wastewater, allowing flexible adaptation to different crops and developmental stages, with automated control and efficient nutrient distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If conventional hydroponic systems use U-, V-, or O-shaped troughs with substrate bags or cubes, then plants can grow with support structures, but the system requires high manual labor for processing operations and generates significant plastic waste from disposable substrate containers
Solution Approach 1:
The system divides the cultivation setup into separate functional components: a reusable trough structure and removable substrate containers. This segmentation allows the permanent parts (trough) to be retained while only the consumable parts (substrate containers) are replaced, reducing plastic waste and manual labor for system reconfiguration.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate containers are extracted as separate, removable units from the trough system. This allows substrate containers to be easily removed for disposal or replacement without disturbing the permanent trough infrastructure, minimizing plastic waste and manual intervention.
2Productivity
If hydroponic systems are designed for specific crops with dedicated equipment, then cultivation can be optimized for those crops, but changing crops requires complete overhaul of the system incurring high investment costs
Solution Approach 1:
The trough system is designed as a universal, crop-agnostic platform that can accommodate different substrate containers for various crops. The standardized interface and modular design allow the same trough structure to serve multiple cultivation purposes, enabling crop flexibility without system overhaul.
Solution Approach 2:
The system allows dynamic reconfiguration by changing substrate containers within the fixed trough structure. This dynamic adaptability enables transition between different crops by simply replacing the substrate containers rather than redesigning the entire system.
3Loss of energy
If aquaponic systems use treated wastewater from fish farms for plant production, then water can be recycled in a closed-loop system, but only a portion of the wastewater can be used economically requiring disposal of large amounts and addition of fresh water
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements a selective recovery approach where nutrient-rich wastewater is retained and reused for plant cultivation, while only the portion exceeding plant uptake capacity is discarded. This maximizes water recycling efficiency and minimizes fresh water requirements through targeted resource recovery.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system reduces costs, minimizes waste, enhances automation, ensures efficient nutrient supply, and promotes sustainability by optimizing water use and adaptability, suitable for urban farming and diverse crop cultivation.
Implementation Method 1
featuring gravity-fed nutrient flow
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a modular culture system for culturing prokaryotic and/or eukaryotic organisms using a nutrient solution (N) for the organisms, wherein the culture system comprises a number of culture modules (100) for receiving the organisms, which culture modules are interconnected for conducting the nutrient solution (N), and a removal module (200), connected to one of the culture modules (100) for conducting the nutrient solution (N), for controlled removal of the nutrient solution (N) from the culture module (100). The culture modules (100) each comprise: an outer container (110) through which the nutrient solution (N) flows in a flow direction (S); an inner container (120), situated at least in part in the outer container (110), for receiving the organisms; and a number of connection devices (130) for connecting the outer container (110) to the outer container (110) of an additional culture module (100) and/or to the removal module (200) in order to conduct the nutrient solution (N). The inner container (120) is permeable to the nutrient solution (N), and a nutrient chamber (115), through which the nutrient solution (N) flows, is situated between the outer container (110) and the inner container (120). The removal module (200) comprises a removal-control device (240) for controlling a flow of the nutrient solution (N) removed from the culture module (100) by means of the removal module (200).