Plant Environment Control Using Anticipated Climate-Light Interaction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current systems for controlling environmental conditions in plant growing environments, such as vertical farms, often fail to consider the synergy between multiple parameters like light and climate, leading to suboptimal growth and increased costs due to inefficient energy use and separate control systems.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that utilize a communication interface and processor to determine control parameters for devices controlling environmental conditions, taking into account the anticipated influence of one condition on another, allowing simultaneous and coordinated control of multiple parameters like temperature and lighting to optimize plant growth while minimizing costs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If climate control and lighting control are done separately based on independent expertise, then each system can be optimized independently, but the synergy between multiple environmental parameters is not fully utilized leading to suboptimal overall performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines separate climate control and lighting control systems into an integrated control system that simultaneously manages multiple environmental parameters. The controller receives target values for both climate and lighting conditions, determines anticipated influences between them, and coordinates their operation to achieve synergistic effects that improve overall plant growth efficiency while maintaining independent optimization capabilities.
2Device complexity
If environmental conditions are controlled without considering anticipated influences, then control systems operate independently and simply, but energy consumption increases and resources are used inefficiently
Solution Approach 1:
The control system determines anticipated influences of controlling one environmental condition on another before actual changes occur. By predicting these interactions in advance, the system can pre-adjust other parameters to maintain optimal conditions, reducing energy consumption and avoiding reactive corrections that would waste resources.
3Productivity
If multiple environmental parameters are controlled simultaneously with coordination, then synergy between parameters is fully utilized optimizing plant growth, but system complexity and control difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary control system that acts as a mediator between climate control and lighting control functions. This intermediary controller receives target values, determines anticipated influences, and coordinates the operation of multiple environmental parameters, simplifying the overall control architecture while enabling synergistic optimization of plant growth conditions.
4Speed
If environmental conditions are adjusted without anticipating interactions, then control responses are immediate and simple, but corrective actions may be excessive or insufficient leading to suboptimal conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The control system determines anticipated influences before implementing control actions, allowing it to pre-calculate the appropriate magnitude and timing of adjustments. This preliminary analysis enables precise control responses that account for interactions between environmental parameters, avoiding excessive or insufficient corrections while maintaining fast response times.
Data Source
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AI summary
A system (31) for determining at least one control parameter for at least one device (41) controlling an environmental condition in a plant growing environment is configured to obtain one or more target values for the environmental condition and receive information relating to control of a further environmental condition in the plant growing environment, e.g. from another system (1). The system is further configured to determine data which represent an anticipated influence of the control of the further environmental condition on the environmental condition from the information and determine the at least one control parameter for the at least one device controlling the environmental condition based on the one or more target values and the data. The system is also configured to output or store the at least one control parameter.