Indoor Plant Cultivation CO2 Control for Delayed Harvest Timing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional plant cultivation apparatuses lack the ability to control the growth rate and harvest timing of plants, leading to unnecessary discarding of completed growths when not consumed promptly.
Innovation Solution
A plant cultivation apparatus equipped with an air adjuster that adjusts carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, and nutrient supply to control the growth rate by reducing carbon dioxide concentration and temperature, and includes a controller to manage these factors according to user-defined schedules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the plant cultivation apparatus maintains a constant high carbon dioxide concentration to promote plant growth, then the growth rate is improved, but the ability to control harvest timing is lost and plants cannot be delayed for later consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies dynamics by making the carbon dioxide concentration adjustable rather than fixed. The air adjuster dynamically changes the CO2 concentration based on user needs - maintaining high levels for rapid growth when immediate consumption is desired, and reducing levels to slow growth when later consumption is planned. This transforms the static cultivation environment into a dynamic one that adapts to different harvest timing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs parameter changes by modifying the carbon dioxide concentration parameter to control plant growth rate. By adjusting this key environmental parameter, the system can switch between promoting rapid growth and slowing growth, thereby enabling flexible harvest timing control while maintaining the same cultivation apparatus.
2Reliability
If the plant cultivation apparatus continuously supplies outside air to maintain carbon dioxide concentration, then the carbon dioxide level is stabilized, but the growth rate cannot be reduced for delayed harvest
Solution Approach 1:
The air adjuster introduces dynamics into the air supply system by making the outside air supply adjustable. Instead of continuous fixed-rate supply, the system can dynamically modify the supply rate - maintaining stable CO2 levels when rapid growth is desired, and reducing supply to allow CO2 levels to decrease for slowing growth and delaying harvest.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the air supply parameter from a fixed continuous flow to a variable flow rate. This parameter change enables the system to balance between maintaining stable CO2 concentrations for reliable growth and allowing CO2 concentration changes for growth rate control, resolving the contradiction between reliability and productivity control.
3Device complexity
If the plant cultivation apparatus uses a simple air circulation system, then the device complexity is low, but the ability to adjust carbon dioxide concentration for growth rate control is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The air adjuster is designed with multi-functionality, serving both as a simple air circulation component and as a precise CO2 concentration control device. By integrating the adjustable air supply function into the circulation system, it performs multiple roles - maintaining basic air flow and enabling dynamic CO2 level adjustment - without requiring a completely separate complex control system.
Solution Approach 2:
The air adjuster acts as an intermediary component between the outside air source and the cultivation space. This intermediate device provides a controlled interface that allows simple modification of air supply characteristics, enabling CO2 concentration adjustment while maintaining overall system simplicity through a single integrated component rather than multiple complex subsystems.
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
Enables precise control over plant growth rate and harvest timing, allowing for optimal utilization of cultivated plants by reducing growth when not immediately consumed.
Implementation Method 1
an outside-air adjuster including a blower fan, wherein the outside-air adjuster is configured to control flow of the outside-air
Implementation Method 2
an inside-air adjuster for connecting the outside-air channel and the cultivation space with each other, wherein the inside-air adjuster includes a circulation fan for introducing the outside-air delivered through the outside-air channel into the cultivation space
Implementation Method 3
Under the photosynthesis of the plant, the carbon dioxide concentration in the space may be reduced
Data Source
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AI summary
Disclosed is a plant cultivation apparatus is disclosed. The plant cultivation apparatus includes a cabinet, a bed, an air adjuster, and a controller. The cabinet has a cultivation space defined therein in which a plant is cultivated. The bed is disposed in the cultivation space. The cultivator is seated on the bed and receives therein at least a portion of the plant. The air adjuster is disposed in the cabinet and configured to adjust an inflow amount of outside-air flowing into the cultivation space to adjust a carbon dioxide concentration in the cultivation space. The controller is disposed in the cabinet to control the air adjuster. The air adjuster includes a blower fan to cause flow of the outside-air. The controller performs a delayed cultivation mode in which the controller controls the air adjuster to reduce the carbon dioxide concentration to lower a growth rate of the plant.